Mizzou Greek Houses Must Meet Fire Code...
 

Quoted and paraphrased from the campus newspaper at Missouri:

"MU fraternities and sororities will be required to install sprinkler systems in their houses now that the Columbia City Council has voted to adopt the 2006 International Fire Code.

Those who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting supported adopting the new safety provision.

However, representatives speaking on behalf of MU’s 37 Greek houses said the deadline for installing the sprinkler systems, Dec. 31, 2012, puts a financial burden on fraternities and sororities, and could result in some houses shutting down."

The code includes sprinklers in every house.

This is a situation that houses at many schools will likely face in the future.

It is the right thing to do, and very important since fires are a huge Risk Management problem overall, but it will be a tremendous financial hardship to many chapters.

This is what has happened at Ole Miss. All of the sororities and a handful of the fraternities are up to code with sprinklers, proper exits, etc. However, it will be hard for a few fraternities to get sprinklers unless they take out loans or their Headquarters helps them. I think the new codes are good and they actually help us at Ole Miss as far as sororities go because parents love to hear that a house has sprinklers and it is up to code, however, I think it has put a financial strain on some fraternities.

It is a two sided sword for sure.:(

Are spriklers systems need, of course they are. Will it save a life, yes.

Will it remove some GLOs from campus, possibly.

When we built our new house, I pushed for sprinkler systems to be put in place then. But, the Alum who was financing it decide no go. Meanwhile, there were many safety factors put into place, receesed basement windows with steps in them. Fire exit in basement, fire escape from the second floor, fire retardent in all rooms, hallways, and stairs along with many smoke detectors, safety lights and alarms.

Older houses, god what an expense for sure.

But the safest factor is using ones head when it comes to using possible fire starting items, candles, overloaded extension cords, old wireing, etc.

I know some houses at Ole Miss are discouraging even Mini Fridges and telling girls not to leave their flat irons and things like that plugged in all of the time and of course no space heaters and even some types of fans...

IMHO, I really think if a state is going to pass a law that says a fraternity/sorority has to have sprinklers by a certain date (I think it is summer of 2007 for Ole Miss houses) then the state needs to help with the cost. I know most sorority houses at Ole Miss have spent at least $250,000 for sprinklers and some even more based on the size of their house. Luckily and thankfully, the sororities at Ole Miss are all very financially stable and have outstanding alumnae support therefore, they were all able to get their houses up to code. Anyway, it probably isn't feasible in the state of MS to have the state help pay for the sprinklers and sprinkler alarms but perhaps they could have extended the deadline.

Since this topic will likely keep arising, this seems like something each GLO should consider doing special fund drives for. This is really a sorority- and fraternity-wide issue, not just a chapter issue. When a GLO loses a chapter, its reputation suffers. Therefore it is in the best interest of each GLO to make sure each of its chapters is taken care of.

Even though my campus did not have greek housing, I would still donate money to help keep my sisters across the country safe.

A point to ponder: The cost to retrofit an older house (typical brick construction, 4 stories, full basement, sleeping approximately 30 members) is in the range of $250,000, and it goes up about 10% per year from that point.

Even though sprinklers are the right thing to do, how many small to medium chapters can afford a quarter of a million dollars?

This is what just happend at Cal State Fullerton, most all the fraternities didnt have CUPS which they need to hold events, all the fraternities had to go through a long, expensive process to get their houses up to fire code. Then the city and fire department had to come in and make sure everything was regulation before the houses could hold any events in their house. In result of this only 4 outta 6 can hold events

If a small chapter is gonna spend that much on a sprinkler system they might as well just rebuild.

That's an option -- but I doubt that most small chapters can afford to do that either.

My home chapter is struggling to raise enough to refurbish a 27 year old house.

Fortunately, our chapter has a lot of alumni, having been in continuous operation since 1862, but even at that, it's tough.

Newer chapters with small numbers and few alumni are in a real jam.

Not many, if any. That's why I suggested fundraising should be done by HQ, for all its chapters, not by each chapter alone. If HQ does it, money can be solicited from the whole membership.

One good thing after you sprinkle your house, your insurance is suppose to go down over the next few years....so that is at least one positive thing.

Right, but even a medium sized fraternity like us (115-120 chapters) averaging $250K per chapter is in the neighborhood of $30 million if they all have a close deadline.

Hopefully, that wouldn't happen because it could bankrupt many fraternities.

(Of course not every chapter has a house, but the figures are still staggering)

Plus, that assumes that every current house is lacking one and that may not be the case.

But I believe that's what a loan is for........

While Insurance rates would go down, I do not think it would offset the cost of construction.

Getting loans are fine, but they have to be paid off. Usually these loans are not over the normal 30 year loans for homes.

As DeltAlum said, we all want the best for our chapters and I doubt there is a National Organization is going to be able to afford to do something as a loan program as we all are working on short purse strings no matter how big or small the size is.

So, here we are between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

As far as money rasing projects by Nationals, they get money from dues and donations from Alums. If 10-15 % of Alums donate, that will never start covering projects of this magnatude.