GA president assails ban on new frat houses
 

Can't believe Hoosier missed posting this one, lol.

www.ajc.com

By KELLY SIMMONS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/11/06

Athens — University of Georgia President Michael Adams sharply criticized Athens-Clarke County officials Thursday for passing a moratorium that prevents fraternities and sororities from buying or building houses in the county.

The action taken Tuesday night by the Athens-Clarke County Commission will prevent the Sigma Nu fraternity from renovating and moving into property it recently purchased on Meigs Street, a few blocks from the campus and downtown Athens.

The building is the former site of the Salvation Army. Adams said the Sigma Nu purchase "bears the opportunity of improving that site."

Commission members approved the moratorium after receiving complaints from residents who did not want the fraternity in their neighborhood.

It prohibits Greek organizations from acquiring permits to construct or purchase houses in Athens-Clarke County until Aug. 1. Until then, commission members plan to review zoning codes to determine whether fraternity and sorority houses should be allowed in residential neighborhoods.

Adams said the way the commission handled the issue is as troubling as the action itself. The discussion was not put on the agenda until Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours before the meeting.

"This kind of late night immediate reaction to a single issue is not how I think we ought to do business," he said.

More than three-quarters of the university's fraternity and sorority houses are located in residential neighborhoods near the campus, and have been there for years, Adams said. While they have a responsibility to behave as good neighbors, Adams said, "they also have some rights."

"It seems to me the Sigma Nus are well within their rights," he said.

WOW, this is way over the top of reality.

This can be construed as Civil Rights and taken to The ACLU!

This is one of the most Inane things I have ever read coming from some Political Board.

Re: GA president assails ban on new frat houses
 

I was distracted by some pests.

Holy crap, a university administration in the south actually taking up for fraternities. Bout time.

Don't kid yourself. The UGA President isn't taking up for fraternities. He wants to clear the old-line fraternities off Lumpkin for his own purposes. This move by Athens might interfere with that if the chapters have nowhere to go. The only protection the fraternities have is the strength of the various alumni organizations. How many times in these forums have we seen university administrations posturing and being sanctimonious about getting rid of fraternities when it's really all about real estate!

Firehouse, Your point is and should well be taken as a near fact!

At My Alma Mater, STG and Sig Ep will be losing their Houses so the Un. can expand. They also tried to move ALL Greeks to a far corner of Campus while Five GLOs have Houses on the Main Street directly across or near Campus.

That was squashed to say the least!:cool:

I heard a couple of years ago that the university wanted the Delt House and Alpha Gam (side by side) houses at my Alma Mater since the University owns the rest of the block immediately across from the College Green.

Fortanately, the Galbreath family is still active in the alumni association. The late Brother John Galbreath (Galbreath Realty, etc. nationwide, The Pittsburgh Pirates, several Kentucky Derby winners from Darby Dan Farms outside Columbus) was a Beta Chapter Delt from Ohio University, donated Galbreath Memorial Chapel on the Green across the street from the present Delt Shelter and Brother Wilfred Konniker's family donated the Konniker Alumni Center, a beautiful old brick stucture with white Greek columns a few doors down the street.

Recently, I received a request for donation to refurbish the present house to the tune of $1.5 Million, so I guess the University thought better and backed off.

That's the way it works. After WWII colleges wanted fraternities to provide housing for the wave of returning veterans and then the Boomers. Then, the '60s radicals retreated into our colleges and universities and rose through the ranks of administration. Today, they have contempt for fraternities and in many cases want their property. I used to think that having the right rules in place was the answer to protecting fraternities and their houses and rights. But it's not. The answer, unfortunately, lies in politics and political power. Almost every time Greek alumni have intelligently wielded political power they have been successful. Too bad organizing alumni groups has not been a first priority of many nationals over the last twenty years.

Here at UT we have a great alumni group at my chapter. Fortunately, we haven't had too many problems with admin. going for a coup of our real estate. Hopefully, UGA fraternities and sororities won't get the bureaucratic screw like the ones at Columbia did on the dry party scheme. Why can't we just have fun, give back to the college community, be leaders among our peers, and live together without some insane academic who is pissed at the world because he never got a bid 30 years ago giving us hell?

What happened in Columbia (USC?)?

Columbia up North, the Ivy League school. I don't remember the details, but I read about it in Fortune or Newsweek or something.

On my campus (WVU) the school is trying to buy all the fraternity houses. Right now about half have either been purchased or are in the process of being purchased by the school. The other half are adamently opposed to selling their house to the school.

The school says they are buying them in order to help fraternities. They plan on renovating them and making them nicer...

