penn state φδθ countersues using arcane rule to save their house

Many a frat has knuckled under when the university moved to retake their property, but not the alumni of Phi Delta Theta at Pennsylvania State University. After the chapter was suspended last year, the university moved to purchase their felicitously-located property, which the fraternity had held since 1905. Wishing to keep open the opportunity to return to campus, the alumni demurred and refused arbitration to determine a fair price.

For most properties, that would be the end, since an owner need not sell if he does not wish to. But the Phi Delta Theta plot had been granted them in 1905 under the condition that it be used as a fraternity house. Should it cease to be so used, the university had the right to repurchase the lot. The university now contends that Phi Delta Theta does not qualify as a fraternity, since the university does not recognize fraternities without a national organization, and the local chapter was expelled by its national after a series of alcohol violations. (I suppose this means we should be technically be referring to it as "The Chapter Formerly Known as Phi Delta Theta.")

The chapter in countersuit argues that they need not be a recognized fraternity but only a fraternity to meet the conditions of the 1905 grant. But they also bring to bear an arcane legal principle entitled the Rule Against Perpetuities. In short, the Rule states that any grant must settle finally without condition within twenty-one years of the death of someone alive when the grant was made. The idea animating the Rule is that the "dead hand" of the grantor should not be able to encumber a property with conditions reaching down through the generations. A condition that exceeds the Rule's horizon is void, as Phi Delta Theta argues is the condition that the property be used as a fraternity house. Of course, this being an arcane legal principle, there are exceptions, and thus the lawyers will spar.

Apparently one for the bon mot, the frat's lawyer summed up the suit: "This is as rare in law as human rabies is, and it’s equally fatal."

Centre Daily TimesPenn State Daily Collegian