Types of Greek Housing

[jazing]

We all know of the standard Greek style housing. A house for each main GOL. Then there is apartment style, where there is a chapter room and some rooms above (nothing more). The final type I am aware of is Auburn style housing. It is sorta like apartment style, except every group lives on a separate floor, and the chapter rooms are either on the first floor, or on each floor at the common area.

My question is, what benefits do you see to this third type? They are considering installing it at my university, and I am just wondering is all. How long do you think it would take to build such Greek housing in the first place? Should I even worry, or would it be installed when I am already out?

Opinions is all I am looking for.

[Titchou]

I would say that the Auburn style is the more prevalent one.

[clarinette]

My school does Auburn style. It seems to work out well for them.

[AGDAlum]

Originally Posted by jazing

My question is, what benefits do you see to this third type? They are considering installing it at my university, and I am just wondering is all. How long do you think it would take to build such Greek housing in the first place? Should I even worry, or would it be installed when I am already out?

Opinions is all I am looking for.

It would be useful to have more information about your campus's master plan. Is this university-owned or privately-owned housing? (Privately-owned could be a housing corporation in the name of the campus IFC/PHC, or a private developer leasing to individual GLO chapter housing associations, or some other model.) A stand-alone chapter house is enormously expensive to construct and to maintain. A residence hall where chapters lease space is a lot cheaper.

With financing in place, architectural and engineering designs approved, and permits in place, etc., the actual construction shouldn't take very long. Less than a school year.

[Low C Sharp]

A benefit to the third type in the case of Auburn is that it's exactly the kind of housing collegians want, so there's never an issue filling the house. (Not that there would be at Auburn, but it's a problem elsewhere where the chapters aren't so large and/or Greek life isn't taken so seriously.) It's suite-style, with single bedrooms plus semiprivate baths/living areas. That's the state of the art in collegiate housing right now. I suppose trends could change in 20 years and students might find this setup undesirable for some reason, but right now that design is a very easy sell on virtually any campus.

[jazing]

Well, with a chapter of about 40 guys, do you think they would even give that many rooms considering there are about 3 other fraternities with almost twice the amount?

That is another of my concerns, how many rooms will they give.

[VandalSquirrel]

The only other style, which isn't on many campuses but does exist, is the sleeping porch/cold dorm. Members don't sleep in their bedrooms but all sleep in one or more large rooms that are always dark and quiet. Some people find this advantageous as the sleeping area is for sleeping only and it can cut down on roommate issues when people have different schedules. There is often a room or two with an en suite bathroom that can be used for a visiting guest, but is also ideal for when a member is sick so they don't keep everyone up coughing or spread disease, and can be converted for disability access if there is a member who requires those accommodations for daily use or has a temporary disability.

My school has sleeping porches and even our dorms had been set up that way originally, and the school I previously attended had suites of three rooms for four people. Two people shared a room where the beds & dressers/bureaus were kept, and in between those two was a room that held our desks, a sink with a medicine cabinet, and a WC toilet. Having the entry door into that room would have been great, but it wasn't designed that way. I am a person who keeps strange hours and has diagnosed sleep problems, as did my suite mate, so it worked out great for us as we didn't disturb my roommate who got up really early.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by jazing

Well, with a chapter of about 40 guys, do you think they would even give that many rooms considering there are about 3 other fraternities with almost twice the amount?

That is another of my concerns, how many rooms will they give.

That's the nice thing about this kind of housing. Each group usually gets the same number of rooms, regardless of size. It can do two things: help to equalize the GLOs since everyone has basically the same housing experience and/or give a struggling group a "holy shit" moment when they can't fill it.

I would make sure they are skewing this on the smaller side, rather than the larger. In other words, you are on board with housing for 20 people. You are not on board with housing for 60. Too many GLOs have bitten off more than they could chew, then had to either be stuck in a lease and close from being bankrupt and/or explain to the alumni why they have to move (the answer is usually because EVERYTHING was more booming when the alums where there, but the alums usually blame it all on the chapter).

[jazing]

I think it is time I go to some IFC meetings next semester, as my hearing of this was in the school newspaper.

Do you thinking non IFC/PHC would get housing in this? By that I mean groups like ΣΛΓ, ΩΨΦ, ΚΑΨ, etc. Or is that more of a personal university question to ask them?

[DubaiSis]

You're asking questions nobody can answer without getting a LOT more information. Your campus could be promoting Greek housing, likely to keep more students (and their bank accounts) on campus longer as opposed to them moving to off-campus housing which makes the school no revenue.

If they would build something comparable to what Auburn has, I would venture to guess that your opportunity to grow your membership could increase a lot, especially if the currently available housing is aging, dingy, icky, etc. But I would definitely attend those meetings to make sure the small chapter is getting fairly represented. Maybe they can divide a single floor between you and another small chapter, or give you the rooms you need on a floor and allow non-Greeks to occupy the rest. My guess is this is what they'd do - your guys get first crack at the space, then it opens to the public.

As far as my opinion, having lived in the large, beautiful traditional sorority house, I would be a huge fan of the Auburn-style housing. It would take soooo much pressure off the chapter regarding financials (presuming you're not obligated to fill x number of rooms every semester). That nearly 100 year old chapter house I lived in is suffering from a drastic need to update its electrical system because, who knew? The computers and million other critical plug-in devices for 60 girls is too much for a house that had 1 outlet in each bedroom. It could cost a million dollars (I actually have no idea but it has to be a lot) to get it up to snuff, and it would be a non-issue with a brand new dorm.

[jazing]

Currently we have no Greek housing on campus. The best is Greeks who either live in a dorm or off campus house together. The university loves Greek Living, they want it to explode. Once the ΣΧ, becomes a chapter, I believe it will help it even further.

I'll post back with more information when possible. Currently it is finals week.