Move by Colgate to buy ALL fraternity houses

[john1082]

The Post-Standard
Syracuse, NY
August 1, 2004

COLGATE'S GREEKS MISS DEADLINE AGAIN;
UNIVERSITY INTENDS TO BUY AND OPERATE ALL FRATERNITY AND SORORITY HOUSES.

By Glenn Coin Staff writer

Another deadline has come and gone for Colgate University fraternities to agree to sell their houses to the university.

In a letter sent last week to fraternity and sorority alumni, Colgate President Rebecca Chopp set a July 26 date for the fraternities and sororities to sell. Negotiations have continued past that date, but the university at some point will have to act, said spokesman Charlie Melichar.

"There will come a time when we're going to have to have a (firm) deadline," Melichar said. "The door is still open, but we're going to get to a point somewhere where the door is closed."

Colgate plans to buy the 11 houses and make them part of university housing. Fraternity and sorority members could still live in the houses, but the houses would be run by the university.

Representatives for some fraternities don't want to sell, and would rather lease the houses to Colgate. They say that alumni have deep connections to the houses and also fear Colgate might try to eliminate the fraternity and sorority system if the university owns the houses.

Colgate officials have rejected the lease option, saying it doesn't give Colgate the control it needs over the houses.

Gair Meres, who is representing a group of fraternities, said talks are continuing.

"Every time we think we're getting into an impasse, there seems to be a small window of opportunity opening up," Meres said. "The group is looking for a win-win on this."

Some of the fraternities and sororities have agreed to sell, Melichar said, but he declined to say how many or which ones.

"We're still in negotiations, and we need to protect their confidentiality," he said.

Colgate has not wavered in its plan to buy the houses and spend $15 million to $20 million to upgrade the houses. Chopp said problems with Greek houses in past years include sexual assault, hazing, fighting and drunken driving. Four people were killed in a drunken-driving accident on campus in November 2000, after the driver had been drinking at a fraternity party.

Chopp noted that the 35-member university board, which has 15 fraternity alumni, is unanimously in favor of buying the houses.

Houses that don't sell will no longer have university recognition and won't be allowed to house students in the 2005-06 academic year, Chopp said.

Some fraternity members say they don't want the university to take over their houses.

"It's their ploy to end the fraternity system at Colgate," said Robert Hite, who will join Beta Theta Pi in the fall. "Once they own them, they can tell us to leave immediately or over the course of five years they can tell us to get out of the house and put other students in there who aren't fraternity members."

College officials say they have no plans to eliminate fraternities and sororities.

"Other colleges and universities have disbanded the Greek-letter system entirely, a path we rejected and would prefer not to take," Chopp wrote.

Copyright 2004 Post-Standard, All Rights Reserved.



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This free list serve is brought to you by the College Fraternity Editors Association (www.cfea.org)[COLOR=orangered]An interesting development re fraternity houses and the ownership thereof An interesting development re fraternity houses and the ownership thereof