SETH KEAN VISITS THE HOUSE

The following was written by Seth Kean (Sammy):

Gentlemen,

It's been a while since I have seen and felt something so sad, yet so comforting. Just last weekend, I paid a visit to Syracuse and the Crow House. These pictures, taken while the students were back in school, have been not been altered (nor taken from the Depression era).

My wife, Amy, joined me on this Syracuse trip. She also attended SU ('91 grad), but had never seen or heard of AXP. Henceforth, her willingness to marry me fourteen years later. Walking from Ostrom and Euclid, the visual of the AXP Pad was only evident until we were literally at the back door.

My wife was dumbfounded. Even I was a little amazed. To best understand her first five comments, please get a tape of any CNN Reporter when he/she hit the scene in New Orleans. Her dialogue when first seeing the Crow House is the exact same of those CNN reporters first seeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina:

Comment 1: "Oh My God...... this is 20x-30x worse than anyone told me it was"

Comment 2: "Do people live here now?"

Comment 3: "This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen- this is the real Animal House "

Comment 4: "Hollywood companies should pay $100,000 and use this actual house as a fraternity movie set. No movie production company could ever recreate this house as is.

Comment 5: "Someone should help these people"


Realistically, the House is actually in much worse shape than it was fifteen years ago. The white paint has mostly fallen off the exterior and there are holes, dents, chipped paint everywhere.
The only thing saving the Home from rats is that there is no food and crumbs to be found elsewhere. Really, not even crumbs and there is literally nothing in the fridge. Nothing.
There was one brother in the house. Justin was icing his elbows for no apparent reason (and I asked him and there was no real reason).

It was the type of random act that strangely felt similar to the random acts of the late 80's and 90's. Justin says there are talks of the House closing, but he is hoping they can recruit enough pledges to stay open. The same type of talk that AXP SU has endured for over a decade. In a strange way, it was comforting to see AXP in the underdog/rebel role of old. I much rather see the House fighting for its survival on campus, than AXP being moved to a luxurious off-campus site. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Maybe I've seen one too many Revenge of the Nerds movies, but somehow us AXP alumni should help out during next January's rush period. It's unrealistic with families, jobs and geography, but if Lewis and Booger can get help from the Tri Delts African-American alumni, can we really turn our collective backs?