The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity has just joined the growing list of fraternities closing their houses.

Due to financial reasons, TKE will not have any members living in their house at 224 Ash Ave. next year, said Scott Hemesath, president of TKE.

“It is the facility that is closing, but they will still be considered a chapter on campus,” said Alisa Frandsen, assistant dean of students for greek affairs. “They will still have all the privileges of a student organization at Iowa State.”

The closing stemmed from a culmination of events beginning with two fires in the house, said Hemesath, junior in industrial technology.

He said the first house fire erupted in 1979, and a smaller one followed in 1989. After the second fire, the fraternity took a mortgage to pay for the fire damages and expansions to accommodate more members, Hemesath said.

As a result of the repairs, the facility required 72 men living in it to operate efficiently, he said.

“In the past 10 years, we haven’t met that goal,” Hemesath said. “The whole greek community is suffering low numbers.”

Ryan Burchett, TKE’s adviser, said low membership has resulted in insufficient funds.

“Financially, we are not at a point that our membership has a cash flow to sustain our bills,” Burchett said. “What we’re doing now is stepping back and analyzing the situation.”

Along with members changing living situations, the TKE chapter meetings will now take place outside of the house, he said.

“We’re a student organization, so we are still allowed to rent any room on campus,” Hemesath said. Hemesath said TKE would not be doing a formal rush this summer, but hope to do one in the summer of 2004.

The fraternity house will be closed for at least a year, but both Hemesath and Burchett said they are optimistic about it reopening in the future with significant changes in both the house and the fraternity itself.

While the fraternity is still exploring its options, they are reviewing the possibility of remodeling the house to resemble suite-style living with a lower capacity, Burchett said.

“Sometimes you have to take a step backward to move forward,” Burchett said.

The fraternity did explore other options before their Board of Directors made the final decision to close the house, Hemesath said.

“One of the solutions was to raise our fees,” Hemesath said.

He said raising fees would not help the financial situation of the TKE chapter.

Caution and patience are required to remedy the situation, Burchett said.