New vision, new students take hold the Castle

Until last spring, College sophomore Susanne Fausing expected to live this fall in a high rise room with a bird's-eye view of West Philadelphia. But in March, Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson announced that the Castle, a 100-year-old fraternity house at the center of campus, would become the home of a residential community service program. Fausing said she knew right away she was interested in the program. During her freshman year, Fausing had tutored local schoolchildren and participated in other activities through Kite and Key. But she, like many of the Castle's new residents, wanted to become more involved in community service at the University. Some, like Wharton junior Steven Foecking, haven't had significant community service in the past but still feel they have a significant contribution to make. Foecking said he hopes to become a role model for other students who either don't know how to get involved or tend to be scared off by the image of volunteers as either goody-two-shoes or resume builders. The idea of a community service house also appealed to the program's two staff members, director Lisa Barnes, a student in the Graduate School of Education, and College senior Joe Gaeta, the Residential Advisor. Gaeta, who was an RA last year, said he has been involved in a variety of community service programs which have an academic connection. Barnes worked on projects through her sorority as an undergraduate at Lafayette College and was later a Rotary Scholar in Australia. "I had been involved in residential life and service," Barnes said. "This is a way to get the best of both worlds." · The Castle was vacated in May of 1990 when the University revoked Psi Upsilon fraternity's charter for the January 1990 kidnapping of a Delta Psi brother. The Community Service Living-Learning Program, which has taken its place, is the first step in a University effort to diversify the main campus thoroughfare, Locust Walk, which is currently dominated by mostly white fraternities. But the residents said they don't feel like they are under a microscope and said they have been treated very well by other Locust Walk residents. Though the residents said they would have applied to the program even if it had not been located in a prominent home on the edge of College Green, they said the location will be important because it can serve as a focal point. "The location of the house is paramount to the house's success," resident Niranjan Karnik, a College junior said. "It makes community service a little more at center stage on this campus." The students also said there have been no problems among the diverse residents, who include 14 women and 10 men from almost every racial and ethnic group represented at the University. And they said their diversity goes beyond their backgrounds. Some are out-and-out activists who feel challenging the system is the best way to effect change. Others say they are interested in academically-based programs which work with the system for gradual change over time. Members of the house went on a retreat at Appel Farms in Elmer, New Jersey, before the start of classes and met each other while discussing ideas for the program. But Gaeta was hesitant about calling the situation idyllic. He wondered aloud whether reality had set in yet for the residents of the house. He said racism and sexism will be issues the residents will have to tackle in their time together. "If it happens out there, it happens in here," Gaeta said. He also expressed some skepticism about the support of the University community. "There is an attitude that seems to always to be challenging what we are doing," he said. One man came in to look around the house during move-in, Gaeta said, and his only comment was "It's a shame what happened to this fraternity." · Christopher Dennis, the director of academic programs for residential living, said last week that many rooms in the house still need work and that it was optimistic for the University to try to renovate the house to fit city building codes in only five months. Dennis said that when all the changes are complete, the renovations will probably have cost the University around $500,000. Most of the changes do nothing for the cosmetic appearance of the house, but many were necessary to assure the safety of the residents, Dennis said. He said termites had done major structural damage to the stairs, and parts had to be largely rebuilt. Safety and fire systems, including new smoke detectors, a card reader and bars on the windows were also installed. Dennis said all of the changes were done in consultation with a historical restoration group which helped the University to preserve the historical integrity of the house. New maroon carpeting was put in throughout the house, and wood-and-glass fire doors, which close automatically to prevent the spread of smoke when a fire alarm goes off, were installed on the residential floors. The 24 residents of the house live in double occupancy rooms which are furnished with wooden desks, dressers and beds, similar to those used in the renovated portion of the Quadrangle. Much of the house will contain common space which can be used by groups or classes for meetings. Some of these rooms are still under construction and many are still unfurnished. Dennis said the construction should be finished in about two weeks. One of the classes which will meet in a seminar room in the house will be School of Arts and Sciences Vice Dean Ira Harkavy's freshman seminar on University and community relations. Several students who were in past sessions of this seminar now live in the house. · The residents are still adjusting to their new home and say that they haven't decided exactly what sort of programs the house residents will help sponsor. They are working with almost every community service group at the University to provide them will information about what the house can offer them. "We want to try to keep the integrity of the residential community," Barnes said. "We also recognize the potential of the house to be a focal point [for community service activities at the University]." One of the biggest programs the house will sponsor is a dining program in conjunction with dining service which will be open to any interested students. To participate, students need to commit to eating dinner at the house on the same night once a week. Students who are currently on meal plan can have one dinner a week converted over to eat there and others can buy a special one-meal-a-week meal plan. Gaeta said they plan to invite speakers to join the house residents and dinner guests at least once each week. · Lurking in the background is the question of what will happen to the program if Psi Upsilon is allowed to return to campus when their sanctions can first be re-evaluated in the Fall of 1993. Administrators refuse to comment and have said that the question is premature. The residents have already decided that their program will be around with or without it's central location. "We're not planning for two years," Karnik said. "We're planning for this program to stay."

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