housed/unhoused
 

I got to thinking about the differences between housed/unhoused sororities when my youngest got her bid to DZ. They have a beautiful house on the Iowa campus. My older daughter the Phi Mu, is unhoused at Ball State. My PM is rather jealous of the friendships she perceives that are brought about by living in the same structure.

So my question is: Those of you who belong(ed) to unhoused sororities find any big differences? (besides the structure of course!) I'd love to hear your stories and pass them on!

There are schools where only the fraternities have houses. There are schools where none of the GLOs have houses. The majority of NPHC chapters across the country are unhoused for various reasons.

We were and still are a very close chapter without the houses. For a quick second, my chapter thought being housed (either on or off campus) would be a cool option since we were a small chapter that spent so much time together. Many of us were roommates in the dorms or in off campus apartments. I'm soooooo glad we squashed that idea. Choosing to live together as friends and chapter Sorors is different than the formal house process with all of the bureaucratic red tape. For one, (on campus and even off campus) houses tend to give some colleges/universities THAT much more control over the chapter. We were too know-it-all and mind-your-business for that. :)

In my time in Psi U as a undergrad we both had and lost a house. I actually feel like the ties were stronger once we lost the house.

Phi Mu @ Penn State
 

I'm a Phi Mu from Penn State (alumna, now) and I can say that we didn't have any sorority houses at Penn State. One thing they have is each sorority is given a floor in the dorms. For instance, I think Phi Mu is floor number 2 that houses all the Phi Mus (that live on the floor, that year). Floor three is Pi Beta Phi, and Alpha Omicron Pi has a floor in our same building. Then, on the bottom floor we each have a suite (which serves as our "house"). There is a code on the door that only the members know to enter and many chapters hold their initiation in their suite. It is set up like a living room with a small kitchen in the back.

I never lived on the floor but, I envied my sisters who were able to live there. I had so much fun and to be honest--I love them all the same! Sure, it would have been fun to live in a house but, I'm just proud to be a Penn State Greek and even more proud to be a Phi Mu! So, in the end--it worked out. My sisters will be in my wedding--plain and simple!

Most of our chapters are unhoused as well, but in my experience, brothers tended to room/share apartments with other brothers. In our case, some brothers shared a house, which became an unofficial hanging-out place and party location.

In any event, our brotherly bonds were strong, and I don't think they could have been stronger by having a house.

This was our campus Sinfonia, except the house tended to attract the entire marching band. I suspect this is the case for a number of Sinfonia chapters.

Our chapter was housed, but I think one of the major factors in our closing was not being able to fill it. We had enough members to fill it, but we could only get about half full. Mandatory live in requirements would have probably caused women to quit, so that wouldn't have been effective. Other than alcohol restrictions, I'm not sure why it was so hard to get girls to live in the house: It was huge and beautiful and very convenient to campus.

Housed versus unhoused is really something few people could discuss fairly. I lived in my beautiful chapter house for 3 years and it is my primary correlation to "sisterhood." To me, sisterhood is the all-nighters before finals, rolling out of bed, going and getting a cup of coffee in the basement, everyone crammed in the bathrooms getting ready for a party or rush event, etc. But I know from having been an advisor that unhoused chapters also have very strong "sisterhoods." I think maybe you give up something in terms of constant access to such a large percentage of your sisters, but you also give up a lot of drama and resulting diminished sisterhood. So an unhoused chapter may possibly have a smoother sisterhood, but not necessarily better or worse.

I agree. I think the best part of my undergraduate sorority experience was living in the house. I also think the worst part of my undergraduate sorority experience was living in the house.

I don't think it's as simple as housed vs unhoused. There are far too many different kinds of housing.

And as Dr Phil pointed out, not having an "official" house doesn't mean you don't live together. Normally you live w/ your closest friends, who are usually your brothers or sisters.

Generally speaking, schools tend to use housing to monitor and control GLOs in a similar fashion as students are monitored in dorms and on-campus apartments. That is why chapters like mine axed the idea before we researched how realistic of an option it was.

There are also schools that prohibit or frown upon GLOs having off-campus housing or anything that resembles that.

I lived in an off campus house with sisters during my senior year, and I'm so glad I did.I have many fond memories of crafting together, cooking, and getting ready to go out. My school currently does not have official Greek housing, so this is common among junior and senior sorority women at my school.

I know Ball State has given a few sororities "houses", for instance the Phi Mu chapter was "given" a house by the school. The house is a small ranch that only 3 girls can live in. BSU did this to pave the way for a future "greek court" where each sorority would have identical houses owned/operated by the school. Essentially dorms. But this is far in the future. They are using Univ of Toledo, Eastern Ill as models. Interesting concept.

A national officer of one of the fraternities on campus (who went to our school, so he should know better) tried to push a "Greek Village" that was tobacco and alcohol free. He got his balls in a twist when the school didn't go with this idea. I pointed out that the students themselves had not asked for such a thing, and that forcing Greeks into such housing would cause the system to go into even more of a downward spiral.

All our houses are off campus and in the township, not the borough. They do have some issues but for the most part, they're issues shared by ALL students living off-campus. I don't think that on-campus housing is something our Greeks would want at this point in time, unless it would be a matter of having suites so they could then have "unofficial" houses.

Not having a house is a little bit annoying when trying to find a meeting place, storing letters, banners, etc., and hosting private events such as bid night celebrations/ceremonies and initiation. But otherwise, I rather like it. Our sisterhood is just as strong, and it allows us more opportunity to interact with our non-Greek friends. Also, I believe that not having a house keeps drama to a minimum.