There've been rumors for the past few years that Pitt wants to do some major renovations to McCormick Hall and possibly Amos. The asbestoes thing probably got them really stirred up (asbestoes was found in the flooring of every kitchen on the top floors of all the dorms in the Quad). To do that renovation, they probably want to put TPA back into Amos, and, from what I've heard, TPA has been clamoring to be back in Amos. I've heard that Pitt would also like to add more rooms in McCormick, by halving the two-story living rooms. There's some clause that allows KKG to stay on Bayard; I would imagine that only KAT would be allowed to fall under that same clause.
The part that talks about recognized v. unrecognized GLOs makes me wonder if maybe the NPHC sororities have been seeking housing similar to Amos, and maybe Pitt wants them in Amos, too. Sheer speculation on my part there.
Yes, I know that each sorority had to have a housemother back in the 1960's (ours lived in the suite of singles on the informal side of the suite) (this was also before my time, but we had to write to our former housemother once a week). When I was at Pitt, you had to fill the suite consistently to have the use of the full floor. Only ADPi, TriDelta, ChiO & DZ had the full floor, and you'll see that on old literature - for example, our address was 1001-1002 Amos Hall while TPA's was 701 Amos Hall. DZ's used half of the 3rd floor, ChiOs used half of the 5th floor, and the rest of us would jockey for a good foothold on the informal sides of 8, 7, & 6. There was an RA in Amos who lived on the 6th floor, and the women who worked at the front desk weren't the gestapo style security guards there now, they were like our informal housemothers. I still see one of them at South Hills Village now and again, and she quizzes me on who's doing what every time!
I sincerely miss
that homey touch!
Logistically and financially, I don't see how a housemother could be worked back onto each floor. How can Pitt justify a non-student living in a resident hall when there's supposedly a housing shortage? That would mean 9 less students, 9 less meal plans - or more, if they're trying to get more sororities in Amos.
What Pitt may wish to do is tighten up the filling the suite bit, and try to work TPA (and possibly the NPHC sororities) into Amos. How many NPHC sororities are there at Pitt? There used to be 3 (AKA, Delta Sigma Theta, and Zeta Phi Beta); that would mean a total of 13 sororities crammed into Amos. While that would look pretty sweet to Pitt, it's a
nightmare when you take Recruitment into consideration!
Thanks for keeping us posted!
honeychile