Phi Sig house shut down for major violations

Phi Sig brothers whiled away their last few hours in the fraternity house. About a dozen Phi Sigma Kappa brothers lingered on the third floor of their now-defunct house at 3615 Locust Walk yesterday afternoon and huddled together as they passed around a bottle of Jack Daniel's -- the last bottle of liquor they would enjoy as active Phi Sig brothers. "And the good Lord, shine the light on you," the newly evicted brothers sang above Mick Jagger's soulful wail as a gallon of Wawa iced tea -- a whiskey chaser -- made its way around the circle, a cigar-smoke cloud billowing above their heads. The men said they were notified shortly before noon yesterday that what InterFraternity Council President Josh Belinfante, an Alpha Chi Rho brother, had called "every fraternity's worst nightmare" had become true. Phi Sig had until 4:30 p.m. yesterday to leave the house. Although they have until Thursday to remove all their belongings, by 4 p.m. yesterday the windows had been boarded up and the locks had been changed. "Fuck OFSA! Fuck nationals!" yelled Engineering junior and former social chairperson Skip Gillilan, decrying the Indianapolis-based national Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity for revoking their charter and Penn's Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs for carrying out such orders swiftly. The infractions: a now-removed link to pornography on the house's Web site and two findings during the last 12 months of kegs of beer -- which are officially banned by the national fraternity --Einside the house. Most of the brothers said the punishment was unduly harsh. "It's no secret that every fucking frat has kegs," said one brother. "We don't rape anyone, we haven't had one person sent to the hospital for anything alcohol-related in my three years here and we just raised over $350 for leukemia," said another. But the biggest bone of contention was the time Phi Sig brothers had to move out. "The fact that they have to move out on such a short notice is absolutely ridiculous," said Belinfante, a College junior, although he emphasized the decision to revoke the house's charter was "not made by OFSA" and that the office had to evict the brothers immediately "for insurance reasons." Brothers, however, resented OFSA's failure to notify them sooner, noting that OFSA knew of the national fraternity's plan to revoke the chapter's charter two days before telling the brothers they would have to leave. "Due process is not OFSA's bag, baby," Wharton junior Jeff Kozloff joked, explaining that he felt the office was acting in self-interest. The University is allowed to evict members of excommunicated chapters almost immediately because of the unique nature of the leases fraternity members sign. Such leases are only valid if brothers are members of a national fraternity.

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