Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike), Chi Phi and Xi Kappa fraternities will be changing houses this fall, according to an email sent to the Wheel by Jeff Tate, assistant director of sorority and fraternity housing.

On March 21, members of Pike were notified by Tate that they will relocate from their current house at 22 Eagle Row to the Asbury House at 764 Peavine Creek effective fall 2014. Xi Kappa, who currently occupy the Asbury House, will move into 13 Eagle Row, which is currently occupied by Chi Phi. Chi Phi will move into Pike’s current house.

Tate said these changes come at the end of long conversations between Residence Life and Housing and the respective chapters regarding occupancy, beginning with the occupancy policy adopted in November.

“During the process, Residence Life became aware that several organizations were going to have difficulties filling every space in their assigned property,” Tate said. “Staff in Residence Life and Housing and the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life met with student leaders and chapter advisors to discuss the low occupancy issue and offered help and possible solutions.”

When Pike turned in its final occupancy roster on March 20, there were 14 empty spaces, something that Tate said was “egregiously below the 100 percent occupancy policy.”

Residence Life and Housing officials suggested that Pike be moved to a smaller space to help accommodate their smaller chapter size and help focus their efforts on strengthening their membership and recruitment efforts.

Goizueta Business School junior Glenn Felder wrote to the Wheel that while moving to the Asbury House is not ideal, he thinks it’s important that the presence of Pike on the row is maintained.

“We have a quality brotherhood with great members, and we need to focus on building our numbers so that we can put ourselves in a position to get our house back in the near future,” Felder wrote. “Recruitment is key.”

Felder also added that because of the size and location of the house, Pike will probably have more social events off campus.

College senior and Xi Kappa Vice President of the Exterior Jonathan Liu wrote in a statement to the Wheel that the fraternity members are excited to move houses.

“Xi Kappa is thrilled to move to Eagle Row this upcoming fall,” Liu wrote. “We are a relatively new organization that was founded only four years ago, but we have grown both in numbers and as a chapter – learning about different factors that we should consider as a fraternity.”

Liu wrote that the new house on the row will help the fraternity take its place on campus.

“As we continue to expand as a fraternity, we also strive to further develop our relations with other Greek organizations and to contribute more to the Emory community,” Liu wrote.

Goizueta Business School sophomore and Chi Phi President Daniel Sokolov wrote in a statement to the Wheel that Chi Phi’s rapid growth since returning to campus was heartening.

“Seeing this fraternity grow from the 20-man houseless fraternity we were last year into the 57 strong organization we are today amazes me,” Sokolov wrote.

Sokolov wrote that while Chi Phi’s intention was to return to the Connolly House (Zeta Beta Tau’s current residence), which was their old chapter’s house, he and the rest of the fraternity are excited to live in a much larger space.

“We, the brothers of the Chi Phi Fraternity, see the acquisition of our new house as a gift of trust, one given to us because we have proven ourselves to be exceptional men within Emory and the Greek Community,” Sokolov wrote. “In addition to accommodat[ing] our burgeoning brotherhood, Chi Phi will utilize [22 Eagle Row] to further promote solidarity and unity amongst an already strong brotherhood.”

– By Stephen Fowler

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Stephen Fowler 16C is the political reporter at Georgia Public Broadcasting, the statewide NPR affiliate in Georgia. He graduated from Emory with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and covered the central administration and Greek Life for the Wheel before serving as assistant news editor, Emory Life editor and the Executive Digital Editor from 2015-16.