Cold dorms/porches

33girl · #1 01-01-2001, 04:31 PM

I mean the large group sleeping rooms in the 100+ person houses. I kind of know what these are, but there are a few things that I'm curious about. Do fraternities and sororities both have them? Also, wouldn't it be easier to just make the individual bedrooms bigger?

Anyone who's had experience with them, inquiring minds want to know

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Tom Earp · #2 01-01-2001, 04:56 PM

Ah 33girl, little do you know! It cost money to keep these houses up, and after looking to build at my chapter, you can only build so much and have to figure the cost per indivdual rent. If to much they dont want to rent as can save money else where. The IRS has gotten into it so much that you cant write anything off for taxes. We are looking a a suite type rooming and some other ideas but for investors it has to be worth their while. Ergo you dont build a new house or refurb what you have.

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

kappagirl00 · #3 01-01-2001, 05:10 PM

Our house only holds about 35 girls but we have a sleeping porch anyway and about 8 girls sleep there. I'm just about ot move in, and I'm not going to sleep there but it looks like it would be a fun place to go!!!

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Forever a KKG
"Nobody knows how happy I am!"

coffeemug · #4 01-01-2001, 06:51 PM

Both fraternities and sororities have them, they typically are only around in older chapter houses. From what I have heard people used to think it was a healthier way for group living (something about germs).

On my campus one fraternity had a sleeping porch. But the guys also had a room downstairs that they had desks and sofas in. They liked the sleeping porch because it was always quiet (no one screaming in the halls) and they still had a place to study.

Corbin Dallas · #5 01-02-2001, 08:43 AM

Our house was built in '76, and it originally had a cold dorm. All of the brothers had a room, 2 to a room, where they had a desk and couches and whatnot. Then, in the late 80's, they built on to the house, and built a new cold dorm. They turned the old one into a game room. Now though, the cold dorm isn't used much. Everyone has a loft or deck in their room. The cold dorm is mostly just used for guests that stay over, or when a guy has his girl over, so they can get a little privacy. I know at least two other houses have cold dorms/rack rooms though.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

Kymberleigh · #6 01-02-2001, 07:41 PM

My house has cold air dormers...I love them!!!! 24 hour quiet, 24 hour dark...it's so nice. We have around 45 that live in.

Also, I visited Perdue, and the TriDelta chapter there had over 80 girls who lived in and they had cold air and bedrooms. If anyone has been to Perdue the TriDelt house there is both huge and gorgeous.

Kymberleigh
Delta Delta Delta

Greek Cutie · #7 01-02-2001, 10:58 PM

I'm a little confused. Can someone explain what a cold dorm is? Thanks

CutiePie2000 · #8 01-03-2001, 02:47 PM

Yes, please explain what a "cold dorm"?

I have visions of poor GLO members lying in their beds shivering away!
There *IS* heating, right?

Please explain

Corbin Dallas · #9 01-03-2001, 03:40 PM

I'm not sure why their called cold dorms, even though ours is really cold (nobody sleeps in there, so we don't heat it) They are rack rooms, sort of like barracks. There are a bunch of beds, and maybe some dressers, and that's about it. At least that's been my experience with them. I don't think I could stand to sleep in the same room with 20-60 other guys.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

Kymberleigh · #10 01-04-2001, 12:41 AM

Cold air dormers in my house are on the third floor, the rooms are kept at a certain temp. (I'm not sure what that is) This temp. is sort of frigid...not to the point of shivering, but a healthy cold. It's where my sisters and I sleep. In our house we don't have the option of sleeping in our rooms.

Kymberleigh
Delta Delta Delta

SIUAGD · #11 01-07-2001, 11:20 PM

At SIU, where we have a small greek system, only 4 of the 5 sororities, and 2 of the 9(I think 9) have houses on Greek Row. Some of the chapters(mine included) have sleeping dorms.
Cold air dorms- we call ours the sleeping dorm- are where everyone sleeps. Ours has like 40-50 bunk beds(so 80-100 actual beds). It kinda looks like an army barracks-type setup. They're great! Our houses are set up like dorms, so our rooms are study rooms where two girls study, get dressed, hang out, etc. It's too small to put beds in. We have two three-man rooms,also. But the sleeping dorm is nice because it helps eliminate roommate problems too. For instance, my roommie has early classes and goes to bed early and gets up early. I, on the other hand, don't have class til noon, so I stay up late and sleep in. Sleeping in the dorm eliminates us bothering each other. And we have storage space for things like luggage.
It's always silent, it's always dark, and yes, it's chilly, but most of us prefer it that way. Alarm clocks aren't allowed to go off until 9, but we have a wake-up duty system where sisters are assigned times(6:30-8:30) and weekdays to do wakeup duty. I was nervous about it when I first moved in, but now, I don't sleep well at all when I come home and alarm clocks just annoy me more than ever. I would much rather be woken up by one of my sisters than the beep beep of the clock.
Not all of the sororities have them. We have to use ours because our numbers are consistenly very high. But another sorority with lower numbers only makes one person live in a room so they can fit in a twin bed. We have too many members to do that.
My boyfriend's fraternity house(they're on Row) has one too. But they also have lofts in their study rooms. Most of the guys sleep in their rooms, because not all of their members live in-house, so most of the guys don't have to share rooms. They also use the wake-up duty system, but theirs is a little different.
Hope this answers some questions!!

princesskaite · #12 01-08-2001, 03:40 AM

Cold air dorms were started during a phase when they were trying to eliminate the greek system. The rule was anytime you had more than x number of people living together (and I can't remember the number it was like 6 or 8) they had to all live in one room together. (There were also rules made up about fire codes and other nonsense) The reason its a "cold" dorm is because another part of the rule stated that the windows must be open at all time.