Tippiechick, That could be true... I will be honest and say I did not read everyones posts through... including his. What I did read... read to me his opinion or observations from his time at FSU. All said Panhellenically, A&As

wow - why is it that this site seems to latch on to certain new members like a starving dog with a bone?

i myself don't particularly like posting on the open forums for this very reason...

it's amazing to me how quickly some individuals are to lash out at others-

and NO I'M NOT REFERING TO JUST THIS THREAD - "I am referring to a larger general problem of bashing another person's posts to make your own look good, " and this (at times) hypocratic overemphasis of being the most "panhellenic" GCer on the site.

what's the point of having an open forum if only certain opinions are really welcome?

::steps off soapbox::

- marissa

aopirose - btw, modifying your quote wasn't an attack, i simply liked the wording and felt that it fit well with what i was trying to express...


edited to add - welcome to GC FSUSigEpAlum, hopefully you stay around!
:)

*round of applause*

Joins ZTAngels in applauding Angels&Arrows...

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Thread
 

So I was thinking about housing, and what's important about housing. I broke it down into 5 categories:

Location, location, location. The house really needs to be in an area that is confined. This makes acquiring a house difficult. No one has stated who currently owns the former AOPi and AZD houses. I'd like to know. The new greek park is 2 miles away from the nearest sorority house. That won't work.

Exterior Looks: Not important, and no correlation. The Theta house looks like a 1972 dental office complex. The Thetas at FSU are awesome. The Sigma Kappa house is beautiful. They folded twice in the last 20 years.

Interior Looks: Somewhat important. It just needs to be presentable, but maybe the ladies at FSU can offer more insight.

Sleeping Capacity: I think that this may be very important. DZ used to struggle to make quota in their house. It was a very pretty house, and had the smallest sleeping capacity of any FSU sorority house at under 30 (26?) Then they did a renovation/expansion of the facility, and it became the FSU sorority house with the greatest sleeping capacity (over 70.) DZ hasn't, to the best of my knowledge, struggled since, and talking with my active chapter brothers, they are now held in high regard. Several even told me that DZ is their favorite house.

Parking: I think that this might also be important, and overlooked. KD is highly competitive, and has less than a dozen parking spaces behind their house. They also own a lot, used as a parking lot, across the street. Sigma Kappa had a parking capacity of 4 cars when I lived in that house.

So, from my observations, a house is needed that sleeps over 35, with parking in a good location.

The most important thing is that whoever colonizes, succeeds. If this colonization fails, it may be a while until another sorority is invited back on campus.

Why do you think its important for a new sorority house not to have a chpater in greekpark? I am not sure that it would be a disadvantage to be in a new chapter facility in the midst of some of the strongest men's groups at FSU (assuming the stronger groups are the ones with more members and building the new houses).

1) It would be difficult to coordinate logistically during rush
2) It would appear that the new sorority is in a very, very distant location. This greek park might be next to FSU's campus in 25 years, but its not close to it today.

I just found this thread...
 

I will be attending the forum on Thursday night. I know several people that are attending this evening.

A few facts:

Tri-Sigma and Sigma Kappa were not forced off campus. They voluntarily closed their houses due to financial and membership considerations. They both own their houses and lease to fraternities at this time. There is no final word on which fraternities will be moving to the new housing area, but the word on the street is that only the fraternities will be moving there, not the sororities.

Gamma Lambda did petition for associate membership in PH a few years ago, as preparation for their request to expand, but were voted down. This October, PH voted to expand the campus independent of Gamma Lambda's request.

My personal opinion is that a historically inclusive or non-sectarian fraternity (such as AOII, SDT, AEPhi or DPhiE) would be a good fit for the FSU campus.

I know that AOII has over 100 alumnae in the area. SDT, DPhiE and AEPhi have very few or no alumnae in Tallahassee. There are smaller, yet good sized, alumnae chapters for Tri-Sigma, Sigma Kappa, AXiD and APhi.

In addition to Gamma Lambda there is another local on campus, Delta Zeta Nu. There are also 2 multicultural and 1 Latina sorority and 1 Asian-American sorority on campus. There is obviously a need for a group that is historically more inclusive. I don't think that the "Jewish" sororities need to be filled with Jewish girls. On some campuses with those groups, very few of the members are Jewish in that chapter.

