A part of the greek system changed once again as Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity took down its letters, and the members left the house during Winter Break after the university bought the house.
Chapter President Derrick Stalbaum said the letters began coming down on Dec. 15 and finished on Dec. 17. He said he could not disclose how much Ball State bought the house for, but that it was a nice-sized amount that exceeded the house's worth.
"It's sad to see a house we've lived in for the last 50 years go, but it's working out for us," Stalbaum said. "We've known about this all semester, so it wasn't a shock."
Dave Skalon, a 1996 graduate and alumni president of PSE Alumni Club of Phi Sigma Kappa Inc., said Ball State casually approached an alumnus during Summer 2006 about purchasing the house. The alumnus took the information to the alumni board, and soon after discussions and meetings began, he said.
Lynda Wiley, director of the Office of Student Life, said the office helped with the communication between the university and the alumni. The business transaction happened between the Office of Business Affairs and the local alumni housing corporation that owned the house, she said.
"This means that if we're looking at the redevelopment of Riverside Avenue we're looking at what's going to be the best for the landscape for existing and new groups," Wiley said. "This was an opportunity that the alumni were willing to sell it, and it was between two houses the university owns and is leasing to own."
The Phi Sigma Kappa house was the sixth house the university bought in the past five years and the second in the past year, Wiley said. Ball State bought the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house last semester.
Skalon said the university was planning on tearing down the house because it was a liability as long as nobody occupied it. He said he thought the land would be used to build sorority housing or additional fraternity housing, but he did not know for sure what the university would do with it.
The demolition was scheduled to be during Spring Break, he said.
"It's really an exciting time for the fraternity," Skalon said. "The property was sold to the university, so it's not a matter of anything punitive so it's nothing the alumni or the nationals has done to the actives. They're in good standing with us.
"We were impressed that they were at $0 debt. It's hard for an active chapter to get ahead of its finances. We marched hand in hand with the actives. If it were going to come down to the nashing of teeth or any other unpleasentries we wouldn't go forward. We knew it'd be a drain on them, but they understood it'd be in the best interest in the long term for the fraternity."
Stalbaum said now that the university owns the house the seven members who lived in it had to rent a house. The fraternity has 29 members and 6 pledges, he said.
Skalon said the rental house could not be called a fraternity house and the letters could not be placed on it because it was not chapter sanctioned.
Despite not having a chapter house right now, Stalbaum said the fraternity members were excited about the fraternity's future.
"Our house was getting old, so we're looking forward to grow and have a new face for the fraternity," he said.
The move does not affect chapter business because meetings were held at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, Stalbaum said. The annual hog roast philanthropy event also should not be affected, he said, because the fraternity is hoping to have it in North Quad this year instead of at the fraternity's house.
Although the fraternity members are working with what they have, Skalon said the alumni would work to get Phi Sigma Kappa members into a house by Fall Semester. He said the alumni and the fraternity members discussed about five or six options for the fraternity's future, but they were going to look at the trends of other fraternities around the country to see what would be best at Ball State.
Skalon said the alumni do not foresee building a new house anytime soon, but would work to find an intermediate house that Phi Sigma Kappa could occupy until the campus stabilizes enough.
"[There are] too much changes on campus and the greek world to build a new [house]," he said. "We watched others, and there's no way we'd put ourselves in jeopardy. We recognize that there's a time of change happening in the greek system."
"Fraternities cannot stay the way they've become and drive forward. The students are different, the needs are different and if we stay in the same property we're going to have the same identity. The offer came at the right time."
Phi Sigma Kappa house has haunted history
The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity has been in the same house for 50 years from 1958 until its doors closed Dec. 17. Dave Skalon, alumni president of PSE Alumni Club of Phi Sigma Kappa Inc., said that property had a history of hauntings. Here is his story.
Leonard Moore was the founding father back when the chapter was founded with the name Delta Phi Sigma. As time passed we named the house ghost Leonard, but it has no connection to him. He didn't die on the property and probably never stepped foot in the house because that was in 1926 and we didn't have the house until 1958. Leonard has appeared as an apparition, he has walked through where an old door was that is now a wall. He has left cold spots, slammed doors, made noises and the stories go on and on. One of the threads on a discussion group on the alumni Web site is about what has happened in the house. It's not just one generation who decided to make up ghost stories. It's happened to me. I'm not a ghost chaser, but that made me believe. It was neat because it was a non-violent action. The worst thing that has happened is someone getting spun in a chair downstairs. The Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity also was housed in Elliott Hall during World War II, but at that time the fraternity was named Delta Phi Sigma. Elliott Hall is reported to be haunted, so the alumni have tried to see if that ghost was one of the fraternity boys. That has yet to be verified.
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