Fraternity Ordered to Donate 5,000 Hours of Community Service

Cal State Fullerton’s Delta Chi fraternity pleaded guilty Friday to housing code violations and was ordered to donate 5,000 hours of community service and also to vacate the house until repairs are done.

During an arraignment in North Orange County Municipal Court, the fraternity pleaded guilty to 13 misdemeanor counts of violating fire, health, safety and building code violations.

The fraternity’s house members plan to leave the house for about a month and move in with friends and relatives while the repair work is done, Delta Chi President Greg Linsmeier said Friday. The members must be out by Jan. 1.

“You have to bite your lip, do the right thing, make sure you passed the code. They picked on us a little bit, but what can you do?” Linsmeier said.

In exchange for the fraternity’s guilty plea, the city dismissed charges against individually named defendants, including Linsmeier and the three owners of the house at 2100 Associated Road.

Will Clean Up Neighborhood

As part of the agreement, the fraternity agreed to serve 5,000 hours of community service over 3 1/2 years, Linsmeier said. That will including cleaning the area around so-called Frat Row, where fraternity houses and neighboring residents have been at odds for years.

City officials have said they gave the fraternity 18 months to correct the violations, including electrical and plumbing infractions.

But fraternity alumni have said they have been refurbishing the home for about a year. Linsmeier said that 75% of the problems described 18 months ago already have been corrected.

He said the group’s 25 active members and eight pledges plan to use the time away from the house to reorganize. When they return, Linsmeier said, he hopes that the fraternity will again be officially recognized by the university, which withdrew its recognition because of the group’s problems with the city.

This is not the first time the fraternity has been without the university’s official recognition. Two years ago, the fraternity was suspended by both the university and its national headquarters after several incidents, including a panty raid on two sororities in September, 1984.