How to obtain a hallway
 

Hey everyone,
obtaining off campus housing for more then 7 or 8 guys has proved to be an issue, and since there are no on-campus houses we have decided to try to obtain a dorm floor or hall for the remainder of the men in the fraternity.

Does anyone here have any idea as to who we would speak to first, Residential Life or the greek office?, any sort of advice as to convincing the school to allow this?

Thank you in advance

I'd actually talk to Res Life first, since they're the ones who are going to have to find room on a floor to house you. My sorority has a dorm floor (as well as a house, but the house only holds 9 women, so...there we are), and I know that when we're doing housing sign-ups and such, we work close with Res Life, rather than Greek Office.

I have to disagree.

I'd speak with the Greek Life office first because getting their support seems more favorable. Working with them to get on-campus housing works much better than going at it alone.

I think OTW is right. I would definitely talk with Greek Life first--having the support of the Greek Life staff would certainly go a long way toward achieving your goal.

Yeah, good luck. I know it never would've worked at my school, where housing assignments are made according to class/credit standing. We could have gotten together as a group and requested rooms next to each other, but there's no way the greek life or residential offices would've done us any favors just because we were in the same GLO. Go for it, just don't be surprised if the school doesn't want to set a new precedent by basically creating greek housing for just your group.

When I was a collegian, we explored the possibility of blocking off a hall/wing of dorms for our members. At that time, we had a sister who was VP-Student Affairs (the highest ranking female admin) who was willing to lobby on our behalf.

We decided against making the push for on-campus housing because it required just too much commitment -- and being that our numbers fluctuate every year, we knew we couldn't pull it off. Looking back, I'm glad we didn't because two years ago, hundreds of UHM students didn't have on-campus rooms. They had to be put up in Waikiki hotels. :eek:

I know on my campus, it is possible to do that in one of our buildings. most of the fraternities and sororities are very close to the greek advisor so it is easy to get her support first. i know that's what we did, and then we went to reslife.

It really all depends on the politics at your school - if the res life director and the RDs etc are very "possessive" of their positions and don't like anyone intruding on their little fiefdom, you might be well served to mention it to them first.

Do not worry, someone will come up with an answer on GC.

First and mainly many of the smaller schools will have dorm sections for Sororities as the do not feel they want them in houses while Fraternities do have houses and some don't. Fl Tech Int and William-Jewell are the two that come to mind.

Check wih both aspects and explain what you are trying to do and get an oppinion from both. Then you will have an idea of which way to go.

The best of luck.

I'm glad you are trying to do this because a hallway is the next best thing to an honest-to-goodness fraternity house. And a lot cheaper.

I believe it was actually the dean of students that we schmoozed (sp?) into getting one wing at the seventh floor (the top floor) of a brand new dormitory. It was a small school and he was pretty much it, anyway.

So we had all the rooms on the south side. A sizeable lobby, with elevator and staircase, separated it from the north side.

A year or two later we schmoozed the admin once more and obtained permission to hang up all our regalia, carpet the lobby floor, move in couches, armchairs and houseplants, paint the door frames, and even install a tv. Now get this...

In order for us to protect all our stuff, the admin had a keylock installed on the elevator so that only the residents of that floor could take it all the way to the top! All of us had a special key for that purpose.

I still have photos of our housewarming party. All the guys dressed up in coat and tie and brought dates. This party - a fondue party with white wine - was attended by the dean of students, faculty, the president of the college, and other members of the administration.

In the following months we held salon, inviting various professors up to the lobby to sit and talk informally with us. Cognac was liberally served and pipes and cigars were smoked. Some "lectures" lasted until well into the morning hours. It was all very academic and the professors liked us.

Some of the glitter rubbed off when a few GDIs from the north side began ensconcing M-80s in excrement or potatoes and tossing them into the hallway on the south side. Never did figure out why they did that, but the sh*t bombs were not pleasant to clean up! In time we moved to apartments the school bought anyway.

Okay, maybe you can't do all of that stuff nowadays, but you can still try to get a hallway. I hope it works out for you. And remember - be kind to your professors and be kind to your neighbors.

