After severe basement flooding in April of last year, members of the University of Wyoming’s Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity were forced to evacuate their chapter house — a house the university’s Board of Trustees has at this time, voted to demolish. The flood followed the rerouting of sewage pipes to accommodate construction of the new traffic circle on 15th Street, a decision that fraternity members say caused the damage, though the university has disputed this claim.
One fraternity brother who lived in the chapter house when this occurred, Chance Johnson, shared that his fraternity believes that “the [worker] watching the switch pump that was pumping sewage while they did construction on 15th street, fell asleep and the generator turned off, and it backflooded the basement with sewage water for the whole night.”
The chapter house, which could accommodate more than forty fraternity members, was closed, forcing those who lived there to move into university dorms. What was initially intended as a temporary reassignment lasting only a few weeks was repeatedly extended, leaving many members in limbo as the university and the fraternity worked to resolve the issue.
More recently, the University of Wyoming’s board of trustees voted to demolish the chapter house. Chairman Chad Baldwin shared that the votes had been in favor of its demolition due to “Life, health and safety concerns related to the current condition of the house versus the cost to repair.” claiming that the house is uninhabitable in its current state.
The fraternity was under the initial impression that the chapter house would be repaired rather than demolished, leaving members frustrated by what they viewed as limited communication and short notice to find new housing. It was expressed that the uncertainty surrounding the timeline made it difficult for the chapter to plan ahead.
“We’ve been left in the dark as one of the highest and most involved chapters at the time,” Johnson stated. “How can we be on board with their plan, and how can we have faith that things will be done in a timely manner?”
Chairman Baldwin communicated that, typically Greek organizations own their chapter’s houses, but in this case, the university owned the property and seeing that “the house [was] determined uninhabitable, and [that there are] no current suitable alternatives available for leasing, the fraternity will need to find another option.” He also added that, “The university worked closely with fraternity representatives for over a year to explore options to help keep the fraternity on the row. Unfortunately, those discussions did not provide a successful alternative.”
He had also explained the fraternity’s lease on the property had expired on June 1, 2024, following the flood in April that forced residents to evacuate. Baldwin noted that the university offered alternative housing in an existing dormitory at the time of the incident, and that the offer has been extended through the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 academic years to accommodate displaced members, stating, “The university remains a strong supporter of fraternities and sororities.”
For many members of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the loss of the chapter house has disrupted their sense of community.
“We can’t all live in the same place, we can’t do events in the same place near other Greek life facilities, we can’t do all of the things that we used to do,” said Curtis Olender, who was a freshman at the time of the flooding. He added that “now we are all disconnected… there are freshmen and sophomores here who want to be in a fraternity, but they don’t get to be as connected as we used to be… everyone is scattered.”
At this time, there are no concrete plans for the site’s redevelopment, and the situation is still ongoing. From what was shared by the board, the lot will remain vacant, reserved to preserve the historic function of the area as part of fraternity and sorority housing. Yet, despite the loss of their physical home, members of Sigma Phi Epsilon hold to a sentiment they’ve repeated throughout the process: You can’t demolish brotherhood.
