University of Virginia Library

ZETA PSI FRATERNITY LEASE

Mr. W. Allan Perkins, Attorney for the University, appeared before the Board and made the
following statement.

At a meeting of the Board of Visitors held on the 15th day of June, 1925, a resolution was
adopted authorizing Mr. C. Harding Walker, who was then Rector of the University, to execute a contract
by which a lot owned by the University, situated a short distance north of the Fayerweather
Gymnasium and having a front of 160 feet along the west side of Rugby Road, a depth of 138 feet on
its southern side, and a depth of 102 feet on its northern side was leased to Beta Chapter of Zeta
Psi Fraternity of North America, Incorporated, and pursuant to this resolution Mr. Walker, as Rector,
executed said lease which was dated June 15, 1925.

Mr. Perkins then presented a carbon copy of said lease, with the signature of C. Harding
Walker affixed thereto.

And by deed of trust dated June 15, 1925, recorded in the Clerk's Office of Albemarle
County, in D.B. 191, p. 135, said Beta Chapter of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Incorporated,
conveyed all of its interest and rights under this lease to John S. Battle and C. H. H. Thomas,
Trustees, to secure its 20 bonds for $1,000.00 each, all dated June 15, 1925, and payable to the
University in from 1 to 20 years after date, respectively, with interest at 6%.

Apparently this lease was never completed by having the University's seal affixed and
attested and the only copy we have, which is the copy just presented to this meeting, was never executed
by Beta Chapter of Zeta Psi. However this may be, the Fraternity proceeded to erect a large
and expensive house on the lot which has been occupied by said Beta Chapter ever since its completion
in 1926, and said Chapter has otherwise complied with all other terms of said lease.

On May 21, 1938, the charter of Beta Chapter of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Inc.,
was revoked and annulled by the State Corporation Commission on account of failure to pay annual
registration fees for the two preceding years.

Under date of April 6, 1948, the active alumni of Beta Chapter, believing that the situation
described above should not be allowed to continue, obtained a new charter for a corporation under
the name of "Beta Chapter House Corporation." This is a non-stock corporation, its members being
all members of Zeta Psi Fraternity, namely, B. F. D. Runk, William R. Duke, Jr., Dr. R. Gregory Magruder,
Cammann C. Duke, Dr. Frederick H. Wilke, and W. Allan Perkins. The principal office of this
corporation is in Charlottesville, and one of the main purposes of this incorporation was to have in
existence an organization composed of local and responsible alumni who could more properly manage
the business of Beta Chapter. To this end the Trustees of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Inc.,
a National organization, have filed their bill in chancery in the Circuit Court of Albemarle County,
asking that pursuant to Sections 3813 and 3880 of the Code of Virginia one or more persons be appointed
as receiver or receivers of the defunct corporation to take charge of its estate and effects and
to collect any debts due and belonging to said corporation, and that its affairs be would up and
any equity of redemption held by the old corporation in the original lease and in the fraternity
house aforesaid, subject to any debts still due by it, be transferred to said new corporation.

The Rector and Visitors of the University is made one of the parties defendant in this
bill, and as Attorney for the University I would like to be instructed to file an answer for the
University to this bill, in which answer the statement will be made that the University recognizes
the correctness of the allegations of the bill, believes that the lease of June 15, 1925, above referred
to, should be further approved, and states that the University is ready and willing, upon
transfer of all of the assets and equities of the old corporation to the new Beta Chapter House
Corporation to execute and deliver the new lease, the terms of which shall be identical with those
of the old, except that the lessee under the new lease shall be Beta Chapter House Corporation, it
being understood that this new lease shall not be delivered to said Beta Chapter House Corporation
until after all assets and equities of Beta Chapter of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Incorporated,
the defunct corporation, shall have been properly vested in said Beta Chapter House Corporation,
pursuant to decree or decrees of Albemarle Circuit Court entered in the chancery cause
aforesaid.

It was, thereupon,

RESOLVED - (1) That the terms of said lease of June 15, 1925, are hereby ratified and
approved;

(2) That W. Allan Perkins, Attorney for the University, be and is hereby instructed and
authorized to prepare and file an answer on behalf of The Rector and Visitors of the University of
Virginia to the bill in chancery which has been filed in the Circuit Court of Albemarle County by
the Trustees of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, as complainant against Ivey F. Lewis, Bernard
P. Chamberlain, and others, in which answer the University will admit the correctness of the allegations
of the bill, will express its approval of the terms of the old lease of June 15, 1925, and will
state that it is ready and willing to execute and deliver a new lease upon terms identical with
those of the old except that the lessee under the new lease shall be Beta Chapter House Corporation,
such new lease not to be delivered to said Beta Chapter House Corporation until after all assets and
equities of Beta Chapter of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Incorporated, the defunct corporation,
shall have been properly vested in said Beta Chapter House Corporation pursuant to decree or
decrees of Albemarle Circuit Court entered in the Chancery Cause aforesaid.

Mr. Perkins then presented to the meeting a form of new lease which he stated had been drawn
so as to embody the exact terms of the old lease of June 15, 1925, and asked that a resolution be adopted
authorizing the execution of this lease on behalf of the University and directing him to deliver
said executed lease when the conditions set out in the foregoing resolution have been complied with.

It was, thereupon, further

RESOLVED that Colgate W. Darden, Jr., President, be and is hereby authorized and directed
to execute said lease in the name and on behalf of The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia,
and Vincent Shea, Secretary of this Board, be and is hereby authorized and instructed to affix
the corporate seal thereto and attest the same, and W. Allan Perkins, Attorney for the University, is
instructed to deliver said lease to the lessee named therein, Beta Chapter House Corporation, when he
is satisfied that all assets and equities of Beta Chapter of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Incorporated,
have been legally vested in said Beta Chapter House Corporation pursuant to decree or decrees
of Albemarle Circuit Court entered in the chancery cause of the Trustees of Zeta Psi Fraternity
of North America v. Ivey F. Lewis, and others, now pending in the Circuit Court of Albemarle County.