Sorority Houses
 

Does anyone know why Auburn does not have any sorority houses?

It may be very well of the old Hooker laws! Is also strong in other parts of the country! More than 3-4 woman aboding in a house is considered a House Of Ill Repute! Loose Women!

Da some of the laws in citys, countrys and countrys a da, never been taken off of the books!!

But, if God had wanted to make Beth and Eve, instead of Adam and Eve, things might have been differernt:confused: :D

Basically, the Southern Women cannot be trusted to be in a house alone with so many women as might get into trouble!!!!;)

Plus not knowing Auburns affiliation, State schools Have to offer equal housing while many religious and private schools do not have to live by the same standards unless they get state funds.

They do not want a bunch of Soiled Ladies out there upon Graduation! Get My Drift! Hello real world, the Preachers Kids werer the worst of the lot!:)

at my school more than 3 people of no relation living together is considered a cult......riiiiight


we are currently petitioning for a house. We were going to get one a few years ago when I was there but the stipulation was that ALL of the sororities had to get houses too (AOPi and Tri Sig). We couldn't do it because Tri Sig only had 15 members and didn't have the finances - was on the verge of folding actually. :(

PSP- I think the reason why Auburn does not have sorority houses is that some alum(s) left the school money not to have houses for sororities. Maybe carnation knows for sure.

At the school I went to, sororities don't have houses because of an alum leaving money to the school for them not to have them... That whole a group of women living together was just like a brothel feeling...

On some campuses their are Panhellenic agreements where one chapter can't get a house unless all chapters can get a house. Some of these agreements date back a while and property around campus can get developed, zoning restrictions are put in place, and then it just is no longer possible to even develop a new house.

Do you really what to know?
 

It's not brothel laws . . .

It's not that some rich old woman donated money to the university with the provision that sororities could never have houses . . .

The major reason that we don't have houses is that we (sororities) have always been in the dorms. When KD came here in 1922 they were in the dorms in the Quad and every other organization has followed suite. We eventually migrated up the the Hill after it was finished but . . . You know Auburn and tradition - it would be like Toomer's without lemonade. It's just easier, more affordable, and more equitable. Plus, one of Panhellenic's major stipulations on houses right now is that if one sorority has/ is able to build a house, we all have to be able to do the same thing. Sure it might be easy for some of the larger chapters but imagine the smallest chapter trying to build a house that is on the same level with a larger chapter's. It might be kinda tough if you don't have as large of an alumna base too. Plus, where would we build? Could you imagine living behind New Row in the cow pasture?

One thing I absolutely love about living in the dorms with everybody else is that you get to see more of your other friends who may not have pledged the same sorority you did. It's fun to see the cute banners that everyone puts all over their buildings congratulating sisters, advertising philanthropy events, and just randomly saying "War Eagle!"

It's just one of the many things about Auburn that can make you wonder but you just live with and go on.

I don't know why they don't have houses, but I do know that the "brothel law" thing is not true, according to snopes. (They're generally considered an authority on urban legends and lore..)

I know that is the reason Valdosta State sororities don't have a houses. I know ZTA tried to get out of it one year and had a house for near a year but all the other sororites complained to ZTA hq's and they were forced to sell it. It was a pretty decent house too and they actually got to display their awards and compsites for a little while at least now it is all back in storage again.

That old legend is nothing but pure urban myth. I personally looked at the laws of TX, PA, CA, and OH (all reputed to have laws like this) - and none of them did. In fact, no state in the United States has a law like this on the books.

I know it's a fun urban legend to repeat... but it's just that - an urban legend.

The only thing I could find to explain why Auburn has no sorority houses was this:

Some municipalities have local zoning restrictions that may restrict the number of unrelated people living in a residence (usually three or four), but it isn't legal to base this on gender. Typically this is done to reduce the negative impact of college student housing on residential neighborhoods and property values. Edwardsville has one of these rules in place to help keep property values up. Our only chapter house in town was grandfathered in and has no other residences nearby.

Re: Do you really what to know?
 

Yep, Pink Rose is right! When I was an active, I used to wonder what it would be like to live in a house and have total privacy and be able to decorate but I realized that not having one freed us from a bunch of irritating things too. Also--dues are much smaller without houses!

Right - but that isn't the case in Auburn.

Many (most?) zoning authorities make express exemptions for sorority/fraternity houses anyway - so even the unrelated-person restrictions don't often apply.

That is the case in Auburn - their zoning regulations define a fraternity/sorority house as a "single dwelling unit" - and so are regulated like a normal "house."

And there are fraternity houses at Auburn - which gives a tip-off there are no such restrictions there.

Pink Rose and Carnation, thanks for the answer! I'm glad I know the truth now!

And a big WAR EAGLE! to both of you!

WAAAAARRRRRRRR EAGLE!! HEY!!!!! :D

Re: Do you really what to know?
 