However, I have the feeling that is BS. My campus is hungry for new space, especially dorms. Frats occupy some prime real estate. Additionally the school is not offering to pay even close to the appraised value of the house, only about a quarter. The school then sets the housing capacity and reserves the right to move in random people if the chapter can't fill the house. They will also move in an RA to oversee the house. The fraternity will have first rights to purchase the house should the school decide to sell it...however, I'd bet my left nut that it would be at the then appraised price and not what the school originally bought it for. Meaning we could never afford to buy it back.

Coramoor, I think you are absolutely right.

Agree. It's my suspicion that many major campuses (campi?) are landlocked and at the same time trying to expand. About their only choice is to snatch up any unowned land within their overall boundries.

My best guess is that most of them aren't going to do fraternities and sororities any favors during their landgrabs.

alt. newspaper article...
 

I got this e-mail from an older (by older I mean non-student) woman who lives in my historic neighborhood. She obviously forwarded it to everyone's e-mail she could get her hands on. I know her action was encouraged by an article in the alternative weekly, Flagpole. http://flagpole.com/articles.php?fp=...SUE=2006-03-15

Here's the e-mail:
UGA is kicking a pile of frat houses off campus (while
compensating them very nicely with large cash to fund
their relocations) and these boys are rabid to find
new digs. Any in-town property zoned multi-family is
up for grabs and the KAs have already secured an
apartment complex on Hancock. This is the fraternity
known for it's adherence to "Southern Traditions"
which include flying the Confederate flag and prancing
around in Civil War attire-- they'll be settling in
the heart of Athens historcally black neighborhood!

Another fraternity has bought the former Salvation
Army building (behind Big City Bread and a block
behind Daily Groceries) but the ACC gov has put a hold
on this transaction for the time being.

We all know the havoc a large groups of frat boys can
wreak (travel down Millege Ave on any given football
weekend), and the way the zoning currently stands, any
apartment building in the middle of any quiet
neighborhood is fair game. Not only does this pose a
threat to the quality-of-life for many in-town
residents, but it also threatens the availability of
in-town affordable housing and the eclectic diversity
of our neighborhoods. Boulevard, Normaltown, and
Cobbham include quite a few small apartment complexes
and large old homes converted to apartments which are
very vulnerable to offers from fraternities. Please go
to the website below and urge our commissioners to
protect our neighborhoods from the invasion of the
frat boys. And pass this on....

> Urge ACC Commissioners to vote yes on the amendment
to zoning
> regulations to classify fraternities and sororities
as special use.
>
> http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/880489643
>
> When you 'sign' the petition, you will be asked to
> enter your email
> address and physical, street address. The
> PetitionSite keeps this
> information confidential.
>
> Thanks!


What action, if any, do you think UGA Greek Life should take to retaliate?

ETA: The image of the KA house in the Flagpole article is of their current house, not one they are planning on building on Hancock.
:rolleyes: silly newspaper.

What could be more eclectic than a Kappa Alpha house in a black neighborhood? I wouldn't mind a fraternity house in my neighborhood. (Also mostly black)

I doubt the KA's are happy about having to live in that neighborhood either.

I'm not sure why Kappa Alpha chose that location, except that its on the bus route and close to downtown... but I do know that the frats being moved off campus are not, despite what the e-mail claims, compensated nicely for their move. The property they are being moved off of is worth like three times what they are being given!

those seem like good reasons to me

I'm a DPhiE alum at UGA and our house is on Lumpkin (same street that KA is on but only further down). I can't tell you how disturbing it is to have the university be so rude to the Greeks. Honestly, the fraternity and sorority houses on campus add characteristic to the university. It honestly sucks having the administration hate the Greeks so much. As of right now there are 9 houses on Lumpkin Street. In the end, UGA's president is trying to create a Greek Village...aka...putting all the Greeks in this one corner of campus so he can use their houses as other buildings for classes. I don't know exactly what is going to happen, but I bet it'll be harder than the university thought to get these fraternities and sororities off the street because there is way too many alumni that donate (which of course brings in ALOT of the $$$) and way too much history. Also, there's fraternity house that is in a residential area (Kappa Alpha Psi), so why can't any of the other fraternities be there too?

Tammy

This seems to be the norm of the day anymore.:(

As was mentioned when Conflicts of war are over, The Greek Houses were welcomed for Houseing.

What is amazing today, is that eating up land owned by Greeks is not normaly for More Dorms, but more Education facilities or many other things.

My Alma Mater PSU, Ks, had 5 mens dorms, 5 womens dorms and 3 Married facilities Dorms type Apartment.

