Sig Eps forced out of house

The Sigma Phi Epsilon house sits on North Jordan Avenue with its windows boarded and its headstone defaced.\nThe fraternity members were forced to search for somewhere to live over holiday break after the fraternity's national headquarters closed the Indiana Beta chapter of Sig Ep on Dec. 21, according to a press release. But Sig Ep members were forced to move out during finals week, which prompted some of the members to vandalize the house inside and out.\n"They had a right to be mad, but I'm not going to say they had the right to vandalize things," said chapter president Patrick Foley. "It kind of visually represents what happened inside." \nAt the beginning of the fall semester, Sig Ep, located at 815 N. Jordan Ave., was placed under new rules and restrictions by the fraternity's alumni board because of past problems nationals had with the chapter. The new restrictions forced many of its members to live out of the house last semester, resulting in only 35 members living in a 90-man house.\nWith only 35 members living in, the financial condition of the fraternity had "deteriorated to the point that the chapter could no longer assure suitable housing conditions for the spring term," the fraternity's nationals said. \nFoley said the chapter's nationals chose not to pay some of the fraternity's debts and to close the IU chapter to cut their losses.\nDuring the fall semester, the house's cable television was cut for about two months along with their food budget, which made some members wonder about the future of the house. Foley also said nationals was unavailable to help the fraternity during Rush.\n"We needed help with Rush even though we were doing fine, we could've used some help," he said.\nThe chapter's closure brought about some anger from its members.\n"I think the national organization probably had a good reason to shut down the chapter, but their timing was very poor," said Interfraternity Council President Evan Waldman. "It's just a shame that it had to happen this way."\nSome of the members broke furniture, overturned lamps, threw items out the windows and spraypainted R.I.P. on the chapter's headstone. IU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said there was close to $5,000 damage to the house.\nEach member paid a $600 security deposit to live in the house, which Foley said has not been repaid to any of the members.\nIn December, Old National Bank foreclosed on the Sig Ep house and was awarded immediate possession of the North Jordan Avenue building after the chapter failed to pay on the 1999 loan.\nThe closing of Sig Ep comes during the departure of another IU fraternity, Delta Chi, which lost its charter late last semester.\nThe IU chapter of Sig Ep was founded in 1931 and has almost 2,000 alumni. The chapter won Sig Ep's Buchanan Cup from 1975 to 1985, which recognizes excellence in all areas of the fraternity's operations.\n"Unfortunately, I think the driving force behind their organization is finances," Foley said. He said some of the parents are upset with the fraternity's nationals and plan to file lawsuits against them.\n"It's sad what happened and I don't think it's over yet," he said.