I thought the Quad wasn't completed until 1940 - before that, there was only one women's dorm (Smith - housing 35 girls), but most of the women lived in private residences. The sororities just rented rooms in houses. But when the Quad opened in 1940, all 4 sororities in existence then (KD, Chi-O, Sigma Rho, and Phi Delta Rho) rented rooms.

More on Auburn history here.

I learn something new everyday. I know that there is a sign of one of the dorms in the Quad indicating that it was started at a Works project during the Depression.

ps - WAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!

I go to GA state in atlanta and we cant have houses bc of the whole brothel deal... however, GA Tech across the street can since they have their own fire dept and are therefore considered the "city of GA tech" blaaahhh..... someday i am going to protest those laws...

I just checked the zoning regulations of Atlanta, Dearborn and Detroit and found no such law - and I already know there is no Georgia or Michigan code section either. (perk of being a lawyer - occasional free Westlaw access) I'd really love it if either of y'all had a cite you could share... I'd love to be able to prove snopes.com wrong, but they never are.

As has been mentioned upthread, and from my Property caselaw knowledge, there are restrictions in some localities on how many unrelated people can live together - but not because they're "brothels." That designation is a criminal one, and is only determined by the activities inside the house, not how many people live there.

Yes, there is special zoning in most communities for fraternity/sorority housing. For example the Muncie, Indiana where Ball State (my alma matter) is located, had rated fraternity housing as SSS (Student Social Services) and designated only those areas where current fraternity houses stood as Triple-S Zoning. The Sigma Nu chapter at Ball State bought a house that was on the same block as an existing fraternity house, under the (false) assumption that the entire block was zoned for Triple-S. (The fact that their realtor told them this was a major contributing factor)
The chapter bought the house, moved the brothers in and put letters on the house. The neighborhood association complained to the city, who forced the chapter to take down their letters, and restrict the number of people living in the house. They were even forced to paint over the letters they painted over the garage door. The city stated that only the currently existing Triple-S zoning would be allowed and no further expansion of Triple-S was permitted.
So yes, there may be zoning allocated for fraternity/sorority housing, but what really matters is the political climate of the city and how they view students/Greeks.

I do know that Flagstaff Arizona does have the brothel law on the books. My chapter last year officially looked into having a house, and unfortunately we would have had to go through the legal work to have the law overturned to do it. Because the university has setup a greek residence hall, it has been left on the books. No one has had a reason to fight it. The reason it is there also, is because Flagstaff was known for having very active brothels as it was an old west train town. In addition, it is still on the books that women cannot where red shoes on thursdays (not enforced though), and that when someone is released from jail they can ask for a shirt and a horse...The wonders of the old west.

Man, I hate to be the one to break up the party again, but I can find no such law in the Flagstaff code, Coconino County zoning ordinances, or Arizona state law. In fact, the Flagstaff City Code expressly contemplates and allows sorority houses to be built:
City of Flagstaff Code, Section 10-03-006-0001 ("Detailed Use Regulations"). There is nothing labeling sorority houses as brothels - I suspect your chapter had a problem because of the distance requirements.

I can not speak for any University, except USM and Simmons College, but Simmons does not have a greek system only a group called F.U.

Sororities came to USM at an interesting time: Women could only wear dresses/skirts, the curfew was 10pm weekdays and midnight on weekends, ladies either lived at home, the dorm or with their HUSBANDS! Men could only come into the lobby of the dorms and had to wear socks to pick-up their dates!

There was no way these young ladies could live in a big home away from campus... That was only for the boys/fraternities. The most appropriate and safe thing was to put all the sororites in one dorm called "Panhellenic." That was just the time and the bible belt!

All the chapters continue to collect housing dues (smaller than you would at a house) and over the years every chapter has enough in the housing fund to build a new home (except the new chapter). In the late 80's, early 90s there was a vote on two occassions regarding building sorority row. However, both times it was voted down by every chapter. Most people have friends at Ole Miss and State. The chapters at USM feel that there is more unity within the Greek System because we live together. Each chapter has two floors allowing 40 +/- women to live there, a chapter room with balcony and kitchen.

It is not about brothel laws... it is about the 'ole southern daddy laws!!!!!!!!!

Things were pretty much like that everywhere at least up until the early 1960s. My mother has told me about all the rules for women at Southern Illinois University Carbondale back in the mid-1950s when she attended. Women had a ten pm curfew on weekdays, eleven pm on weekends unless you had special permission from the housemother which would then allow you to stay out until Midnight! Everyone ate at the same time in the dining hall and you couldn't be excused from the table until everyone else at your table had finished. My mother said you had to learn to eat fast so the other girls wouldn't eat your dessert to get done faster. Also while they weren't official rules per se, a lady never wore dungarees (as they called them back then) outside of the privacy of the dorm!

And my students can't believe that at Ball State in the 1980s we couldn't have members of the opposite sex on our floors after 10pm, and no condom vending machines in the residence halls!