[QUOTE=OTW;1383525

We decided against making the push for on-campus housing because it required just too much commitment -- and being that our numbers fluctuate every year, we knew we couldn't pull it off. Looking back, I'm glad we didn't because two years ago, hundreds of UHM students didn't have on-campus rooms. They had to be put up in Waikiki hotels. :eek:[/QUOTE]


This happens at U of Miami too - some students wind up living at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. A former employee of mine was President fot he Student Government and lived there for a semester. We went to run a conference there years later and he showed me the room he used to live in - and he didn't even have to have a roommate! (UM owns part of hotel). Of course he had no golf course view but he did get maid service every day!

Arizona State has overbooked dorms before too, and they stick those students in hotels nearby to campus until they find room for them.

Stop being poor and buy a damn house.

And by "buy" i think he means "build." Thats what most fraternities do. I guess you could call up your local real estate company and say "I need a house with 30 bedrooms," but I don't think that'd work.

I had several friends put up at the Sheraton Waikiki that year...WITH an ocean view. That's like, a $300/night room! They spent more $$$ than what their mealplan allowed, but they got to sleep in 700+ threadcount sheets every night. I don't think they moved back into the dorms after that. Who'd want to? Especially when UHM provided shuttle service to and from Waikiki!

While some of us more unfortunates cannot attend Your Type of Prestigious Alma Mater and build new houses We I am sure admire you?

At @ 100-150 $ per square foot, it is expensive to build as I well know.

Some schools do not allow GLOs to build and want to keep them on campus in dorms. What is funny, the dorm space becomes smaller ergo no rooms.

Now in your infinite wisdom, if everyone who you do not think belongs to GLOs, and not at High Time Elite Schools, I guess Your Fraternity would be a lot smaller.

Somehow, I don't think that would bother them in the least.

That would clearly be the best option, and its not that we haven't the funds, its a matter of a real estate problem, the area is an over developed shithole, most of the lots in the area are scarcely 1/4 of an acre, so they clearly would not be able to accomdate a house that would be able to accomodate many men at all. Most neighborhood houses cant fit more then six without converting open areas into living rooms.

A dorm level is just one of the ideas we are toying with, there are two houses that will go up for rent year, both sleep six-eight and are across the street from eachother.

Thank you everyone for the input though, it is greatly appreciated.

One of my sorority's chapters did this for a long while and it worked really well - the girls liked it because if you were getting temporarily annoyed with the sisters you lived with, you could go across the street to the other house. LOL.

That depends on where you are as well. I went to school in Boston, and to build a house in the Boston/Brookline area is ridiculously expensive. The best alternative for us was renting a house.

Even renting wasn't an option in St. Louis. Buying enough land to put a house up on (that would hold more than 8 people) was impossible. The townhouses that did exist near campus were privately owned and expensive. The rest of the neighborhood was completely urban (and sometimes frightening) and there was just no land available. The school bought up everything anyway.

At my college, any program house with at least two years on campus (and no disciplinary problems) was allowed to apply for shared hallways. No one had houses, but the Greeks had sections of houses (and private lounges) because the property value in Providence is sky-high.

Speaking to Greek Life (to make sure you have an ally) before going to Res Life will save you a ton of heartache.

I don't think so either.

Try Malibu! :rolleyes:

Manoa's the same way. While not scenic and picturesque like Malibu, much of the neighborhood consists of homes on the State Register of historic homes:

http://www.malamaomanoa.org/WalkTours/2230Kam.jpg

http://www.malamaomanoa.org/WalkTour...0Ferdinand.jpg

http://www.malamaomanoa.org/WalkTours/2234kam.jpg

(The University President's House)

http://www.malamaomanoa.org/WalkTour...0Ferdinand.jpg

(This house was featured on LOST a few times)

Expect to shell out a couple of millions for any property surrounding the campus. That's why we don't have a house. :(

I actually don't think Malibu is very pretty in general. There are parts that are pretty, and the Pepp campus is beautiful, but the cost of living is inflated due to the celeb factor. Some homes have ocean views, but others are far off the water. The dumpy, small condos along the highway start at a million...and I really mean dumpy.

Ironically, land is not an issue for the greeks at my school. The university campus is something like 830 acres. Of course, building on that land is another issue. The Coastal Commission fights every new building that the university puts up, which is ridiculous considering the influx of houses perched on stilts and carved into the hillside above the highway are a far bigger danger to the environment and public.