“Penn State Fraternity Houses Should ‘at the very least’ Continue to be Used by Students

Tim Lynch, Manley Burke

That’s a quote from Daniel Lee, the vice president for communications of the Penn State Interfraternity Council. His opinion comes in light of the growing number of empty fraternity houses in State College, a result of multiple fraternities losing recognition status with Penn State University. They remain empty as a result of the State College Borough’s unwillingness to allow students to use the property, and the fraternity’s resistance to the Borough.

The Borough of State College’s current zoning ordinance allows fraternity houses that cannot be used by unrecognized fraternities to convert their use. Unsurprisingly, the uses chosen by the Borough are wholly unrelated to  fraternity use or even university student housing. Instead the current zoning ordinance  only allows fraternity houses to convert to community centers, day cares, homes for the elderly, nursing homes, offices and private schools. Of the seven currently suspended fraternities who can convert their unoccupied houses, only one has done so: Beta Theta Pi, which  is permanently suspended by Penn State following the tragic death of Timothy Piazza, and is currently facing a civil lawsuit from Donald G. Abbey. He is suing the fraternity for the $10 million he allegedly loaned the fraternity to renovate the property that may never be used by the group again.

The property owners’ resistance to change has now convinced the Borough to go back to the drawing board. This fall, the Borough has begun a comprehensive rewrite of its zoning ordinance, including its definition of “Fraternity House.” While it has not been released, the Borough is still determined to forbid the conversion back to a fraternity house. This is something that Daniel Lee says the Penn State Interfraternity Council “cannot agree with, for many reasons.”

One of the considerations is that there are currently 42 fraternity houses in State College. That means there could potentially be 42 vacant properties in the Borough if Penn State prohibits the Greek life on campus. Potential challenges for the Borough include unregulated Greek activity and potential lawsuits against the Borough for unconstitutional takings. The Borough is already facing one lawsuit against the property association that owns the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity house.

The property association that owns the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity house filed a land use appeal against the State College Borough after the Borough claimed the formerly suspended fraternity was in violation of the Borough zoning ordinance. In that case, the property association appealed the administrative decision of the Zoning Hearing Board of State College Borough. The Property Association argued that the Borough engaged in unlawful delegation of legislative authority to Penn State University by adopting a zoning ordinance that allows the university to choose the Borough’s definition of a “fraternity house” based on whatever current method of obtaining recognition status the university has adopted. The Zoning Hearing Board compared fraternity houses to all other student housing and stated that:

“regulation of a fraternity house use is rationally related to a legitimate government interest, that being the regulation of fraternities, particularly when located in the low density residential areas of the Borough. The regulation of that use is legitimate because without controls on the use, the behavior of the students living within the fraternity house would be uncontrolled, leading to behavior, often associated with the use and misuse of alcohol, which would not be suitable in an area populated by families with small children.”

The Board concluded that a fraternity was a “special type” of student housing and given that its special treatment is derived from “the historic association of a fraternity to the Greek system of the University.” According to the Board, the need to regulate student housing is to protect the surrounding single families with small children and the ordinance reflects a legitimate exercise of the police power.

Aside from citing the traditional association of Greek life organizations and universities, and the coupled fear of the Borough’s non-student residents, the Board’s decision provides a very brief justification for its broad delegation of legislative authority to Penn State.

Now, the Centre County Common Pleas Court will have to decide whether to affirm the State College Borough Board’s decision. If the court does affirm the Board’s decision, the Property Association for Alpha Chi Rho will be unable to use the premises for a fraternity house and would have to either sell or convert its house to one of the permitted uses under the current zoning ordinance. That means their only options for the large multi-bedroom fraternity house would be a community center, day care, home for the elderly, nursing home, office or private school.  The Court may also wait to see the outcome of the Borough’s comprehensive rewrite prior to ruling on the constitutionality of the Borough’s zoning ordinance.

While State College already has one of the more thorough definitions of “Fraternity House” compared to other municipalities, the Penn State Interfraternity Council still strongly holds the view that the Borough’s prohibition against the conversion back to a fraternity house is unconscionable. Regardless of the outcome of this legal battle and the Borough zoning ordinance rewrite, it appears the empty fraternity houses in State College won’t be filled by students any time soon.

1. Rafacz, Sarah. State College considers the future of fraternity houses. The Centre Daily Times. https://www.centredaily.com/news/local/community/state-college/article214956875.html
2. Borough of State College Zoning Ordinance, §19-201.
3. Donald G. Abbey v. The Alpha Upsilon Chapter of the Fraternity of Beta Theta Pi, Inc., Case No. 2017-0838 (C.P. Centre County, PA).
4. Rafacz, Sarah. State College considers the future of fraternity houses. The Centre Daily Times. https://www.centredaily.com/news/local/community/state-college/article214956875.html
5. 425 Property Association of Alpha Chi Rho, Inc. v. State College Borough Zoning Hearing Bd., et al., No. 2018-0285 (C.P. Centre County, PA).
6. In the matter of 425 Property Association of Alpha Chi Rho Fraternity, Inc. Finding of Facts, Conclusions of Law, and Decision of the Zoning Hearing Board, page 13.

7 Id.

8. Id.
9. Id.
10. See Fraternal Law, Number 154, March 2018 Edition “Losing University Recognition Could Mean Losing Your House”
11. Rafacz, Sarah. State College considers the future of fraternity houses. The Centre Daily Times. https://www.centredaily.com/news/local/community/state-college/article214956875.html