Friday, August 17, 2001




                  The Associated Press

                  CORTLAND -- A rival fraternity member faces charges that he
set a fire that heavily damaged
                  the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house, police said Thursday.

                  Andre O. Logan, 21, of Baldwin, Nassau County, was charged
with second-degree arson and
                  second-degree burglary, Class B and C violent felonies.

                  The investigation into the fire, which gutted the third and
part of the second floor on Saturday, is
                  continuing and more arrests are possible, Cortland police
said.

                  Lt. Jon Gesin said the motive for the arson was retaliation.
An unrecognized fraternity at the State
                  University College of New York at Cortland, Delta Kappa
Beta, was evicted from the house after
                  being there for several decades.

                  Pi Kappa Phi, a recognized fraternity at Cortland, moved
into the house two weeks before the
                  fire.

                  Gesin said Logan had been a member of Delta Kappa Beta but
was now attending Tompkins
                  Cortland Community College. Logan was arraigned Thursday in
Cortland City Court.

                  Police released few details about the fire, but said
investigators found evidence of arson on the first
                  and second floors of the house.

                  Cortland Fire Chief Dennis Baron said one resident was in
the house when the fire started but was
                  not injured.

Doug Gordner,CFSI-Fire Protection Specialist
Environmental Health & Safety
Ithaca College
Ithaca, New York 14850
(607)-274-1846
(607)-274-1868 (fax)
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