Phi Psi is Moving Home

The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is about to go home.

When the fraternity moved out of their house at 560 West James Street in 1984, they probably did not guess it would be over 20 years before they moved back in. 

After the fraternity’s departure, the building became the Arts House and remains as such today. By fall of 2011, however, the house will be returned to the Phi Psi fraternity. As of yet, there are no immediate plans for a new Arts House.

The house will continue to be owned by F&M, making it the first College-owned fraternity house on this campus. 

In the years since the College’s decision to re-recognize fraternities and sororities, Phi Psi has asked the administration to consider allowing them to return to their historic home.  

The initial request was met with refusal, as Kent Trachte, dean of the College, explained. 

“The administration felt it was too premature for us to make this decision, because we wanted to see how well re-recognition worked and how well fraternities and sororities fulfilled the goals and guidelines of their re-recognition agreement,” he explained.

An additional problem both Trachte and Basil Coutifaris ’11, president of the fraternity, noted was the low membership of past years.

Over recent years Phi Psi made efforts to increase their chances of receiving the house by first improving their recruitment strategies. Through these efforts they gained enough brothers to give the administration confidence they would be able to fill spaces in their new home. (Their current JSP provides for 12 residents, while the new house will accommodate 17.)

Before their 150th anniversary last spring Phi Psi sent a letter to John Fry, former president of the College, requesting approval once again to move back into the house.