KA-UGa: Next to a landfill, it's hard to think of a less desirable neighbor

[GA-Beta]

UGA plan is key for Kappa Alpha

Published on: 09/06/06
Next to a landfill or a munitions factory, it's hard to think of a less desirable neighbor than a frat house.
So if residents of Athens' Reese Street historic district are reluctant to welcome a proposed Kappa Alpha Order fraternity house in their midst, it's understandable. The fraternity has purchased a 30-year-old apartment complex in the neighborhood that it intends to replace with a brick, plantation-style white-columned fraternity house large enough to sleep 30 members. Kappa Alpha alums fronted the $2.7 million to buy the 2.5-acre site, and a fund-raising campaign is under way to pay for the construction.
However, the discomfort of the predominantly black Reese Street community is compounded by Kappa Alpha's trademark veneration of the Old South, which it manifests by the display of Confederate battle flags and a penchant to dress up in Confederate grays and squire dates in hoop skirts.
To ease concerns of a culture clash, fraternity members and leaders have pledged to avoid behavior that might offend their prospective neighbors, but it's hard to take that seriously. Shortly after making that promise this spring, a dozen Kappa Alpha members at the group's 2006 Old South weekend posed for a photo in full Confederate regalia, except for their running shoes and penny loafers. Two brothers turned away from the camera to display Confederate battle flags on the back of their Old South T-shirts.
That photo, which frat members posted on the Internet, suggests they possess neither the maturity nor sensitivity to make good on their pledge or be good neighbors.
To defuse the situation, University of Georgia officials have offered to create a Greek village along River Road for Kappa Alpha and four other Lumpkin Street fraternity houses that will be displaced next year by campus expansion.
The university would build the houses and grant fraternities a 30-year lease. While that's less desirable than outright ownership to the fraternity, UGA would also handle general maintenance and repair, custodial services for common areas and landscaping. Those services would assure that the university could keep gentle tabs on fraternity life and retain some measure of control over what goes on inside, while allowing Kappa Alpha safe haven to continue its apparently cherished habit of reliving the Confederacy.
— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

[Elephant Walk]

I wish we had KA here these days. What a great fraternity.

It's too bad the nearby neighborhood is so ignorant.

[LaneSig]

How nice of the author to compare living next to a fraternity house as living next to a munitions dump or landfill. Not biased is she?

Elephant Walk - I thought you had a KA chapter at LSU.

[RU OX Alum]

that writer was mean

[Kevin]

I fail to understand how living next to a fraternity house is worse than living next to a 30-year old apartment complex.

Does not compute.

[brobuzzz]

Everyone loves living next to section 8 housing. I thought this was common knowledge.

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by ktsnake

I fail to understand how living next to a fraternity house is worse than living next to a 30-year old apartment complex.

Does not compute.

If you were to visit Athens, you would understand.

Coming from a very large city in Texas, I was surprised- and I will confess a bit worried- to arrive in Athens to attend UGA and see that there were large blocks of Section 8 housing all over the city.

With time- walking to class, meeting and chatting with residents etc.- I came to see that I had nothing to worry about. Much of this was ignorance on my part since I had never grown up in a place where I could see for myself that most residents of any neighborhood are good people.

But all the same, I do not think the scattering of Section 8 housing throughout Athens would work as well in Houston- or in many cities where decades of physical isolation has kept various populations suspicious of each other.

In any event, while one could argue that since Section 8 housing is a benefit that residents should be grateful to have- the fact remains that even in Athens there is a very clear pyschological barrier around those projects. People who live there are trapped there in many cases since they did not have options that many of us did growing up- and now are pretty much isolated in their own areas which are, by their appearance, conspicuously separate from the rest of the area (a prison of sorts if you think about it.)

As for KA at UGA- when I was there they flew the Confederate Flag, and the Old South party was celebrated with a degree of grandeur I have never seen on any other campus.

That is their right, and I have no beef with it. What they are celebrating there is not the issue- their right to fly a certain flag and celebrate historical events is absolute in this free country without them having to explain the reason behind their beliefs.

But in the real world, a white fraternity house full of very wealthy young men- whether they celebrate certain aspects of the Old South or not- is just not destined to a happy existence in a traditionally black neighborhood.

On paper, this situation is perfectly acceptable. But in reality, I expect there will be difficulties and both sides are going to be unhappy.

KA will certainly face a lot of public pressure to change how they operate- which is not fair to them.

And a group of people who have been gathered together and stuck in a small space which is in many ways a sort of "prison" in a frequently hostile world now have to share that small space with a fraternity house that represents much of what they personally find offensive. This is unfair to them.

Frankly, I hope another solution is found. I really don't like where this is headed and it is a disserve to both KA and the residents of that neighborhood that the city is forcing this to happen with their zoning requirements.