Emory has guaranteed the brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) an on-campus house for one more academic year, according to Eric Bymaster, the Campus Life Associate Vice President of Finance, Administration and Operations.
“AEPi has been granted another year to continue raising funds for a future house, at the end of which we will check in and reevaluate,” Bymaster said.
On Jan. 19, Assistant Dean for Campus Life and Director of Sorority & Fraternity Life Marlon Gibson met with the AEPi leadership committee and its advisor to discuss these future housing plans. He said that both sides are excited about moving forward.
In a Nov. 11 article, the Wheel reported that the AEPi house, located at 17 Eagle Row, would be torn down this coming summer. However, the Divisions of Campus Life and Residence Life have settled on a new agreement.
“The new plan is to renovate and extend our stay here in the 17 Eagle Row house for at least one more year,” said Emory Interfraternity Council President and Goizueta Business School senior Taylor McNair, who served as AEPi’s Lieutenant Master during the 2014-2015 academic year. An architectural plan and blueprints for the new house are outlined in a winter 2015 brochure, which was published with the purpose of “securing AEPi’s future on Eagle Row.”
Emory University architect Jen Fabrick and Warren Epstein & Associates created plans for AEPi’s future house, which will contain three stories along with “staunch white pillars and red brick.” Additionally, there will be adequate space for the entire brotherhood, which is not available in the current house.
The house currently has room for 23 brothers, according to Goizueta Business School junior and AEPi President Byron Azizi. The new house would have enough space to house at least 30 brothers.
“[The house] might be small and not the most aesthetically pleasing, but I have lived here the past two years and this house is where we create bonds, continue our legacy and practice the AEPi traditions,” he said.
Emory’s AEPi chapter has been leading fundraising efforts to build a house of its own since 2002, because the chapter “does not own a long-term fraternity house under the Phoenix Plan,” according to a 2012 Wheel article. Emory has allotted $1.75 million to the construction of a new AEPi house and alumni have matched that with around $600,000, according to the article.
McNair said the brothers of AEPi are thrilled that the University has decided to let them continue living at 17 Eagle Row. “The University has worked well with us,” McNair added. “We look forward to building Emory a new house.”
The original AEPi house was built in 1951 at 11 Eagle Row, according to the brochure. In 1994, the house was knocked down and replaced by what are now the sorority lodges. For a number of years, AEPi occupied the PIKE house, until PIKE returned to campus and met occupancy standards in 2012.
AEPi took over the former Students’ Program for International Cultural Exchange (SPICE) house at 17 Eagle Row house in the fall semester of that year. The contract that granted them the house expired in November 2015.
AEPi first arrived on campus in 1920, as the fifth national chapter. Its brothers are recognized as being active leaders in the classroom, with the highest GPA on fraternity row, within the Jewish community and philanthropically.
