The University and Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity struck a housing deal last week, guaranteeing AEPi housing at 17 Eagle Row for the next three years while the fraternity fundraises for either a renovated or new house at that location.
AEPi has expressed interest in a new or renovated residence during the past few years, according to Spencer Barkoff, a Goizueta Business School senior and the former AEPi president, who has led with the fraternity's housing initiative since last year.
The Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, Residence Life and Housing and Campus Life have continuously engaged in discussion with members of the fraternity "to meet their housing objectives within the framework of University and Greek housing parameters," according to Mike Mandl, executive vice president of finance and administration.
"The University and AEPi agreed on the possible site 17 Eagle Row, the site of the 'Spice House,'" Andrea Trinklein, executive director of Residence Life and Housing, wrote in an email to the Wheel, in reference to the new agreement. "This is where the fraternity is currently living. A final plan will be established after AEPi raises their funds."
The recent agreement comes in light of the fact that Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity (PIKE) returned this semester to its house on Eagle Row after PIKE was rechartered during the spring 2011 semester.
Prior to PIKE's return to campus housing, AEPi had resided in the PIKE house since PIKE's charter was revoked in 2004.
Because the house belongs to PIKE under the Phoenix Plan – the agreement that provides fraternities with long-term housing through signed agreements – AEPi moved into the former Kappa Sigma house at 17 Eagle Row this fall.
This house provides 22 beds for fraternity members as opposed to the PIKE house, which offered 42.
Since AEPi does not own a long-term fraternity house under the Phoenix Plan, fraternity members launched a fundraising campaign that lasted from 2002 and 2009.
During that time, alumni donated $300,000 toward building a new house or toward renovations, depending on the amount of money the fraternity is able to raise in the next few years.
Barkoff said a new house could cost more than $4 million, and the fraternity has accounted for about $2.3 million through fundraising services such as continued alumni donations, debt service paid from its operating budget and other University contributions.
The fraternity is "currently engaged in achieving fundraising milestones to achieve their contribution," Trinklein wrote.
As a result, AEPi will launch a new fundraising campaign – in collaboration with Emory Hillel and the University's development team – to account for the remaining $1.7 million.
Barkoff also noted that instead of using the fraternity's reserve funds for house repairs, for example, the money will go toward a new or renovated house.
Dean of Students Bridget Riordan said the possibility of the new house depends largely both on the state of the U.S. economy in three years and the time at which AEPi completes fundraising.
"In three years, we'll know [about the final housing plan]," Riordan said. "We'll reassess everything in three years, and we'll determine what's going to happen."
Fraternity members expressed a need for a new house, especially given the fact that AEPi has a large presence on campus.
In addition to having less bed space than in the PIKE house, Barkoff said, the fraternity "doesn't have a big enough dining room for all of the brothers to eat in. It's an old house, and there's not enough common space for all of us to function as we had for the past seven years in the PIKE house."
B-School junior and AEPi President David Streger wrote in a statement to the Wheel that the fraternity is expanding. AEPi also "promotes academic learning as well as brotherhood," he said.
"[We] expect to reach a constituency of over 100 active students in the spring," Streger wrote. "With this expansion, we need to room to grow. Moving forward, a new AEPi house is imperative to preserving our Jewish legacy, enhancing the community at Emory and building the foundations of our brotherhood."
The fraternity had previously lived in a house on Eagle Row, which was torn down in 1994 to make room for the sorority village lodges – a move that Riordan said she feels, in part, merits a new AEPi residence.
"We're trying to give them an opportunity to have a fraternity living experience," Riordan said. "We want them to have a living-learning experience like the other fraternities do. We hope they're successful to move forward with the rest of their fundraising."
– By Jordan Friedman
