Fullerton, Greeks Feuding Over Frat Row : New Location for Houses May Be Only Solution

A midday quiet hung over the neat, tree-lined street just north of the Cal State Fullerton campus.

Vicky Jackson surveyed the rainy scene from her cramped, two-bedroom apartment and agreed that it is not always so.

On a typical sunny afternoon, Jackson’s senses might be assaulted by loud music and occasional raucous noises from any one of seven houses just south of her building on Teri Place.

The houses are home to the fraternities of Cal State Fullerton.

“Sometimes on weekends or on party nights, the noise is very annoying, and I feel like calling the cops,” Jackson said. “But then, I don’t really want to get anyone in trouble for just having fun.”

Both Sides Trade Charges

A classic town-gown dispute between Fullerton and the fraternities has long simmered, with charges of boorish behavior leveled at the frat members and claims of unfair treatment aimed at the city.

As the fall semester got under way, the dispute seemed to boil over, with the city reaffirming its intent to crack down with allegations of safety, health and building code violations and fraternities threatening to defy city laws and boycott Fullerton businesses.

Representatives of the two sides recently sat down to discuss the problem. For the first time everyone seemed to agree on one point: Frat Row should be moved far away from Teri Place.

“The university has been suggesting for a long time that the only long-term solution is to move somewhere else,” said T. Roger Nudd, the university’s vice president for student services. “I think, intellectually, the frats realized that also but were comfortable where they were.”

The problems in Fullerton may also stem from changing population patterns, the nature of fraternities and CSUF’s particular life style.

“Fullerton is essentially a commuter college. There is no social life on campus, and the school has provided no place for students to have a social life on campus,” said Steve Forell, co-chairman of the Greek Alumni Advisory Council. “The neighborhood where the houses are located is a problem because most of those apartments were built for families 30 or 40 years ago. Today, there are far more people in the area and too little space to accommodate them.

“One of the biggest problems is that there is no place for parking, and that results in frat members having to traipse over other people’s property to get to their cars,” Forell added.

Forell said the city is trying to assert parental authority over the fraternities.

He said, “Our feeling is that the (Greek) system is growing, that alumni support is growing and maturing and that we can control ourselves.”

Hoping to avoid confrontations during “rush week” this year, the frats proclaimed that all activities would be dry--no alcohol--and would be held on campus away from testy neighbors.

City officials were less than impressed.

“That doesn’t mean a whole lot when practically every event on the row leading up to rush week was wet,” said Chris Meyer, assistant to the Fullerton city manager.

Several hundred party-goers had to be dispersed during one gathering, he added.

Last month, code enforcement officers closed a two-story duplex owned by Phi Sigma Kappa, declaring it a health and fire hazard. Members have still not been able to move back in.

In the spring, officers tore down six-foot fences at three houses that were built, frat members said, to keep out party crashers. Police also raided a house where members were thought to be using illegal cable TV hookups.

The Delta Chi fraternity has had many run-ins with city officials in the past and was suspended twice by the university for failing to comply with city regulations and for a 1984 panty raid on two sororities. Last year, it was sued by two strippers who accused frat members of attacking them during a party.

Floyd Cole, who has managed the 48-unit Atlanta Pacifica apartments on Milton Avenue next door to frat row for 12 years, accused frat members of carrying away the large potted plants belonging to the apartments, of urinating in the pool and of tearing up the pool lounge chairs, among other misdeeds.

“They make noise something terrible, and they park in front of the garages,” Cole said. “If they left, it would be a halfway-decent neighborhood again. They should be on campus where they can make as much noise as they want to.”

But John Nunez, who lives in an apartment across the street from Frat Row, said frat members have not caused special problems in the neighborhood.

“I’ve met some of them, and they are polite and respectful,” Nunez said. “I’ve never had a problem with them stealing anything. Parking is a problem and they have parties, but it usually doesn’t last too long. I’ve lived next to worse.”

The fraternity brothers, about 350 strong, decline to talk about it. They have banded together and agreed to clam up until things cool down, on the advice of their attorney, they said.

“We feel we’ve gotten a bad rap,” one Delta Sigma Phi member said.

The feud between the frats and the city has proved divisive to relations between the city and the university.

“Some problems we’re seeing are a result of things that have been done (by the city) as countermoves against the fraternities,” university vice president Nudd said.

