Castle will become living-learning house

President Sheldon Hackney announced yesterday that a "Community Service Program" will fill the former Psi Upsilon fraternity house next fall. Hackney approved a recommendation from Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson calling for a living-learning program "dedicated to service to the wider community" to fill the Locust Walk house, known as the Castle. "My recommendation for the Castle is to create . . . a place in the heart of our campus where undergraduate and graduate students. . . can explore the key issues of service and community involvement in answer to the question, 'What good may I do?' " Morrisson's report to the president states. The recommendation says a committee made up of faculty, students and staff currently active in community service will set guidelines for the program, as well as criteria for selecting residents. The group will help the students organize service programs next year. The Castle, currently the only empty building in the heart of campus, has become central to the year-long debate about how best to diversify Locust Walk. Students and faculty members have said throughout the year that the house is a microcosm of the whole issue -- they said what Hackney does with the Castle foreshadows what will be done with the Walk. Morrisson's recommendation for the house directly addresses one of Hackney's most public goals. Since coming to the University ten years ago, Hackney has consistently said he wants to strengthen the University's ties with the West Philadelphia community. The new program will provide a formal center and could serve as a rallying point for students interested in community service. Hackney said in a written statement yesterday he is "enthusiastic" about the new program. College Vice Dean Ira Harkavy, who directs the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps and is perhaps the University's most outspoken supporter of community service, praised the president, saying he could have made "no better decision." Hackney has served as a co-instructor for several years for Harkavy's seminar course on University-community relations. "[The decision] exemplifies what the University should be doing and [Benjamin] Franklin's message of education being linked to service," Harkavy said. "It will add tremendously to Locust Walk and to the entire University." VPUL Morrisson has been seeking ways to fill the vacant house since last May, when the Psi Upsilon fraternity was kicked off campus for the January kidnapping of a Delta Psi fraternity brother. Hackney said last semester that the building will be filled on a temporary basis, stressing that no program will prevent Psi Upsilon from reclaiming the house if the fraternity returns to campus in three years, the earliest it can apply for re-recognition under Morrisson's punishment. Morrisson said she hopes the community service program will remain in the Castle until that time. The VPUL said she based her recommendation on the advice of the Diversity on the Walk committee, proposals from students and staff members, and discussions throughout the University. She said many of the suggestions she received stressed the importance of community service. "The centrality of the house and the centrality of the program and the way it will reach out beyond the house for the benefit of the University community and the wider community seemed very appropriate for the site," Morrisson said yesterday.

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