Now in among the Mens Dorms are the Campus radio and Campus Police. 1 Womens Dorm was torn down and a Court Yard there for the Meal Center, and The Married Dorms are closed for expansion.:rolleyes: Go figure that? Maybe there are kick backs from Apartment Owners which is a big business in The Pitt.

Yet, No Freshmen are allowed to live in Greek Houses.

While I have seen the Campus owned GLO Housing work, it is not that many because of the cost to the GLOs.:(

My Alam Mater Pres. tried this crap and All were up in arms and there is hard feelings with a Member of AGD IHQ about Him. I coiuldnt agree more with Her, He Do Talk aout of Both sides of His mouth.:rolleyes:

About Alums donating Money to Their Schools, I am sure many GLO Members such as Me do not give Donations to the School while some do and maybe many more $$$$ because of the Affiliation of their respective GLOs.

Just tell them No, If My GLO is not there any longerr, dont look from any Money from ME!!!!!!!

I just meant that there are plenty of other places in Athens that meet those two particular needs.

UGA seems to already have a "Greek Village" - Milledge Avenue where most Greeks houses are, except those on Lumpkin, and one on Baxter, right? And, of course, those already on River Road where administration is trying to move the five being kicked off campus. I don't know why chapters already living in the Milledge area would want to move when we already are close to other Greeks and have beautiful old houses full of history.

Tammy, the DPhiE house at UGA is so unique! I love it and practically swerve into the other lane every time I drive by it because I'm gawking!

Maybe this action by the county will actually help the Lumpkin fraternities. If they cannot move to new housing on other property, then the University will have a hard time just pushing them off their land with no place to go.
Who's on River road? I remember seeing an abandoned ATO house, and the big white Kappa Sig house and a Sigma Nu house (I think). Has that ever been a significant concentration of fraternities?

Thanks so much notyouraverage for the compliments. I absolutely loved our house (lived in it for 3 years!) because it looked so different, and not to mention the awesome location on campus.

I guess you could define Milledge Ave as "Greek Village," but a lot of the fraternities are starting to branch out and move away from the main concentration of the "Greek Village" (i.e. Sigma Pi and Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Sig, SAE). I guess what upsets me the most is that the president is trying to move everyone off so that he can more space for university facility purposes. I just hate seeing all that history and character go down the drain like that. The Greek houses adds so much to the campus and university. All the visitors love looking at their houses. I think putting all the Greeks in just one area especially "off campus" will just help create more of a stigma of the Greeks (parties, etc). If the university wants to expand then they should expand outward, there's tons of land and not try to put the Greeks by themselves.

Tammy

That is messed up.

My name is Chuck Jones and I am a 2005 graduate of the University of Georgia Law School. I practice law in Athens, and I was as angry as everyone else when I saw that the Mayor and Commission had banned Greek houses in Athens.

I was never a fraternity brother myself, but if there is one thing I can't stand it's a stereotype - especially a stereotype against people who do so much for the community. Last year, UGA sororities raised close to $100,000 and committed more than 20,000 hours of community service, for programs like the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, cancer research, Hurricane Katrina relief, et cetera. I have not yet received the philanthropy statistics from male fraternites, but I have every reason to believe they are just as impressive.

However, the prejudice against Greeks does not allow the elected officials to see the good that they contribute to the community; all they see is the "animal house" stereotype. In fact, within a week after the ban was passed, the Cobbham Neighborhood Association had a party in front of the house that the fraternity bought and now cannot use. I thought that was the most classless thing I had ever seen. I was even more startled, however, when I went to that party and the past president of the group told me, and I quote, "We're going to watch Animal House later as an example of what we don't want in our community." Maybe this is just me, maybe my standards are too high, but I think that anyone with any sense at all ought to know that was just a fictional movie. It was not a documentary.

This issue made me so mad that I decided to do something about it. Tomorrow, April 4, at the UGA Arch, I will be announcing my candidacy for the Athens-Clarke County Commission. My website is (mostly) up, at http://www.electchuckjones.com I am looking forward to "going to bat" for Greeks in this community - as I said I was never Greek myself but I have seen the good work they do for the community and I think they are entitled to some give and take.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me from my site or reply here. I'm very eager to go to bat on this issue and help dispel the stereotype. Thank you very much!

I for one am very impressed by Your post and what beining a Non Greek it means to You.

Your understanding of Greek Life can be to The Community is well Appreciated.

Thank You for Your input!:)

If You are serious, I do Hope that You Win! There is a lot of good things that Greeks do that are never seen. LXA Has the Biggest Food Drive of anyone and All Greeks have their own Charitys that are given a lot of Money and Time.

This not only counts those as Major Charitys, but the many Smaller Events that are being done By Greeks for Those that are In Need!

