Colonization at the University of Alabama?!?
 

I've heard through the grapevine that Delta Gamma will be colonizing at the University of Alabama in the next 2 years. Does anyone have any information about this? Confirmation? Anything?

Colonization at Alabama is supposed to be really hard because there isn't any room on Sorority Row to build another house which would make it hard for anyone to survive on this campus which is so steeped in tradition. Maybe they could take the SDT house which currently houses Beta Theta Pi while their house is being rebuilt.

Thoughts? Anyone?

And Sigma Kappa too!

I hadn't heard that. I remember hearing that a couple of the currently active sororities (I think AOII and Theta) might have to move because their houses are impeding stadium expansion.

Again? They took the old Pi Phi house a few years ago for the stadium and had to agree to build us a really fantastic one. I haven't been to the campus since it happened but I hear it's gorgeous.

They better plan on winning a few more football games before they make the stadium larger! :p

LOLOL! War Eagle!:D

LOLOL Go Vols! :D

Picture of Pi Phi house at Bama. Did the U really build it? B/C I hate to say this but it looks more like a campus building than a sorority house! (I think the AOII house at Bama is no great shakes. Rebuilding wouldn't be half bad, if the location was decent!)

We used to have an alum of Alabama Beta on GC and she was there when it happened. She told me about all the incredible features the new house had--naturally, I can't remember a thing because it was about the time the twins were rushing, but I remember being stunned by what all she told me!:eek:

I have a good friend at Bama who is a Theta and she told me that they announced it at chapter that Sigma Kappa and Delta Gamma would be colonizing there within the next two years. They also said they would be building their houses on the new Fraternity Row.

I wonder if any of the other houses who have overgrown their homes would move from sorority row to the new fraternity to row? Would this be seen as an advantage or a disadvantage to the PNM's? Who's to say, I mean they're closer to the parties... :o) and would the stigma of Old Row and New Row be just like it is for the fraternities were the new colonies to build houses on New Row?

Well I certainly hope that the rumor is true; I love to hear about DG expansion! But I know a DG legacy who is going through recruitment at Bama in the fall...I just wish they would have colonized a little sooner so she would have gotten a chance to pledge DG (although I know that she will have her pick of all the other equally fabulous houses at Bama!).

I heard that rumor, too, from an active at LSU. However, no one I have asked has known anything about it... so who knows?

Not to mention the generally vicious regard every UA sorority has for each other. This is NOT a Panhellenically-minded campus. They like to tear the smaller groups to shreds.:mad:
I would be VERY surprised if sorority houses were built on New Row. If would be a huge disadvantage for those groups. I CAN see them built in the parking lot behind Chi Omega/Pi Beta Phi/KD. It would be just like UA to eliminate yet another parking lot!!!

I honestly haven't heard anything about Sigma Kappa colonizing there. Huh. I'll have to find out b/c usually, we'd have heard or read something by now. Still, it would be an exciting thing to happen.

New Row, Old Row, etc....

Explain how this is laidout for me please people in the know:
http://tour.ua.edu/mapfull.html

Looking at that, it appears that Sigma Nu, Fiji, & Beta Theta Pi have an advantage of being (1) Right across from the Football stadium, and (2) Really close to all the sororities, who are like right next to the football stadium.

Then if you go across the campus, and up and right, you find a crapload of other fraternities.

Old Fraternity row is University Blvd. And the rumor is that they are planning to tear down some of the old dorms in the New Hall area and the new sororities would go there, not New Frat Row. With Dr. Witt's plan to up enrollment, they'll need more groups.

Not necessarily. There are houses on University Blvd. that are considered new row who are further down: Pi Kapp, KA, Sig Ep, SAE. My brother is a Pi Kapp and he says they were kicked off campus and when they revitalized the chapter they moved to new row. behind these houses is a street called "Fraternity Lane" where there are many greek houses including but not limited to: Delta Chi, Lambda Chi, Kappa Sig, Theta Chi, Pike, DTD, ATO, Chi Phi, ZBT, etc. The Old Row houses are Phi Delta Theta, Phi Psi, Phi Gam (who is denied the moniker Fiji, but that's a whole different story), Beta, Sigma Nu, and Delta Kappa Epsilon. All of these Old Row houses are on University Blvd. but bring on University does not guarentee Old Row Status. New Row has more fraternities but Old Row has more members.

So do they have any plans of moving the old row fraternities from near the stadium (cherry spot), to be closer to all the other fraternities?

That would suck.

Also, looking at the map, I see no where to put new sororities in, if you still want to keep them all bunched up like that just east of the stadium. I can't belieave KAT, AXO, KKG, Phi MU, Sig Delt Tau sit SOOO close to the stadium. That would rock.

----- ON a side note, I thought it odd that they used a circle for the house emblem for Tri-Delt (#19 on the map). Looked them up, and lo-and-behold, their house does look very circular :)

http://www.bamatridelta.com/DDD%20House.jpg

Dr. Witt said he wants to expand the UA student population by 8,000 by the year 2010. My DZ daughter heard there were already 2,000 signed up for fall recruitment, versus 1,400 last year.

I guess a few more sorority houses are in line to make sure more lucky young ladies get to share the same fun you did, right?

