MTSU frat houses too big to handle?

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MTSU frat houses too big to handle

By MARGO RIVERS
Staff Writer

Delinquent houses unable to offset lack of paying tenants during summer break

Two Middle Tennessee State University fraternities who each fell more than $60,000 behind in rent may have had difficulty making payments because they were unable to rent out all the rooms in their new fraternity houses.

The back-due rents of Kappa Sigma and Pi Kappa Alpha were the subject of an article in the Aug. 28 edition of the university's Sidelines newspaper.

The article made headlines in Nashville media when nearly all 8,000 Sidelines copies were stolen from newspaper racks that morning.

No one has been charged in the thefts.

Kappa Sigma has since paid off its $64,488 bill, and Pi Kappa Alpha has paid more than $40,000 toward its $69,833 bill. Taxpayers do not foot the bills for fraternity houses.

David Hays, MTSU's associate vice president for student affairs, said the fraternity homes might be too expensive for the groups to handle, especially during the summer, when many students are gone and occupancy is low.

''You've heard of that saying your eyes being too big for your stomach? That may be the case with some of the fraternities,'' Hays said.

''Maybe some of the fraternities overbuilt and were unable to fill the spots.''

The Kappa Sigma and Pi Kappa Alpha houses are among a group of fraternity houses that were built about three years ago on the outskirts of the campus, near the university's softball fields and off Rutherford Boulevard. The new brick houses have between 20 and 40 rooms for each group's members.

Hays said one possible reason is the members' mindset that the houses will automatically attract the pledges to the organizations.

''Some of them may feel, 'Hey, we have this nice house, they'll come to us,' but sometimes that doesn't happen,'' Hays said. ''The Office of Greek Life is working with them to develop better marketing and recruiting skills.''

Still, Greek Life Director Kim Godwin said the fraternities have the hardest time keeping up with the rent during the summer because very few students attend classes then.

''You can't make them live in the houses,'' Godwin said. ''But fraternities usually make up (the money) during the fall and the spring when there are more people living in the houses.''

The 2003-04 school year began Aug. 18. Of the eight fraternity houses on Greek Row, four are full and have waiting lists, Godwin said. Although the remaining houses may have a few vacancies, Godwin said, the office would not have a final number for two weeks because the fraternities just completed ''rush week,'' the time during which they accept new members.

''Despite the summer months, fraternities still have to pay for 12 months,'' Godwin said. ''Some have been able to handle it and pay their rents; others have not.''

After the initial publicity surrounding the missing papers, Pi Kappa Alpha President Luke Nolan said in interviews that members of his group felt picked on because they weren't the only MTSU fraternity behind on rent.

According to MTSU records, four of the school's eight fraternities were behind on their rents as of Sept. 5. Pi Kappa Alpha and Kappa Sigma had the biggest past-due amounts.

Earlier this year Sigma Chi was behind $65,088, but now owes only $2,565. Sigma Alpha Epsilon owes one month's rent of $12,777, and Sigma Nu owes $2,000 to the university, though the fraternity is disputing that amount, said Alan Thomas, MTSU's controller.

The rents vary each month but usually range between $8,000 and $15,000 a month, which includes the mortgage, depending on the size of the fraternity house, Thomas said.

MTSU paid for the houses by borrowing the money on behalf of the fraternities. Each fraternity has a housing corporation that collects rent from each member. The corporation in turn pays the university.

But MTSU isn't alone in having back-rent problems. The University of Tennessee has had similar situations, said Maxine Thompson, dean of students.

''Occasionally, we've had one or two fraternities that were in arrears for one or two months,'' Thompson said. ''But the amounts have never been significant.''