Cobb County
 

Talkin about this Cobb County (Georgia) home to two colleges with Greek Life, prohibits greek housing.

Tried to find a Greek Link on UGa. Site. Couldnt find it.

Guess that shows what they feel about Greek Orgs.

If I am in error, please post link for me.

Did you not try the search button? I found the Greek Life page pretty quickly.

Thanks, G P!

Doesnt show any GLO links though~:(

Still shows Me how Un.Ga. must feel!

Yes it does. If you click on "NPC" you will be directed to the local Panhellenic Council's website which has links to the chapter websites.

Anyone in Athens tomorrow?
 

"The fraternity issue will be voted on at the County Commission meeting tomorrow night (Tuesday August 1) and I'm hoping to have as many people as possible come out to stand up on this issue.

The proposal before the Commission is to declare fraternities and sororities a "special use", meaning that in order for a fraternity or sorority to build, they would need to get approval from the Planning Commission as well as the Mayor and Commission. From some of the hateful comments that have been flung around in this debate, such as "fraternities do nothing beneficial for anyone" from Planning Commissioner Jerry NeSmith, you can see how difficult it would be for any fraternity or sorority to get a fair hearing if this were to pass.

Please come to the Commission meeting tomorrow night, Tuesday August 1, at 7 pm at Athens City Hall (Washington Street, downtown) to express your views to the Commissioners. I am planning to speak about the benefits that fraternities and sororities bring to the community in terms of service - it would be nice to have some real life examples of that.

If you can make it to the meeting, please call Chuck at 706-202-5548 as soon as possible and let me know that you will be there. Call at any hour of the day or night, and please try to make it to the meeting! If you have any questions call me also. Thanks very much and I look forward to seeing a lot of Greek citizens at the Commission meeting to counter some of the unfair stereotypes.

Sincerely,

Charles A. "Chuck" Jones, Jr.
Candidate, Athens Clarke County Commission District 9
"The Students Rights Candidate"
(706) 202-5548

If the City makes it impossible for fraternities to relocate, won't that end the university's effort to move the houses off Lumpkin?

no, not really. They are "providing" housing on another less central, smellier part of campus. But they would own the houses and dictate their features. Most people speculate that the suggested site is in NO WAY big enough for all the fraternities to move there, at least big enough to mirror the current size of the fraternity houses. This whole mess started because KA Order bought property in a "historically black" neighborhood. The residents became extremely upset and held town-hall type meetings to try to stop them from moving in. I'd like to point out that it is illegal to prevent someone from living wherever they choose on the basis of race, gender, religion, etc. Rather than make a decision on whether or not they would be allowed to move in, they suspended the issue until... August. It's August (and conveniently the day before sororities move back in) and now the issue is being brought up again.

"Fraternities do nothing beneficial for anyone" according to Planning Commissioner Jerry NeSmith - I hope Athens GCers will make it to the meeting to prove him and others wrong about Greeks - that we give thousands of dollars and hours to charities and that we have the capability to be good neighbors, whether we live next to the cutest house or live next to GDIs.

It would seem like georgia fraternities' alumni would be able to stop this crap from the university. It (I'm trying to remember) affects Pikes, Chi Phi and KA. I remember those as three big guns at UGA.

Living in Norfolk about 3 miles from the largest Naval base in the world, we hear this story a lot...

A few decades ago, back when there were still visible signs reading "Sailors and dogs keep off the grass," the accepted practice was to pay all military salaries in cash, using nothing but $2 bills. Even when $2 bills were still being issued, they were not all that common. Whenever the local bitching by civilians about the detriment to society the military personel caused got loud enough (usually about every 3-6 months), the commandant of the base (be it Norfolk or otherwise) would restrict all personel to the base for a week. This would cause the local civilians, buisness owners, servers, etc, to realize that whenever the camandant did this, they would generate no $2 bills, and subsequently their profits would dwindle. As a result they would all stop whinning for a while.

At what point does the greek community take this approach to convincing people we don't ruin everything. Just throw up our hands and say, "Fine, we wont help you anymore." I think it'd take about a semester for people to like us.

While I disagree with what the university is doing, if they own the land, they can ask the houses to leave. We own a house/lodge on campus, but the university owns the land. They want their land back to build a parking garage. So, they gave us money to move and build a house on the new 'Greek Row'. Our university stalled on the development until building costs went from $900,000 to $3millon. Needless to say we are currently still in our same house, in a stale-mate with the university, and have no future plans of building, even though we have already paid a LARGE sum to the (school choosen) architec.

As far as I know, Pike and Chi Phi arent big guns at UGA.