How are there already girls signing up for recruitment? I mean, I know Bama takes recruitment seriously, but I have never heard of girls signing up in February or March!

Hello fellow DG!
In this case, "Old Row" refers to the original LOCATION of all the fraternities, which was generally on the south side of campus around the stadium. "New Row" refers to the area on the north side where fraternities began relocating/locating back in the 1960s. It doesn't mean the "Old Row" subgroup of fraternities and sororities that pool money for their "special" T-shirts and "special" parties. That is a pretty new phenom.
To BamaDad DZ (yeah! my daughter is a Bama DZ): registration has not yet begun for sorority recruitment, so no way can ANYBODY be signed up yet, much less 2,000. There may have been a figure thrown around for how many freshmen have been accepted for enrollment in fall 2007 (which is probably way bigger than 2,000 already).
To Banditone: No, there are no plans to relocate FRATERNITY houses from the stadium area to the other area. In fact, the DKE house was acquired for stadium expansion and the DKEs are building a HUMONGOUS house across the street from their old location. Beta Theta Pi is building next to them...they tore down their old house and are building a MUCH bigger one. Relocating sorority houses...it's possible the Kappa Alpha Theta and AOPi houses will have to be moved, but it will probably be a few years before that happens. Expansion is complete on that side of the stadium. There might be something in the next couple of years on the south end zone (where my Tide Pride seats are located - yikes!)

Where is the DKE house located now? I am not finding it on that map.

Directly across University Blvd. from the north end of the stadium.

If I recall correctly, sign-up occurs very early in the year. Girls have to get their alumni recommendations in line quickly. It took Kristen quite some time to make her alumni contacts, interview, etc. I recall the notice of sorority recruitment being issue right after University acceptance.

I think a lot of girls start putting together alum recs even before they register for recruitment at these SEC schools.

According to the Bama Panhel website, registration has not begun yet for fall 2007 recruitment. My guess is that, like AnchorAlumna said, this is a ballpark number based upon the number of women accepted for 2007.

http://www.greeklife.ua.edu/Greek%20...th%20Chart.htm

if you look here you can see how sorority enrollment has more than doubled in the past 6 years. Obviously with pledge classes of over 80 girls would be cause for expanding greek life.

I dunno....Panhellenic just raised total to 180.

I've heard that Bama will be getting either 1 or 2 more sororities, and that it's doubtful that any would be sororities that have already been on campus.

Also, they're sort of redoing Sorority Row and tearing down Mallet and whatever other dorms are next to the Sorority Row parking lot to build new houses.

It's really all a bunch of rumor until it's said and done, though. I suppose they'll have to lower house total when the time comes.

Anticipating next question:

Chapters that are NOT on campus:

Dormant
Alpha Xi Delta (1927-1972/1981-1988)
Delta Phi Epsilon (1927-1973)
Alpha Phi (1932-1968)
Sigma Kappa (1932-1995)
Delta Gamma (1947-1978)
Alpha Epsilon Phi (1948-1968)

Never been there
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Sigma Tau
Theta Phi Alpha
Sigma Sigma Sigma
Phi Sigma Sigma

Interesting that it wouldn't be recolonizations. Particularly the older closed chapters would seem to be easier to bring back than to add a new one. However what a great potential opportunity for ASA, AST, TPhiA, Tri Sigma and Phi Sigs :)

GO Alpha Xi Delta !!!!

But if they already tried twice, I doubt Bama would let them try a third time.

If it's not on Anchors Online, I would consider it to be rumor until noted otherwise.
http://www.deltagamma.org/new_sites.shtml

In other news, that Pi Phi house looks really beautiful (from Page 1)

It seems like the range of size of sororities is weirdly big.

I don't have many campuses to compare it to, but it seems like at UGA (or any of the ones I've ever looked up) there are always a couple of lower outliers in the size range, but generally there's a big group whose sizes essentially reflect a number close to what quota has been for the last four years, minus 5 or 10%.

But at Alabama, it looks like the range is like 50 girls from the biggest group to the groups at the lower end of the big clump. What's up with that?

It also seems weird that you can't tell what quota was by the number of pledges.

Alabama has "free" juniors and seniors-- you can pick up as many during rush and they don't count toward quota.

Cool! Thanks for the info.

Delta Gamma left the University of Alabama about thirty years ago.

The magnificent old grandfather clock that used to sit in the foyer of the former chapter house now sits in DG national headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

Bama is not an easy place for a group that would be seen as newcomers, although we came on there back in the 40's, I believe.

And I may be wrong, but the groups who have never been on campus don't seem to have any chapters close by, making it less likely, it seems to me, to have good alumnae support compared to some of the other chapters who came and left.

Does anyone here go to Bama, or live near the University?

banditone,

My daughter is a DZ at the University of Alabama living on campus at the new Lakeside dormitory. Can I answer a question for you? She keeps me informed of DZ happenings all the time.

Yes it is true, that they do not count towards normal quota, however there is a special upperclassmen quota which is utilized, quota last year for upperclassmen was like 5.

Also I am not sure about these rumors, Al Panhel just upped house total to like somewhere in the 200s, before recolonizing either DG or SK they have to make sure that all the houses are close to total.