West Georgia: Greek Village Plans Announced

[exlurker]

Plans for housing NPHC, NPC and IFC chapters have been released. For timeline and details of different house sizes, rental arrangements, and amenities, see:

http://media.www.thewestgeorgian.com...-3250885.shtml

[rhoyaltempest]

This is great. Maybe other schools will mimic this idea.

[banditone]

Pretty cool. I always wonder what they do on the different number of beds thing when a chapter grows. What if they start in a lower bed count house, then "turn it around" and grow to be a large chapter. Kick someone out of one of the big houses?

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by banditone

Pretty cool. I always wonder what they do on the different number of beds thing when a chapter grows. What if they start in a lower bed count house, then "turn it around" and grow to be a large chapter. Kick someone out of one of the big houses?

I'm guessing that they are providing the amount of beds based on the average number of members the chapters retain consistently. For example, NPHC groups on predominitely White campuses are usually small so I'm sure they'll get the smaller houses. I'm also assuming that not all members will be able to live in the house; it will probably be first come, first serve or maybe upper classmen will get first dibs or maybe they will have rotations each year so that different members get to experience living in the house. The good thing is that no matter who actually lives in the house, the chapters will have a place to consistently meet and socialize.

[MaryAmanda]

Originally Posted by banditone

Pretty cool. I always wonder what they do on the different number of beds thing when a chapter grows. What if they start in a lower bed count house, then "turn it around" and grow to be a large chapter. Kick someone out of one of the big houses?

A lot of the houses at GT are really small, and they kind of rotate. For example, the Alpha Gam house is particularly small, and sophomores can apply to live in the house for a year. Juniors and seniors often choose to move off-campus. (At least, that's how I think it works, from what I've heard from my Alpha Gam friends...if anyone knows otherwise, feel free to correct me.)

[AXiDTrish]

I actually have the housing layouts for UWG sitting next to me. As a sorority (NPC) member from UWG I can tell you that housing such as this has been a dream of ours for quite a while. It's exciting to actually see it happen and be involved in it!

The sizes of the houses are pretty much the same has what is offered now. For the NPC groups, they are housing 20-30 women in the residence halls at present, so filling a 16-20 bed house will not be a stretch (the parlor fees might be though, at least initially). I would not be surprised if most of the fraternities maintain their current houses. Sigma Nu will literally be right around the corner. Chi Phi (2 houses now), Kappa Sigma, and Kappa Alpha Order (2 houses now) are on the main drag of the campus.

What I have found surprising in all of this are the numerous chapters that do not have a chapter corporation/housing board or any money saved up for just this scenario. What the heck did they do with all their housing fees for all these years? I know they assessed them.

And here's a question for campuses that have recently built houses. Did you experience an increase in membership after the housing/Greek Row was completed? Did it take a few years? Does anyone have experience in this area?

[AXiDTrish]

Oh and here's a fun piece of trivia from UWG.

The Chi Phi house they show in the UWG article....it used to be the Phi Mu Alpha house. I always found it quite interesting that the men's music fraternity was larger that the social fraternities at one time. (Yes, I realize PMA is actually considered social).

[NUBlue&Blue]

Originally Posted by MaryAmanda

A lot of the houses at GT are really small, and they kind of rotate. For example, the Alpha Gam house is particularly small, and sophomores can apply to live in the house for a year. Juniors and seniors often choose to move off-campus. (At least, that's how I think it works, from what I've heard from my Alpha Gam friends...if anyone knows otherwise, feel free to correct me.)

My daughters' house is the newest and I think it holds somewhere around 33-36. Once you move in, you can stay as long as you want. My daughter has lived in the house for two years and is moving into an apt.next fall. Younger daughter will move into the house next fall. I know at UGA, it's usually only sophomores who live in the house, but I think part of the reason for that is because housing is so tight. GT still guarantees housing for all freshmen and sophomores--I know most of younger's friends are moving into North Ave next year. Some girls never live in because they don't want to, but the convenient location is a big draw for a lot of people.

We had big houses at Nebraska, so we had to live in, like it or not. The only way out was to get married!

[AGDee]

Paging AGDLynn to the thread! (She's the past Chapter Advisor of our chapter there and had been telling us about this for a while)

[AGDLynn]

At WGa, since 1972, 5 sororities have been in 1 dorm; AXiD came a few years later. Since 1972 until a couple of years ago, we've been told that if 1 group moves out, everyone moves out and there would be no returning. We could not justify the expenses and problems of actually owning a house like the fraternities. Plus in Cton, there's not that much available housing for large groups. There has never been a "fraternity" dorm. Either fraternities owned/rented a house or did without.

It was only with the possibility of moving to The Grove about 2 years ago that perhaps not all sororities needed to move out of Boykin.

I don't know about the other sororities but the Alpha Gam monthly payments for "Property Support" are only a few dollars a month...which raises money to pay for lobby furniture, tv, and other "house" needs.

If a chapter has a 20-bed house, the "rent" will be $20,000 a year; 10-bed house $10,000, etc.

The steering committee and Capstone survey found that the chapters needed a conference room and a storage room. There are none in the houses. With current sorority chapter totals at 64, I don't know if these houses will be big enough to have recruitment and/or chapter meetings in.

It was also my understanding that there would be another committee of collegiates, advisors and others who would have input on how the inside was designed. I think that the company used a stock design that was used at other campuses.

The original plan suggested for 20-bed houses for 7 sororities (6 now) and probably 1 or 2 fraternities but now there are only 7 20-bed houses total. Can't remember the number of the 10 bed or 6 bed houses; there will be 1 "townhouse" building for smaller groups. Groups will have to apply for houses so everyone may not get the size they want.

As for the Chi Phi house, I never heard that another group owned it. The Chi Phi's had it in 1973 when I was in school and have had it ever since, to my knowledge.

[AGDee]

/hijack Wow, I page you and you show up 10 minutes later.. you're good! /end hijack

[AGDLynn]

Well, I woulda been here sooner but I was driving back from a House Association meeting, lol.

BTW, I looked more at the layouts and the Comparison chart. It says that the 20-bed chapter room fits 100 and the living room fits 12 but the layout looks like it's one big room. The comparison also says that there is a Ritual/Rec. Storage and Chair Storage but I guess those are disguised as "under stairs" and "Mech"/

There are a few houses for Phase II but I don't know when that would be started.

The community building looks cool.

Potential plans may include move the "front" of campus over to that side of campus because it will be near the new stadium. Wonder if that will affect the fraternities that live across the street in deciding to move....

Exciting times!

[AXiDTrish]

Lynn,
So, you heard that front campus may be "relocated" over to where the Greek housing is planned. That's really surprising, especially since that side of town doesn't have a direct road into campus. Hmmm....

I'm going to PM you too.

[IHeartUGA]

Originally Posted by MaryAmanda

A lot of the houses at GT are really small, and they kind of rotate. For example, the Alpha Gam house is particularly small, and sophomores can apply to live in the house for a year. Juniors and seniors often choose to move off-campus. (At least, that's how I think it works, from what I've heard from my Alpha Gam friends...if anyone knows otherwise, feel free to correct me.)

Our Tech chapter is actually tearing that house down and building a 3 or 4 story house that will be MUCH bigger than the current one.

[AGDLynn]

I was on the Alpha Gam GTech House Association Board when the Olympics came through and we were able to remodel the house. It looks small from the front but we added more bedrooms and enlarged the kitchen.

Yea for the new house...can't wait to see it finished!