GUEST COLUMNIST: Wen you have no home

Think to yourself what would happen if you were suddenly evicted from your room, house or apartment. With exams on the horizon and in the midst of searching for a summer or permanent job, you must pack up your belongings and move to a new residence. As many of you read today, Phi Sigma Kappa's Mu chapter lost its fraternity status yesterday and was subsequently forced out of its house on Locust Walk. I'm not here to contest our national alumni's decision to revoke our charter, although I do not agree that such a decision should have been made without representation by one of our chapter members. I understand that we violated our Risk Management policies, and as a result, we deserve to be punished. But as a brotherhood, we believe that asking us to leave the chapter house before our lease expires is unreasonable. If history is any credit, we have certainly not been a "problem" chapter on this campus. In fact, just last Friday we sponsored a concert to benefit the Penn Leukemia Society. And while several other fraternities at the University have received negative press as a result of high-profile incidents, we are guilty of comparably minor charges: illegal kegs and an offensive homepage. Phi Sig brothers were already planning to move out in June to make way for large-scale renovations -- a project scheduled to take more than a year. And we have offered to pay for any potential damage that occurs to the chapter house in the meantime. One wouldn't think that allowing us to remain in the house for the remaining month of the semester would be too much to ask. But the University has been unresponsive to our requests. Administrators explain that our only alternative is to appeal the decision to revoke our charter. According to our Grand Chapter's bylaws, however, since our chapter has only been suspended we cannot make an appeal. Therefore, we have no way to block the implementation of the University's policy. Our National has every intention of returning to this campus in the near future, yet it will not support us right now. That the University has also turned its back on us is unfair. As a community, we must protest this treatment by appealing to the offices of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and the Vice Provost for University Life. After all, you never know when it may be your turn to pack up.

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