Lehigh to offer new Classical Education housing in former Chi Psi house

This fall, upperclassmen have the new opportunity to live in a Classical Education themed house on the hill.

This new community will be located in House 84, formerly the Chi Psi Fraternity house. The fraternity was terminated on Dec. 19, 2024 after the Lehigh University Police Department, student affairs and a third-party investigator found the chapter guilty of multiple charges, including hazing and violating various regulations. 

House 84 had been empty, but it is now home to the Classical Education themed housing community. According to the Lehigh Housing Website, the upperclassmen community is for students passionate about literature, debate and the liberal arts, and classical education.

The Classical Education house is associated with the Literary and Debate Society, which was established by Caedmon Holland, ‘28, and Jim Kemp, ‘28, in fall 2024. 

Classical education is a liberal arts centered approach to education and thinking with roots tracing back to ancient Greek and Roman teachings. Kemp said the house members aim to uphold classical education’s intellectual traditions. 

When Holland, the community coordinator of the house and president of the Literary and Debate society, first came to Lehigh, he said he was looking for a community like the society where he could be intellectually challenged.

Since Lehigh did not have one, he said he decided to create it.

Kemp, the vice president of the Literary and Debate Society, worked with Holland on an application for themed housing, which they submitted in late February. 

Holland said the application included questions about the house’s proposed theme, leadership, types of events that will be held and location. 

He said applications for themed houses are reviewed by a committee that decides whether the houses will be approved and where they will be placed on campus. The community landed in House 84, which Holland said was renovated over the summer and is a great fit for their group.

While the house is associated with the Literary and Debate society, Holland said residents do not have to be members of the society to live in the themed community. Additionally, he said club events and house events will mostly be differentiated. 

“We want to make it into a community, or almost even a family, of people who will have house events that bond us together,” Holland said. 

Holland said the house will hold a monthly dinner with professors and other guests to share their work or research. They will also host weekly literary discussions.

Sean Shvo, ‘28, is a resident of the Classical Education house, and said he chose to live in the house because he enjoys being a member of the Literary and Debate Society.Shvo said he is looking forward to living with students who have a shared mindset and values, as well as participating in “intellectually stimulating” events. 

Kemp said the house will also have a book club, where members will vote on a book to read and come together to discuss.

“We want to push each other to think more deeply about whatever it is we want to learn about,” Kemp said.

He also said the group is all about knowledge and self improvement. 

What Kemp said differentiates the Classical Education house from other themed houses at Lehigh is the fact that it isn’t dedicated to a specific type of education.

“The club is for its own sake, because it’s beautiful or artistic, not because it is necessarily practical or pre-professional,” Kemp said.

The house has 25 spots, Holland said, all of which are filled for the 2025-26 school year. 

Kemp said a goal of the house is to maintain at least 25 members to ensure the community continues in the future.

Kemp said the community will foster a learning environment.

He also said they were motivated to create this community to help people realize they will always be their own best teacher. 

“In a curriculum, you can be presented with information, but to really learn, understand and develop yourself mentally, that has to come from yourself,” Kemp said. “That’s really our goal with the house, to foster that sort of environment and to support it in each other.”