The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: News

Media Credit: ALEX BUSKO The Kappa Alpha fraternity house's location in a historic residential district on Hancock Street has met disapproval from local residents. However, KA President Drew Salisbury said the fraternity follows the city's ordinances. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: ALEX BUSKO Hancock Street [Click to enlarge]

Start at the ticket counter at Ciné and head west down Hancock Street. In a few blocks, downtown will melt away into Athens' historic residential district. Walk past the old, quiet homes with chain-link fences and tightly-drawn drapes. Continue until you see the Civil War replica cannon and a jovial group of men in cowboy hats - and you're there.

The Kappa Alpha fraternity house sits in Athens' historic Hancock Corridor. Completed in 2008, the $3.2 million brick complex towers stoically over the humble houses that surround it. A quick scan of the neighborhood and you might find Gail Hurley walking toward Hill First Baptist Church or Marion Coleman playing a game of Uno on her porch with her friend Shirley.

Hurley and Coleman are some of the few remnants of what was once a neigborhood largely populated by families. Many families recently sold their houses to developers and moved away. But for some, leaving is out of the question.

Standing on the front porch of her home that was built around 1895 and has been in her family more than 80 years, Hurley said she has no plans to leave.

"This is my family home," said Hurley, whose house sits next to the building where bands play at the KA house. "To me, it's not the place for college students to be. We know what college students do, and knew what it would be like to have college students in the community."

And the evidence of college students - alcohol bottles and plastic cups - has spilled over into Hurley's yard.

"It's not like I'm trying to be their friend or they're trying to be my friend," Hurley said. "They're loud and there are too many of them."

Hurley sometimes ends up with cars blocking her driveway and loud music blocking her sleep.

According to the Athens-Clarke County Code of Ordinances, cars that block Hurley's driveway are in violation of the law, as well as music later than midnight on Friday and Saturday. Hurley said the music is turned off within the parameters of the ordinance and the students have tried to clean up.

"We follow the city ordinances," said Kappa Alpha President Drew Salisbury. And as for the bottles and cups, "the trash is cleaned up by 8 a.m. every morning after parties," he said.

Despite the complaints of some neighbors, Salisbury said the fraternity has made efforts to maintain a good relationship with the neighborhood. He said he went door-to-door to speak with neighbors and distribute a number they can call if they have any problems or concerns. Salisbury has yet to receive a complaint, he said.

"As a chapter, we're very happy with this house," he said. "All of our needs and desires have been fulfilled."

Kappa Alpha's journey from Lumpkin Street to Hancock Street was longer than just a few blocks through downtown.

According to findings from a two-day assessment of the old KA house, "it would require a major reconstruction effort to restore this building to a condition suitable for occupancy." The cost of the reconstruction effort, which would require selective demolition, was determined to be similar in comparison to the cost of building a new house from scratch.

So in 2003, advisers to the fraternity looked for potential locations for a new house. The KA Advisory Board decided to not to join other Greek organizations on River Road, preferring instead the freedom and reduced University interference that come with direct ownership, according to a news release. Other properties that were initially considered were eventually dismissed because of zoning issues, grading costs and concerns regarding historic district restrictions.

By the summer of 2005, the property at 755 W. Hancock St. was selected, despite being in what some consider to be one of Athens' historically African-American, family-oriented neighborhoods.

"They are located in the wrong place, they should be on River Road where they belong," said Athens-Clarke County Commissioner George Maxwell, who said he has received complaints from neighbors regarding the loud music. "I was against them moving there before, and I am most definitely against them being there now."

Some of the controversy may stem from Kappa Alpha's designation as Robert E. Lee, famous for leading the Confederate Army during the Civil War, as their "spiritual founder."

"If you do any history and look at Lee, he was a southern gentleman," said Mark Cross, alumni adviser for the chapter. "He had reverence toward God and chivalry toward women. He had ideals of how you treat your fellow man, ideals that are as applicable today as when he was alive."

Cross said there are not many family residents in the neighborhood, and the only opposition to the new house was a handful of older neighbors.

"There are still families in this neighborhood; this is a neighborhood and I have a family," said one neighbor who said she wanted to remain anonymous because of her proximity to Kappa Alpha. She said she often hears loud music coming from the house, and that fraternity houses and residential houses are simply "incompatible."

Although she is appreciative of the University, and the fraternity brothers have been kind to her, she still believes the house was built in the wrong place.

"We never understood why they wanted to come to our neighborhood, but here they are," she said.

Not all neighbors, however, mind the new kids on the block.

Marion Coleman gets up at five in the morning to work at Bolton Dining Hall, and she lives just one house away from Kappa Alpha.

"The way I see it, if they have parties, people should have respect for one another," she said. "In a neighborhood they should allow for people who have to get up early."

Marion said although she thinks the house would be better suited outside of a residential area, she has occasionally ventured over to the Kappa Alpha house to listen to the music and socialize with the students.

"They play good music sometimes," she said.

Next door, Diane Ehlers seems to have similar feelings toward the fraternity.

"I think they're very much aware of 'we can do this, but we can't do it late,'" she said. "For the most part, they don't bother me and I don't bother them."

Ehlers said she has the number to contact the fraternity if she has a problem, but has not had to use it. She, too, said she can hear the music from inside her house, but does not mind when the music is good.

"But I never knew why they wanted to move here," she said. "It's a mystery."

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