Is a house necessary?

IowaHawkeye · #1 10-29-2002, 10:44 PM

I tried searching and nothing came up, so forgive me if this has already been covered!

Do you think it is necessary for a sorority chapter, on a large greek campus (14 sororities), to have a house? Take into consideration that every other chapter on campus has a house - and I'm talking about large beautiful houses that sleep 40+. Is a house necessary to (and I hate to use this word) compete with the other houses - and is it death not to have one? Has anyone at a large university experienced this?

I ask because this fall a group colonized on campus and I was talking to one of the girls who had been working for the past year to bring them here. I asked her if their nationals were planning on building a house and where were they thinking of building or if maybe there were renting one of the old unused houses on fraternity circle? She told me that their nationals had no intentions of building them a house and that maybe 5 girls would rent out a regular house next year and use that for a chapter house.

Honestly, I would love to see this group succeed, but when she told me this I couldn't help but think, oh gosh, thats going to be the death of them.

What do you think? Is a house necessary in a case like this, when every other chapter has a big, beautiful house - or is it just something extra. Be honest

AXWhoah · #2 10-29-2002, 11:01 PM

I hate to say it but I do believe that it is death for that sorority. I go to school like the one described and I cannot imagine not having the house....

texas*princess · #3 10-29-2002, 11:09 PM

While I don't know much about NPC sororities and esp. on a big competitive school, I would *guess* that perhaps it would make it harder to compete (for lack of better term) with the other sororities with large beautiful houses.

*~However~* I think it could be looked at in a different way. If PNM's cut that sorority out JUST because they don't have a house, I would question what kind of PNM's that the other sororities are recieving if all they want is a beautiful mansion.

Maybe I'm just a very positive person, but I believe a true sisterhood can exist with or without a house. And I would hope PNM's can see that too.

MsVixen · #4 10-29-2002, 11:23 PM

on my campus we have one GLO that is unhoused (by choice) and they do suffer in numbers for it...

on the other hand, they have one of the strongest sisterhoods on the campus... they have 90 - 100 % participation at greek events as compared to some larger houses to struggle to get 30 - 40 % of their girls to show up

sororitygirl2 · #5 10-30-2002, 12:30 AM

For the most part, I would say a house is necessary if everyone else has one.

While you do want to stand out from other chapters in some ways... this is not one of them.

PiPhiERDoc · #6 10-30-2002, 01:31 AM

When I was an active 2 of our chapters had houses on "greek row" with the six fraternities; the other 4 houses each had half of a dorm on campus. All had a chapter room and a kitchen, and slept about 38 to 40 (total of 85, with most chapters at 100+). Pi Phi finally (after 52 years on our campus) moved into a house on greek row two years ago, and while I have to say that it never negatively affected us to not have a house as far as recruitment, numbers, ect, it is AMAZING to now have a house to do more activities at, invite alums to, ect.
But we weren't trying to start as a new chapter without a house, and there were other chapters in dorms at that time.

Betarulz! · #7 10-30-2002, 01:48 AM

I think that it is necessary for a chapter to have a house (far more so for sororities than fraternities...although I don't know why) if everyone else does.

The main thing is to think about how it will be perceived by rushees. I think very few of us can say that as incoming freshmen we were mature enough, or knew enough to understand what really matters when selecting a house. 99% of rushees don't have a resource like GC or an older sibling to tell them that a chapter house is not that important. Even if they do, I think that there still is a draw for *typical* rushees to not look past the housing aspect. I know that at Nebraska, Pike who is without a house, usually draws in members who normally wouldn't have joined the Greek system. They are a fairly large house and have a very diverse group of guys, but the general feeling among others on campus is that half of those guys would not have considered a fraternity if there wasn't a group like Pike on campus.

sugar and spice · #8 10-30-2002, 01:55 AM

We have a similar situation on our campus: 11 NPC sororities, only one of which is unhoused. They do suffer for numbers because of it, but it hasn't caused their death (at least not yet). A lot of the girls rent out a block of apartments together, so that they have something similar to a house -- yet nobody is required to live in if they don't want to, and they all have their own personal living spaces.

It seems to work well for them -- yes, they are the smallest (I think) sorority on campus, but they're still a pretty decent size.

It depends on the school, of course. I can think of schools where it would be a much bigger deal to be the only chapter on campus without a house.

