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Our university had a dorm where all the sororities were located, and all the frats had houses. The university rules regarding alcohol (you could have it in your room if you were over 21 & had the door shut when drinking) did not apply as the dorm was considered chapter property (which I never really understood as Nationals does not fund anything for the dorm and was not the "owner" as a house may be.) You also had to have a female escort for a male student to go onto the hall, but other female dorms did not. The school was not allowed to place any student that was not Greek in the sorority dorm and the Greek women had to abide by their National rules.
However, the last few years brought about a change. The university needed more beds, and there were a ton of open spots in the sorority hall. (Not many girls over 21 wanted to live on the hall b/c you couldn't drink.) SO - non-Greek students were placed on the halls, many of whom did not want to be there. None of the rules re: alcohol/men applied to them, but it did to Greeks! In addition, each sorority has to sign a lease every semester that they will pay a certain fee for having their hall (something crazy like $10,000.) They also said no freshman could live in the sorority dorm. (Many girls would move in from apt. other dorms after the first month or so of school after signing a room transfer, but I guess the school didn't want to do extra work.) This makes it very hard to recruit women to live there who are older/drinking age. The cost of living on the hall very expensive. When they first implemented the new lease, many Greek women moved out because they could live in another dorm or apt. for less money (and they could drink and have guests as they pleased.) This resulted in having the officers and a handful of Greek women living on the hall, and the rest of the rooms were non-Greeks. Of course, this was not good for the Greek system. Most of the chapters were afraid to leave the dorm and buy a house because it could have affected them in recruitment (they have a house, and we don't OR they are the only ones not in the sorority dorm, etc.)
Needless to say, no one was brave enough to tell the school to take a hike, and everyone remained in the dorm. The chapters have now had to resort to amending their bylaws to ensure Greek women are living on the hall. One chapter I know requires all New Members to live on the hall for the year after they initiate. NM aren't always thrilled with the thought of being "made" to live on the hall. It appears the university is trying to tear down the on-campus Greek system even though there are numerous benefits of the sorority presence on campus. Frats haven't had to worry about any of this mess since they all have houses. However, the school did implement a "no socials at frat house" rule a few years back. (How this is done I don't know as the school does not own ANY of the homes - most frats rent from local owners and such.) This rule stinks b/c now the Greeks have to rent out rooms at local bars and pay high $$$ at these establishments for any alcohol. I guess there are struggles no matter where you live!
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