You could get a Pi Phi in the family at Indiana...just sayin'. :D

Any of the 20 chapters involved could make a difference, but it would take a monumental effort to promote any sort of change there.

Indiana was actually a school my daughter was interested in. I flat out said NO. Also UT even though all my husband's family is there AND she attended summer camp in TX. I don't need the heart ache or drama and there are plenty of other schools that she is interested in with nice Greek Systems where there is a better chance she will receive a bid.

From the chapter end: I think most chapters would love to see the bid rate be higher, but at the same time, IU really equates sorority life with living in the house. In addition, we love knowing almost every girl in the house and being very close with our PC's. I know with my house, our nationals are pushing us to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it's very frustrating. We obviously are willing to expand, but at the same time, it eventually becomes logistically and physically impossible to get much bigger. When you're limited by the boundaries of the chapter house for things like chapter, you can only fit x number of girls into your dining room/chapter room. How then do you choose which girls get to go to chapter? It feels like herding cats! I think some of the smaller chapters also are more elitist. Delta Delta Delta, for example, is one of (if not THE) smallest chapter, but they're also in most girls' top 5 when they initially form opinions. We're willing to give some, but we don't want to be SEC big.

My own opinion: Something has got to give eventually. The way we do things now is dysfunctional and leads to so many girls hating the greek system. At the same time, adding non-housed chapters isn't the best option either since girls are going "hmmm, 19 houses versus 2 unhoused? I want the real sorority experience...I'm only going to look at the traditional 19." I think a compromise by removing the senior live-in requirement would be a good start...although girls will hate it since housing is so limited. But by senior year, most girls want out of the chapter house.

Where do non-Greeks generally live?

To go along with the question above - When you say housing is limited do you mean dorms or do you mean there aren't many rental houses/apartment complexes available around the school or both?

Wait, so all the greek girls at IU live in house? For all four years?

The pledges live in the house during the pledge period?

Indiana has quite a lot of dorm space. The university has been in the process of renovating the dorms, creating different types of living experiences. There are lot of apartments and rental houses in Bloomington. There is definitely not a shortage of housing. Off campus housing is available at all price points.

For the most part, yes. Just a few chapters have live out policies, last I heard 7 chapters such policies. If the seniors who wanted to live out were allowed to, each chapter could take at least 30 more women.

No, IU has deferred recruitment in January. New members do not move in until the following fall.

^^^In that case what does IUHoosiergirl88 mean when she says girls would hate that because housing is so limited?

I understand girls wanting to live in. My daughter definately felt it helped her bond with her chpapter even for the two quarters she lived in and she feels like its definately beneficial for a pledge class to live together for a year, maybe even two, but I think if they'd had to do it for four - the town's domestic violence rate would have spiked significantly....along with the homicide rate.

I'll let her clarify, but I do know there is a lot of campus housing available. The last alumni magazine I received in the mail had a big feature story on the dorm renovations and how more students are staying in campus housing past freshman year. Also, a new dorm was built behind the Kelley School of Business for just b-school students. There are a ton of rental props around the stadium, downtown and around the mall areas. If you can't find housing in Bloomington you're just not looking! However, the premium areas can be really high priced. There are several apartment complexes now that are high end and cost much more than Greek housing.

^^^That sounds more like what I would expect in a college town. I kind of thought when it sounded like housing was limited "What are the real estate developers in Indiana thinking because in down market - there's a gold mine." At least that's been the case at U of O where they can't put up apartment complexes and dorms fast enough. Yeah, it's going to be a little more expensive, but weighing that out with the alternative - lots of heartbroken, angry girls- that telling girls they can only live in one or two years and going to a quota system would seem like a simple and obvious solution, but to each their own I guess.

LOL. We live in for a year and as long as you are on exec. I loved it but I think that's plenty.

Just clarifying...you said NO to IU and UT because you didn't feel like they'd be a good academic fit for your daughter, or did you seriously tell her she couldn't go to SCHOOL somewhere because of the chance she may not get a SORORITY bid?

Back to clarify what I meant! There's not a 'shortage' of off-campus housing per say, but if you're looking to room with more than 1 other person, you sign leases for houses in September/October for the next school year, nicer apartments are gone by December. There's a lot of competition, and a lot of the apartments are, for lack of a better phrase, hell holes. (Case in point: my BF's apartment has mice in the walls and cabinets right now and they won't do a thing about it. They poop on his dishes! We're buying mousetraps this week) The on-campus apartments outside of Union Street aren't places people really want to live unless it's a last resort, as they're expensive and have rather unflattering nicknames to describe the people living inside of them. Girls don't and won't go back to the dorms because there is a stigma that people who live in the dorms more than one year are socially inept, basically. Plus they're expensive and a pricey meal plan is basically required.

So in the end, girls are like well...I can move to a tiny apartment, compete for a house, or stay in my mansion where someone cooks and cleans for me. Other than seniors...it seems like a pretty obvious choice!