ALL THIS AND HOMEWORK TOO

At a school where fraternities have had their share of public-relations problems over the years, the most outrageous things about the Greek scene at Cal State Fullerton these days tend to be loud parties and unkempt rooms.

Take Phi Kappa Tau. In the mid-’90s, the fraternity came under fire for having pledges run around in the nude as part of the hazing ritual, an overabundance of alcohol and so many frat brothers who skipped classes that their grade-point averages were 0.0.

In 1997, the fraternity’s national chapter evicted several members and worked to clean up its image. The number of active members is up to 40--and grade-points averages have risen too.

Nowadays, far more typical is the weekly three-on-three as well as the action in a crowded bedroom of this eye-catching former barn, which has served as home to the brothers of Phi Kappa Tau since 1960.

While 19-year-old Dave Vasquez struggles with a battery of coloring and bleaching products to remove the remnants of the electric Smurf-blue hair color he wore to a costume party, a cadre of seven young men is gathered around the television. An addictive new Sony Playstation skateboarding game has held them captive for the better part of six hours.

Techno music is pulsing loudly through the room, which sleeps four men in two sets of bunk beds. Also in the modestly sized room: three surfboards, two computers, two desks, three bureaus, a lava lamp, a floor fan, a recliner and two other chairs, a broken stereo, two computers and a full-sized refrigerator.

“There’s a refrigerator in the kitchen, but it’s a lot safer to keep your stuff in here,” Vasquez explains. As in: If you keep your stuff in the kitchen, the other guys might eat it.

This week, 19-year-old sophomore Chad Olis is eating corn dogs. They come frozen, 18 to a pack.

“I’m sick of corn dogs,” says Olis, of Santa Ana. “When I lived at home, I hated Sunday because we always had roast for dinner. Now that sounds so good. Home-cooked food.”

“I know, man. My first two months here I ate nothing but this, three times a day,” says Jerry Santos, 19, holding up a package of instant Ramen noodles. Now, since he has landed a job, Santos says he’s eating a lot more fast food.

A freshman from Bellflower, Santos is talking on the phone and doing his computer science homework while the room throbs around him.

When three women arrive, the conversation turns philosophical:

“Why do girls hate video games so much?” Olis asks.

“Because we lose you,” says Dawn Nadeau, 22, a senior from Anaheim who is studying to be a teacher.

“Then play with us, and you’ll be with us,” Olis says with exasperation before turning his attention back to the game.

“These guys are gentlemen,” Nadeau says of the Phi Kappa Tau members. “Some other guys treat the girls like objects, but these guys, they’ll get you a soda and open it for you.”