Sorority Houses a Possibility at U. of Tennessee?

exlurker · #1 04-12-2006, 08:53 PM

Station WBIR in Knoxville is reporting that U. of Tennessee officials "are meeting with sorority alumni [sic] clubs to review proposals for building houses on campus."

The report quickly touches on some concerns: suitable locations, cost, ability of all sororities to afford comparable housing, etc.

See

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=33477

According to the station's story, a "final answer" is hoped for by the end of this year. Construction -- if any -- would be "at least two years away."

Incidentally, the report also mentions that Auburn is thinking about houses for sororities, too. (Tennessee and Auburn are apparently the only two SEC schools wihout sorority houses.)

I think there are some U. of Tennessee sorority members and alumnae who post on GC. Maybe they can help keep us updated about the discussions and decisions.

AUDeltaGam · #2 04-12-2006, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by exlurker

Incidentally, the report also mentions that Auburn is thinking about houses for sororities, too. (Tennessee and Auburn are apparently the only two SEC schools wihout sorority houses.)

Auburn is not looking to build "houses" for the sororities...more like suites/nicer "dorm" type things.

Just FYI

LightBulb · #3 04-13-2006, 04:44 AM

Whoa, I thought we still had the brothel law here in TN

Thetagirl218 · #4 06-22-2007, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightBulb

Whoa, I thought we still had the brothel law here in TN

I thought there was such a law in TN also. I know for a fact that there are other states such as South Carolina and Arizona that have the same such rules. I have a KD friend at Clemson and a sister at Arizona that were both RAs/officers in their sorority's "dorms". These dorms were owned by the Unversity and were esstentinaly dorm bulidings on campus that specfic sororities were allowed to use. This seems like an internresting alternative to such laws, even if it is not a house.

ASUADPi · #5 06-22-2007, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

I thought there was such a law in TN also. I know for a fact that there are other states such as South Carolina and Arizona that have the same such rules. I have a KD friend at Clemson and a sister at Arizona that were both RAs/officers in their sorority's "dorms". These dorms were owned by the Unversity and were esstentinaly dorm bulidings on campus that specfic sororities were allowed to use. This seems like an internresting alternative to such laws, even if it is not a house.

FYI-The current sorority dorm at ASU is not owned by the University. An outside company built it on ASU land (I believe they are leasing the land). The girls do not pay their fees to ASU it is an outside management company. Now, their previous home (PV Main) as a dorm owned and operated by ASU.

(This information came from the collegians I know at ASU)

As for the brothel law, I heard (I don't know if it is true or not) that it was "taken off the books" because at one point there was talk (and there might still be but I'm no longer at ASU and I'm not on the house corp board) to tear down the fraternity houses that aren't in use that are by Sun Devil Stadium and Wells Fargo Arena and build sorority houses (not big ones though like U of A has). That might still be on the plate (mainly because more than half of those frats aren't in use and are just disgusting to look at from the outside. ASU really wants to clean up the image).

SigKapCoug · #6 06-23-2007, 04:10 AM

I am 99.5% sure the brothel law is just a rumor on all campuses.

If not, i'd like to see a copy of the law!

Densemonkey36 · #7 06-23-2007, 08:50 AM

I know in Pennsylvania we have the brothel law too, but I don't know of any schools that do have sorority houses. So i don't know if they enforce it or not, or if schools don't want to take the chance.

My school has an all Greek dorm, but not all the houses are in it. Some houses are having issues with keeping numbers up to fill a floor, while other houses do have enough numbers, but have not been allowed to live there since the chapter is so new. And the administration feels that we (the new chapter) has to prove that we can keep our numbers up. So they have given us 1/2 of a floor in a regular dorm to fill up and we did, so hopefully they will let us move to the Greek dorm within the next year or two.

NutBrnHair · #8 04-13-2006, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LightBulb
Whoa, I thought we still had the brothel law here in TN

No -- that's an urban legend.

ADSigMel · #9 04-13-2006, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NutBrnHair
No -- that's an urban legend.

Well, I don't know if it's an urban legend exactly or if there is just an exception to that rule with regard to sorority houses or other organizational living quarters.

