fraternity housing
 

What are the good things about having fraternity houses on college campuses?

I think it's great because your close to the campus and you don't have to walk to far to get to your classes. It's also great if you have friends who might live in the dorm because then you are closer to them too.

In most cases, on-campus GLO housing is bigger, cleaner and safer and food is usually much better than in the dorms. In addition, it is almost always cheaper than the dorms or living off-campus, plus you are close to campus and near a lot of your friends.


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Fraternally,
Barbara

If you have to go around telling everyone you're in charge you're not
much of a leader.

My small school didn't have Greek houses, and I think this affected the unity of the group as a whole.

When you have one central location that all members can come to at any time (for personal reasons or for meetings and activities), it helps foster a sense of brother/sisterhood.

Aside from financial benefits, it also provides you with someplace for meetings, etc. On a campus like mine, the school had to provide meeting rooms and often other locations for events. If we would have had our own housing, we would have had plenty of room, both inside and out, leaving the rest of campus free.

Not having a house it the one thing about my Greek experience that I wish would have been different

Welcome to Greek Chat! And, cool username!

There are many reasons why having fraternity houses on college campus is a good thing.

-Shorter walking distance
-Nice place to hang out between classes, better than the crowded cafeterias and student lounges
-Publicity. I think students are more likely to recognize houses on campus, than random houses in other neighborhoods.
-Cheaper than the dorms!

I lived in the house all 4 years because it was right on campus, and the cheapest way to live on campus; other then a rat infested efficiency apartment.

Holy thread bump from 1999, Batman! :D

Oooo, I have a question about housing!

How many people have minority Greeks orgs on your campus that have university provided housing? I know some orgs don't allow it, but even for those that do, I have noticed a HUGE disparity in who gets the housing from the University.

While I understand some orgs are smaller and thus it is hard to fill a 80 person house, why can't they just have some smaller houses be available to these orgs?

My reasoning is from research I have done, about 98% of respondents (out of 1160) I polled said that their chapter did not have university provided housing - this was just Asian Greeks mind you which statistically have larger numbers at PWIs than Black and Latino Greeks.

Moreover, many respondents also felt that their administrations didn't care about minority Greek orgs. While this doesn't surprise me, it seems like that this "old boy" network that runs Greek Life offices is not prepared for the modern world.

LOCK -- as you say, we're bigger. Once you have an 80-man chapter and the administration doesn't take your request for housing seriously, you'll have a leg to stand on. As I see it, currently, you just don't.

Or, even aside from the size of the current chapter - come at them with strong alumni support, including funds to help build the house and I bet administration sings a different tune.

At The University of Kentucky, two NPHC chapters had houses (not sure about number of lives in). However, when the new (at the time) library was being built, their houses - along with four IFC houses - had to be torn down. The UK Administration offered to help all six chapters with building / securing new housing. However, only three of the IFC chapters took the University up on their support. One IFC decided to purchase (lease?) off campus housing on their own. The two NPHC organizations declined.

When available, many campuses do offer smaller houses (i.e. properties) to organizations. However, many organizations do not have the resources to afford housing - regardless of the size of the house or of the chapter. And my guess is that few universities have properties that are affordable for smaller organizations. More so, these properties may not be suitable for housing.

Regarding your research, are you asking all the right questions? Is there a need? Does the university provide it for all groups? Are there any requirements or obligations associated with housing that might keep the chapter from accepting housing?

Universities often are willing to provide housing, but there may not be a need expressed by an organization for housing. For example, at UK, only 45% of IFC chapters have university housing. The others either have off campus housing, housing in a dorm, or no "official" housing. I am sure many of the chapters might prefer on campus housing, but it is a simple matter of economics. In general, universities are not going to spend the capital for housing unless there is a need for it and a way to fund it. So unless an organization makes it know that there is a need for it *and* they are able to meet their financial obligation, then the university is simply not going to be able to afford to give it away.

It isn't an "old boy" network, it is economics. Chapters need to be able to accept the responsibilities and costs associated with housing. Many can not or choice not to do so. And while the university may subsidize some of the housing, they are not obligated to carry the burden.

Historically, IFCs and NPCs often have the resources in place (local and inter/national housing corporations) that allows them to meet the responsibilities and obligations required. So while it may seem that the university is providing housing for IFC and NPC chapters, they are not. Each IFC and NPC is working *with* the university to provide housing for their chapter. Unfortunately, there are many examples of IFC and NPC chapters that must relinquish their houses simply because they can no longer afford it. To the university, it is a matter of economics.

You might ask if the HWGLOs are actually in "University" housing. At my school, I don't believe any GLOs are housed by the university itself: most own or lease facilities right around the edges of campus, (and some seemingly right in the middle of campus because of the University's expansion), which some might incorrectly think is "University" housing.

I believe the situation is similar at University of Nebraska, where the City Campus is bordered by greek houses, and has a greek row running straight through campus east of the Union/Kauffman and surrounding the Cather-Pound-Neihardt complex. Many people who see this get the impression that the university owns these houses because they're "on campus" when in reality, the land is almost all owned by one GLO's housing corporation or another, even if that GLO isn't the one currently occupying the house.

As I think about it, I believe Triangle Fraternity was at one point renting a house briefly from UNL, but lost it due to a minor alcohol incident (UNL's campus is completely dry, but the greek houses are owned by the GLOs and therefor have different alcohol policies as the organization sees fit) and I think the University re-appropriated the building for offices.

I'd have to call your poll meaningless, as there's no control group that you've mentioned. What response would you get if you asked these questions of members or NIC or NPC organizations? Independent organizations that aren't specifically Multi-cultural or minority-oriented?

As to the administrations: most campus administrations don't care about greeks in general. As someone once put it: while we're here, we don't win national championships, we collect food for the hungry, raise money for charity, go to class, and have a good time. After we graduate, we donate buildings, stadiums, scholarships, and department chairs, and because we don't directly bring glory to the schools as undergraduates, the schools sometimes lose sight of the benefits our organizations provide in the long-term.

Did you realize you just welcomed someone 8 years after they posted?