“Keep in mind that behavior does not occur in a vacuum. . . . Some city requirements make a good deal of sense . . . some things make less sense. I’m really reluctant to discuss it further for fear of fanning the flames.”

Meyer, the assistant to the Fullerton city manager, said most problems could be resolved if “Cal State Fullerton got more actively involved and used the sanctions available to it to deal with irresponsible behavior.”

Meyer, noting the probable high cost of acquiring land somewhere else in the city, said the fraternities should move onto the campus, and even suggested a site on Yorba Linda Boulevard just east of State College Boulevard.

“Fraternities have certain characteristics, like having lots of parties, that attract large numbers of people to them,” Meyer said. “If they were to move onto campus they would no longer be impacting the neighborhood, and it would move the regulation of their activities to the campus police, rather than city forces.”

University officials said a move onto the campus is not feasible because there is little space available and other buildings are being built there.

And Nudd said the trustees of the California State University system, by policy, do not permit fraternity housing on campus.

But Meyer said provisions of the education code on the subject are being vaguely interpreted by the trustees.

Fullerton officials are seeking to have the policy changed through legislation. Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Fullerton) is sponsoring a bill that specifically includes fraternities and sororities in a category of nonprofit entities to which the university system can lease land. The bill has passed the Assembly and will be considered by the Senate in January.

“It is definitely a response to the situation at Fullerton,” said Linda Brown, Johnson’s legislative assistant. “We feel that it clarifies what is in existing law but may not have been interpreted that way in the past, although there doesn’t appear to be a quick and easy solution to the problem, especially in Fullerton.”

Continuing complaints from neighbors prompted the City Council to pass a new ordinance two years ago in a bid to exert more control over the Greeks.

The law requires fraternities and sororities to obtain conditional use permits for their houses by Jan. 2, 1988. The permits cost $600 and are subject to annual review.

Greek houses that do not obtain the permits would be declared public nuisances and could be closed. One of the criteria for granting a permit states that “excessive or undue police activity shall not have been generated by the specific fraternity or sorority, or its members or guests,” and it should not have “generated an excessive number of verifiable complaints against it.”

Frat members said the ordinance is also being construed by city officials to prohibit garages being used for storage or entertainment purposes, effectively halting their use as party rooms.

Some university officials and most fraternity members said that many of the requirements are vague and that city officials are building complaint files so the houses can be closed down altogether. So far, all six sororities have been granted permits, but just one of the seven fraternities--reform-minded Delta Chi--submitted an application before the Sept. 25 deadline.

Nudd would not discuss the university’s position on provisions of the ordinance, citing the possibility of a legal challenge.

Ron Talmo, a professor at Western State University College of Law, who is acting as the Greeks’ legal adviser, would only say that the city and fraternities are “negotiating” some of the provisions.

Ted Commerdinger, associate city planner, said the ordinance is legal and was enacted to “install some kind of accountability.”

“It is not a scheme to put them out of business; this is a university town, after all,” he said.

Forell, a 1975 Cal State Fullerton graduate and former president of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, said a task force would be established to find the most suitable new home for Frat Row and expressed optimism that a solution would be found.

Three alternative locations for Frat Row are under consideration: a four-acre site owned by the Fullerton school district on State College Boulevard near Troy High School, a 10-acre lot owned by Union Oil, south of Bastanchury Road between State College and Brea boulevards, and another 10-acre, city-owned site at Bastanchury Road and State College Boulevard.

“Right now, the most important thing is that everybody is sitting down and talking,” Forell said. “There is at least some progress.”

FRATERNITIES AT CAL STATE FULLERTON

Fraternities were first established on the Cal State Fullerton campus 22 years ago. Today, there are 10--one of them inactive, pending reorganization--that are recognized by the local Interfraternity Council and the National Interfraternity Conference. Another fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, is not recognized by either interfraternity organization.

Year chapter chartered Current, active at Fullerton initiated members 1. Delta Chi 1966 27 2. Delta Sigma Phi 1977 68 3. Kappa Sigma 1984 41 4. Lambda Chi Alpha 1977 49 5. Phi Kappa Tau 1966 39 6. Phi Sigma Kappa 1966 inactive 7. Sigma Alpha Epsilon 1969 59 8. Sigma Pi 1978 73 9. Tau Kappa Epsilon 1969 78 10. Sigma Alpha Mu* 1984 24

* Sigma Alpha Mu is located in Anaheim.

Source: Cal State Fullerton Interfraternity Council