I don't know how many women (if any) actually live in them, but I know that there are sorority houses at Vanderbilt, in Nashville.

Tippiechick · #10 04-13-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ADSigMel
Well, I don't know if it's an urban legend exactly or if there is just an exception to that rule with regard to sorority houses or other organizational living quarters.

I don't know how many women (if any) actually live in them, but I know that there are sorority houses at Vanderbilt, in Nashville.

There are also sorority houses at Austin Peay. However, they are essentially just large chapter rooms, as either no one or only a handful of girls live in them. MTSU is supposed to be getting "townhouses." (So they have been saying for umpteen years now...) But, only a few girls would be able to live in them. It would basically be just officers' quarters.

For some reason, Tennessee can't bear to bring itself out of the dark ages.

Tom Earp · #11 04-14-2006, 05:14 PM

Actually, I Love Tenn.

But coming from a School that All Greeks have Houses, Good, Bad, and Ugly, it still can be a drain on Chapters.

This is what is so funny, that Sororitys usually have More Members than Fraternitys and could afford it better.

But, still the cost of a House can overwhelm many Groups.

Just Beware of what You wish. As I understand that Many Fraternitys are having a hard time paying for their New Houses at Middle Tenn.

Having been on OUr House Corp. for over 10 Years, the Cost of Beds can be a breaking point.

Cost of Beds, what is Charged for Parlor Fees for Non Live-ins has to be compariable to Dorms and Rental Properties in the area.

Granted, it is a Place to Be at, meetings, Partys, Etc., it still cost Money to run and maintain.

exlurker · #12 07-23-2012, 05:54 PM

Please see a recent news report on NPC housing progress at UTK:

http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...rority-Village

From previous news stories it appears that a couple of contractors had financial problems (not too surprising in these troubled economic times), so construction got delayed on some houses.

The report cited above says the houses that will open in the first phase are:

. . . chapters with houses opening in the first phase are
Delta Zeta,
Kappa Kappa Gamma,
Alpha Chi Omega,
Kappa Delta,
Delta Delta Delta,
Alpha Delta Pi and
Sigma Kappa.”

Hope all this hasn't been posted already; I didn't see it anywhere and I did search............

ASUADPi · #13 04-14-2006, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Actually, I Love Tenn.

But coming from a School that All Greeks have Houses, Good, Bad, and Ugly, it still can be a drain on Chapters.

This is what is so funny, that Sororitys usually have More Members than Fraternitys and could afford it better.

But, still the cost of a House can overwhelm many Groups.

Just Beware of what You wish. As I understand that Many Fraternitys are having a hard time paying for their New Houses at Middle Tenn.

Having been on OUr House Corp. for over 10 Years, the Cost of Beds can be a breaking point.

Cost of Beds, what is Charged for Parlor Fees for Non Live-ins has to be compariable to Dorms and Rental Properties in the area.

Granted, it is a Place to Be at, meetings, Partys, Etc., it still cost Money to run and maintain.

So so true.

My fees at U of A were so much because of the house, while had I chosen to affiliate to ASU they would have been considerably less because they don't have houses.

Houses are nice but they are expensive. If you don't have the numbers then they are going to be impossible to keep (rent, etc...)

ADSigMel · #14 04-14-2006, 06:30 PM

That's definitely the case. The University of Alabama was nice enough to give my sorority a house when we were starting out, but we gave it back after just one semester, because we couldn't have kept it full...we were mostly upperclasswomen who didn't want to move back on campus. Houses are definitely expensive. I think they're soooo worth it though, if you can support one.

FSUZeta · #15 04-14-2006, 08:17 PM

interestingly enough, it often costs less to live in a sorority house vs. living in an apartment, when all the costs are compared, according to our national housing corporation president.

as for keeping the houses full, perhaps that is why houses built today are not built with the intention of housing all members of the chapter.

i know at fsu, enough girls want to live in the houses, that a point system (or some other criteria)is used to determine who can live in. the largest capacity house (delta zeta) houses 75, which would be about half the average chapter size on campus.