CutiePie2000 · #9 10-30-2002, 02:06 AM

If everyone is unhoused, you can make a go of it.
DG and Gamma Phi Beta at UBC in Vancouver have been going strong for 75 years and they're unhoused, as are all groups at UBC!

WindyCityDZ · #10 10-30-2002, 02:09 AM

I'm an alum from the '70's, so forgive me for being optimistic...

I sincerely hope that a group of women who want to form a sisterhood in this millenium will succeed without having to have big time real estate.

I attended a reasonably small private college in Chicago, (mostly commuter students,) and we managed to maintain, and grow, a chapter during times when greek life was not popular. The university has grown a lot in the last 25 years, and our Delta Zeta chapter has grown with it. 72 sisters stong. Without a house.

A house does not make a sisterhood. Common values, common goals, great times, and great friendships do. I can't imagine that
things have changed that much since I graduated. Or at least I hope that they haven't!

I'm keeping this group of women in my thoughts, and sending positive vibes to Iowa. I sincerely hope that they are successful, and that they have the rare opportunity to have the same sorority experience that I had in college. And that I still have to this day.

With or Without A House!

Robin

KappaTarzan · #11 10-30-2002, 08:22 AM

on my campus, no sorority has a house... however... all the fraternities do. it is true, the fraternity with the biggest, best house is the one that gets the most rushes... it is SO possible to have a strong sisterhood without a house, but its realyl hard to get the initial interest going.. with hard work, it can work though...

aephi alum · #12 10-30-2002, 10:35 AM

I'd say it depends on the school.

When I rushed, one out of five sororities had a house. Now, 3 sororities are housed, one has a suite in a dorm, and one is totally unhoused. Having vs. not having a house doesn't seem to have affected numbers, though this may be because all but one round of rush is held in function rooms in the student center - leveling the playing field.

It is absolutely possible to have a strong sisterhood without having a physical building to live in. I agree with WindyCityDZ there.

But PNMs sometimes have to make quick decisions about which groups to cut based on very little information. Round 1 parties can last as little as 20 minutes. If they've been shown beautiful house after beautiful house and are then taken to some classroom or function room, they may think WTF? and cut that sorority just for being unhoused.

I do hope this chapter succeeds, for obvious reasons

- but I'm concerned that, under these circumstances, being unhoused will hurt them.

Kevin · #13 10-30-2002, 10:43 AM

My school is a mid-sized university (15,000 or so). I can't really speak for sororities as they always seem to have a house. Fraternities however did until just recently. When PKA came on campus one of the stipulations placed on them by IFC was that they couldn't have a house for 3 years (don't know why). They actually have become either the largest or 2nd largest group on campus in the short time they've been around and with no house. It actually frees up a LOT of money and they are known for throwing great parties (which they usually invite us to).

Anyhow... if this group handles it right it may not be so bad. They will have lower dues and be able to do just as much -- Except live together.

33girl · #14 10-30-2002, 10:55 AM

TOTALLY depends on the campus.

As for Iowa Hawkeye's example...I would say if there are 2 or 3 unhoused groups out of say 15, they can survive. If there's only 1, no, unless their national is going to accept that this will affect their numbers and act accordingly.

We always had fiormal rush in classrooms, because our houses varied SO widely in decor/size, that it would be unfair to do otherwise. I know there are "nicer" houses on every campus, but face it, a mansion is still a mansion!

xp2k · #15 10-30-2002, 10:59 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not up on all the Panhel regulations, but I thought it was a Panhel rule that all sororities had to have equal oppurtunities and resources.

So I thought that if one chapter had a house, then all of the chapters had to have a house (or some sort of house).

At IU, back in the early 90s, there were 4 or 5 sororities that had to live in the dorms because they didnt have houses.

They did not do well in recruitment and now 3 of those sororities are no longer with us.

The other 2 sororities managed to build large beautiful houses (about 1993).

However, living in the dorms hurt their recruitment so much, that one of them JUST started recovering in the LAST FEW YEARS (by recover, I mean consistenly strong/large pledge classes).

The other one, is still having severe problems with recruitment. 19 party is this weekend, so I hope that they do well this year.

This is all from the perspective of a very large sorority system though.

Every sorority has a large beautiful house. It would be tough for a young woman going through rush to turn down the chance to live in large mansion on campus.

So the realist in me would say that it would not work here.

I dont know your school's environment though.