The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity has been threatened by its neighbors with a lawsuit that would remove them from their property.

TKE members have lived in the seven-room house on Sierra Boulevard near Arden for seven years.

“Some semesters we get a lot of complaints, and some semesters we get no complaints at all,” said chapter president Gabe Garroni. “Most of our complaints come from Woodside.”

Since moving in, the fraternity has had tense relations with their neighbors, who live in both houses and Woodside Apartment Complex.

The Woodside Apartment Center has threatened the fraternity with a lawsuit that would force them off their land.

The State Hornet attempted to contact representatives at the Woodside Apartment Complex, but phone calls went unreturned by press time.

“I haven’t heard of any problems,” said neighbor and Sacramento State student Douglas McDevitt. “I also haven’t experienced any problems. I’m sure they cause a few problems here and there, but in a college town, that’s the sort of thing people have to deal with.”

Garroni said the fraternity has not yet been sued, but city inspectors have been out to inspect the house.

TKE was cited for various health and building code violations, but they were fixed by the beginning of the semester, Garroni said. Garroni also believes that the problems go further than code violations.

“There is a certain stereotype of fraternities,” he said, “We’ve had parties, we’ve had some drinking, but it’s never been a problem We did have a New Year’s party, that the cops showed up to. There was some drinking then, but that wasn’t the problem. We’ve curbed mixers and parties to save money for our community projects.”

TKE has been heavily involved in the community since the chapter was established in 1993. Their projects include assisting local homeless, volunteering at Mercy hospital, and visiting retirement homes. The members of TKE feel that these are often overlooked in favor of prejudices against fraternities.

“Also, most people don’t know this but before they started threatening us with lawsuits, Woodside tried to buy some of our land, and we wouldn’t sell,” Garroni said.

The controversy has not hurt incoming members.”We always have a big rush class,” said Garroni in front of his fraternity’s table.

None of the Greek organizations appeared hurt by the allegations against TKE. Most saw a lot of potential rushes stop by their tables in the Library Quad last week for information on joining. Most had not heard of the troubles facing TKE.

“I haven’t heard anything about it,” said a member of the Chi Delta sorority. “I wasn’t even aware they had their own house.”That did not surprise Garroni, who understands the problems that face fraternities.

“Other fraternities are fighting their own battles,” he said. “The Greek system here is not as strong as it should be.”

Interfraternity Council President Brandon Kline said the IFC would handle the problem internally, and that the purpose of the IFC is to support its members.

“The real problem is a lack of a fraternity row at Sac State,” Kline said. “We’re looking at the 65th Street Housing Development for College Town. It’s difficult for the neighbors and hard to raise a family in a neighborhood that houses a fraternity.”

Moe Stephens, the Greek Advisor for Sac State, showed support for the fraternity.

“There’s not much we can do, we can’t govern houses off campus,” Stephens said. “We are trying to facilitate discussions between the house and Woodside that we hope can happen in February.”

Though their neighbors continue to complain, the members of TKE are not deterred by their threats.

“If we lose this house, we’ll buy another,” Garroni said.