Phi Sig has resided at the old Acacia house on Third Street since 2013. Beginning in fall 2016, it will permanently move into the current Delta Chi house on North Jordan Avenue, according to housing corporation president ?Brennan Boland.
“The house has been leased to Skulls (Phi Kappa Sigma) over the last several years and is now leased to Delta Chi,” he said. “This house underwent significant expansion in 2007 and will be an excellent place for our young men to live and alumni to visit for decades to come.”
Phi Sig’s search for a permanent home has been a difficult one, chapter president Matt Harris said.
Since the fraternity’s re-charter as a chapter in 2002, it’s lived in five different houses around campus.
“Basically up until this point in time, we’ve branded ourselves as the nomads of the Greek fraternities,” he said. “Being able to have our own residence that we can brand as the Phi Sig house is a huge boost internally for our morale standpoint.”
Harris said it’s extremely rare for one fraternity to sell its house to another simply because the fraternity houses are rarely sold.
“There are certain houses that from time to time will come out with talks about going up for sale, or more frequently finding more people to lease it to,” he said. “As far as the actual selling, it never happened as often as we’d wanted it to.”
Harris and other members of Phi Sig said they’re ecstatic about the new purchase. They said it’s a milestone in their chapter history.
“Having our own house offers us a lot of the stability we’ve never had before,” said former Phi Sig Vice President Brian Cain. “There’s only a small amount of certainty of what will come when you have a house for three or four years at a time like we did. Not only will we no longer have to deal with that, but we will also have a stable position on campus.”
Cain said that a big part in the new house purchase is the result of the hard work and dedication of their housing corporation.
“They’ve definitely been the backbone of us getting this house,” he said. “Along with our alumni support, this house would have never been secured without them.”
Harris said he agrees.
“Our housing corporation was constantly out there looking for any information when it came to selling property,” he said. “A couple opportunities came up, and this was most attractive at the time. They set us up perfectly for the future.”
Cain, a senior, expressed his joy in knowing his fraternity will have a permanent home, even when he is gone.
“It gives me a place I know I’m coming back to,” he said.
As chapter president, Harris acknowledged the responsibility that comes with the purchase of a new house.
“It’s our job to maintain the longevity of our organization, to move into the house and move it up,” he said. “We’re excited. It’s been a long one in the ?making.”
