College terminates Sigma Chi lease of 550 Lasuen

The 550 Lasuen home is underneath Stanford possession and administration as of Aug. 31, after the College terminated an 86-year-old floor lease held by a bunch of Sigma Chi alumni. 

550 Lasuen, Neighborhood Magnolia’s solely non-theme non-Greek Row home, was residence to the Sigma Chi fraternity since its development in 1938. After the fraternity was de-chartered in 2018, the home grew to become a self-op, and since then, each residents of 550 Lasuen and new members of Sigma Chi have sought to determine new identities on campus.

Though the constructing was owned by Sigma Chi alumni, they leased the land from the College, a typical follow for Row homes within the Nineteen Thirties. 550 Lasuen would ultimately maintain the standing of the final floor lease on campus owned by a pupil group, after the College terminated the lease that Theta Chi held to 576 Alvarado in 2012.

In an illegal detainer lawsuit, Stanford argued to finish the lease to Alpha Omega Housing Company (AOHC) — made up of the group of Sigma Chi alumni who owned the home — early in 2019. Nevertheless, a 2020 court docket ruling and subsequent settlement settlement in 2021 decided that AOHC might maintain the lease till it expired in August 2023.

The lease contract stipulates that if Stanford ever doesn’t renew the lease, they “shall make all affordable efforts to offer various housing for [Sigma Chi] and [AOHC].” Ottilie stated the College has not finished that.

“We consider there’s an implied covenant to increase the lease, simply based mostly on the founders’ needs,” Ottilie stated. “However even when it’s not — [if] the lease isn’t prolonged — there’s an absolute responsibility to make finest efforts to offer another home.” 

Ottilie stated he anticipates a cordial relationship with the brand new College management, and expects the dispute will likely be settled to each events’ satisfaction. Nevertheless, he’s ready to defend AOHC’s declare to rights underneath the lease contract.

“We absolutely anticipate Sigma Chi goes to get housed by September of ’24, albeit in a College home,” Ottilie stated.

Since 2021, Stanford has been shifting in the direction of a four-year utility and allocation course of to deal with theme and Greek teams.

The AOHC-Stanford settlement stipulated that AOHC take away all its private possessions from the property upon the lease’s termination in August, together with all furnishings. Present 550 Lausen residents stated this created challenges in the course of the fall quarter move-in course of. 

“There was positively a little bit of transition when the lease [was terminated] as a result of they took a bunch of furnishings out and redid some carpets and doorways and issues like that,” stated resident Juna Nagle ‘24.

Resident Kieran Barrett ‘25 stated the College “has finished a really poor job managing the home now that it’s again of their management.” Some rooms had been additionally not absolutely prepared for college kids throughout move-in on Sept. 21, he stated, and his personal lacked a bookshelf.

“I had home windows that had been damaged for the reason that starting of the quarter and have but to be fastened,” Barrett stated. “They had been very clearly in poor health ready to get the home prepared in time and it reveals.”

R&DE spokesperson Jocelyn Breeland described this data as “inaccurate and unfair to the employees.”

“A number of home windows have damaged {hardware}, that stops them from opening/closing,” Breeland wrote. “Restore components are on order. Within the meantime, the upkeep workforce has manufactured short-term window crank covers.”

Relating to the bookshelves, Breeland wrote that “the final gadgets put in had been delivered and positioned in rooms on Sept. 20.”

Along with the furnishings, AOHC has additionally withdrawn the roughly $1000 greenback weekly stipend they used to allocate to the home for Sunday dinners, based on Barret.

Present Sigma Chi President Danny Kim ’25 stated that in the mean time, the fraternity plans to use for housing in the course of the upcoming cycle subsequent yr.

“After all, if we obtained 550 [Lasuen], that’d be superior, however the utility will put [the fraternity] in any home that Stanford sees match,” Kim stated.

He emphasised that whereas Sigma Chi hopes to get a home again, the present chapter will not be immediately concerned within the battle over 550 Lasuen. The unique Stanford chapter of Sigma Chi ceased functioning after its de-chartering. In Spring 2022, a completely new pledge class, together with Kim, began a brand new chapter that’s unaffiliated with the earlier chapter.

Kim stated they thought it will be “fairly humorous and funky” to begin a fraternity. “The chance to begin one thing new — with all of the conceptions about Greek life — we had been hoping to carry a brand new gentle to it and be a illustration of one thing totally different.”

Sigma Chi was beforehand allowed to host some occasions at 550 Lasuen, with permission from the home’s residents, and plans to host extra this yr. But some present residents of 550 Lasuen say that for probably the most half, the home has misplaced its affiliation with Sigma Chi, with no fraternity members dwelling there final yr and solely three dwelling there this yr. 

As the one non-Greek and non-theme Row home in Neighborhood Magnolia, 550 Lasuen is a extremely fascinating home for Magnolia residents. For Barrett, 550 Lasuen is especially invaluable as a result of for the reason that unhousing of Sigma Chi, it has served as what he calls “a nucleus of non-Greek life on the Row.”

“There’s additionally a lot of social programming that goes on that you simply actually don’t discover in different communities,” Barrett stated. “As somebody who’s not a part of Greek life, it’s simply very nice to have related occasions with out having to be a part of that system as an entire.”

Stanford lately eliminated some themed Row homes, reminiscent of Casa Italiana, La Maison Française and Slavianskii Dom.

550 Lasuen is “an excellent instance of how homes will be capable of keep identities regardless of the College’s try to strip all homes of their id,” Barret stated.

In line with Nagle, 550 Lasuen doesn’t have a lot of an affiliation with Sigma Chi anymore. Although it’s imprinted upon some that the home used to say “Historic Sigma Chi Home,” it’s “a reasonably regular Row home now,” he stated.