I urge everyone here to keep an open mind, do not spread rumors and be supportive of the expansion process as a whole.

Edited to clarify the alumnae statement.

Barb--

I respectfully disagree with the comment that D Phi E has very few alumnae in Florida. D Phi E has very strong chapters at UF, FIU, FAU, and Nova Southeastern and more than 1700 alumnae in Florida. That may not seem a large number, but Florida is the fourth largest home to D Phi E alumnae, and as such, would be a lot of alumnae in terms of our sorority. That being said, I can understand where everyone comes from in terms of the larger, southern sororities and their numbers. D Phi E, being younger than most groups, means we won't have 10,000 alums anywhere.

Hope that helps explain our side :) I'd love to come to FSU, and think a non-sectarian, inclusive sorority would certainly be welcome on the campus. Be sure to keep us updated!!

This might answer some of the questions posed above. The old AOPi house is owned by Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Sig Ep will be moving to the new row, and it is likely that the University will purchase the old house from them. At one time the U. wanted the property for expansion of an Arts Center, but that may have passed. I don't know if the old AOPi house is recoverable for use as a sorority house.
The old Alpha Xi Delta house is owned by Lambda Chi Alpha; they also have a house under construction on the new row. Lambda Chi intends to sell to a developer if possible. The house is probably not recoverable for use as a sorority house.
In response to some unfortunate comments that have been made about several of the sororities, let me say that none of the sororities who left did so under any bizarre circumstances. They all wanted to succeed. For the most part, what happened was very simple: some sororities built new houses or underwent expensive expansions in the 1960's and then got caught in a financial trap during the "hippie era". Low membership, more than anything else forced the houses to close their doors. On a very competitive campus with strict formal rush, once a sorority's membrship drops dangerously low, it's very very difficult to build it back up.
I respectfully disagree with Russellwarshay about sorority housing on the new row. The houses are limited to Greeks but not to fraternities. At one time that location was considered off campus, but today it's not. The new row is walking distance from the footbal stadium (there's a back bike path that comes out by The Doak), and the U. is going to provide regular bus service. Some of the eight fraternity "rental houses" will turn over in the next year providing opportunity for other fraternities and sororities. Someone already pointed out that it would not be a bad thing for a sorority to be located among some of the best fraternities on campus.
Not all the sororities at FSU are within easy walking distance from each other; that's why formal rush is conductd in phases. A new sorority or two on the new row could be accomodated. The price is right: for a $20,000 refundable fee, a fraternity or sorority can have their own brand new 2,500 square foot brick clubhouse with their own 3-storey 48-person brick housing unit.
We have nearly 40,000 students and the majority of them are women. I wish PanHellenic would consider allowing more than one sorority to colonize here.

She didn't write "Florida", she wrote, "area." Did you do a DB pull, for members in a 50 mile radius for Tallahassee, from your home, off of the DPhiE servers, in the middle of the night? :rolleyes:

Florida is a big state. The driving distance from Key West to Pensacola, is greater than Pensacola to Chicago.

I think that a DPhiE NO (I think shadokat is an NO, if not, she's at the very least a VERY active DPhiE alumna) would know better that you or a non-DPhiE. Seriously Russ, please chill out on this thread, you are not the god of sorority expansion at FSU- don't attack and/or b@tch out anyone who doesn't agree with you.

ETA: DphiE has 5 chapters in FL. I'd venture a guess that some live in that area. AOTT also has 5 chapters in Florida.

According to the AOTT website, there's not an established AA in the Tallahassee area. I can't tell from the DPhiE website, there's not many AAs listed.

oh but didn't you know that he is the all-knowing on all things greek and is right in every thread he posts in? and bitches out everyone that disagrees with him?

Why don't we wait for Heather to get a DB pull on DPhiE alumnae in 323xx. If its more than 100 (which is what she had an issue with in Barbara's thread), I'll apologize. Otherwise, maybe, just maybe, I might now a thing or two of which neither of you are aware, and then Dani, you can chill out and back down.
If you don't like what I post, just put me on ignore. Otherwise, if you can show me where I've made an absolute statement, and I've been wrong, show me. You can't. I've never had an issue with you, but you just had to publicly attack me. Nice.

I meant alumnae in the Tallahassee area. The last time I requested a listing from your nationals (for Alumnae Panhellenic), I was told there was no-one living here.