Brothel Laws

[parrotthead]

I think we went over this in my business law class this past semester. The Brothel laws come from the conservative past, when the church had a large impact on the law. I beleve that most of the older citys and towns had some sort of brothel law and along with other ancient, and by todays standards unreasonable laws, were just not takin off the books. An example of one of the laws is like you can not kiss on sunday in public on mainstreet. I think that if someone was really determined to have a sorority house and they found that they couldnt because of one of these laws, it probably wouldnt take much to get it dropped. Ok, now the disclaimer, the time we talked about this in class was like two months ago, im not positive, I just think that is what was said, not at all postive, makes sense though. Oh yeah, and sorry if there are any mistakes, im not going to proofread it.
JIM

[BFulton]

Originally posted by pledgetrainer2:
Of all the subjects that requests have been made to close, I would have thought that this one would have been-at the very first. Given all the comments about sohorities or whatever-I'm surprised that anyone even answered this thread! It made for interesting reading though. I never would have believed that these kinds of laws existed, because they ought to be illegal in this day in time.

Well, given that chapters looking into housing are being told this across the country, I find it quite a valid thread. (Although the sorority/brothel joke was perhaps misguided, given everyone's sensitivities about GLO image.)

I'm pretty sure that chapters could fight these outdated laws and win, but I'm no lawyer!

[PinkStar17]

AOX81, I AGREE COMPLETELY!!! why the H*** do they say women living together is a whore house??? i think guys are so much worse (sorry guys)
Here in Miami, FLorida they have those rules as well too..
but I go to FIU..which is 10 minn from UM
weird thing is the sororities at FIU is unhoused and we DONT even get suites...all our meetings happen in rooms in the school..and if we have an event we can rent out one of the ballrooms.. however the sororities at UM get suites to have meetings and stuff like that..which i think would be sooo GREAT!!!
anyways they just built frat houses on campus here.. and they are HUGE and gorgoeus.. hopefully with time this stupid law will go away!!!!
also all the sororities here (6 of us) supposedly signed this thing..that if one of us couldnt get a suite.. we all couldnt.. so unless they plan to give us all suites we will remain "homeless"
ud think that in a city like miami they wouldnt have laws like this..
WHATEVER!!!!


------------------
Love, Honor, Truth

[LexiKD]

I don't think it is a matter of right or wrong. There are a bunch of old laws in states that say ridiculoue things. They can be changed, all you do is appeal, I'm sure NPC grous can do something about it, but the trend is going towards no houses, just dorm living.

I'm on my chapter's House Corp and there are no laws like that, just single family and multiple family dweling zones in Pitt County, NC.

[pbpck]

Originally posted by prdlocal:
I'm almost positive this is not an urban myth. I'm looking for the info on it right now, for Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It's not. In La Jolla, we are not allowed not have greek housing because more than 6 girls living together is considered a brothel.

[RACH_DG]

I am a delta gamma from Morehead State University in Kentucky and I actually have some info on this brothel topic. One of my sorority sisters had intended on using this topic for a research paper for one of her classes. Obviously we aren't allowed to have houses and the rumor was it was because it would be considered a brothel, however after doing some research in the library and also with greek affairs, she found that it was in fact just an old myth. The real reason for not being able to have houses at Morehead is because not all of the sororities can fund them. One sorority is not permitted to have a house unless everyone can have one. I think it has something to do with the whole recruitment thing. This may also be the case in other places as well.

[phisigQT]

we have brothel laws here in baltimore county, md too. i go to umbc and we do not have any greek housing but neither does towson u...both in the county. meanwhile johns hopkins does have frat houses, i am not sure about sororities. yet another md school, unv of md does have greek housing. weird huh???

[filabeaner]

i go to school at the univ of n texas in denton tx. i'm sure we all know about what happened with the KA's on campus and getting kicked off. well, the ADPi sorority ended buying the house and fortunately they have enough alumni support to fight the brothel laws here. i think that this is great that they have that much support from their alum. i don't know the status but i know that they are still in the house. just thought i'd throw in my 2 cents worth.


later

SigEp Moobs
Texas Beta

[KSig1102]

I go to school in Boston, and I have heard this alot since I came to school. I am not sure if it is true or not, but I would believe that Mass would pass a law like that back in the day. Hell, you can't sell alcohol on Sunday and certain acts, such as the one our former president enjoyed so much is supposedly still considered illegal under mass blue laws.

[PM_Mama00]

What school do u go to? We have brothel laws around our town (I go to U of M Dearborn). Some sorority girls were thinking of just moving in together, and ignore the laws. The laws are so stupid.

[Miami1839]

PhiSigQT,

That is weird about Maryland. That some schools have housing but others dont. I know that my Fraternity has a house at Johns Hopkins and at University of Maryland(They are our founding chapter). We dont have any other chapters in Maryland though. All of our chapters in Virginia have houses. The only exception is our Beta House at UVA and VT which is a regular residential house and before our chapter closed we had various residential houses that we used as Beta Houses. The houses on the row at VT have dorm like rooms. They might have numbers but I forget.

Kevin
Beta Theta Pi

[This message has been edited by Miami1839 (edited June 17, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Miami1839 (edited June 17, 2001).]

[FutureTiger]

Funny story. Some students at Tulane University in New Orleans worked with some area lawyers to clarify the whole brothel law issue. At Tulane, most sororities have houses, but they're just social halls. Anyway, long story short, no one could find any evidence that the law even existed! Here's the url to the article that appeared in the Tulane Hullaballo with the whole story: http://www.tulane.edu/%7Etuhulla/199...sororityx.html

[AlphaSigLana]

Oh you poor things. I can't imagine not having a sorority house to go to. My sorority, ASA, has a house. I attend the university of northern co. I am living in the house this coming year. There are 20 girls living in the house. That is all the room there is. I love having a real home to go to plus that is where everything goes on.

[33girl]

Originally posted by FutureTiger:
Funny story. Some students at Tulane University in New Orleans worked with some area lawyers to clarify the whole brothel law issue. At Tulane, most sororities have houses, but they're just social halls. Anyway, long story short, no one could find any evidence that the law even existed! Here's the url to the article that appeared in the Tulane Hullaballo with the whole story: http://www.tulane.edu/%7Etuhulla/199...sororityx.html

That is so awesome that someone finally investigated this whole thing, instead of just believing the rumor. I hope a lot more women across the country follow suit and clear this up once and for all! YOU GO GIRLS!

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by Pike4Life:
This is probably one of the best urban myths out there...I think every school out there without sorority houses has this rumor floating around. I once heard a campus tour guide for my campus spouting this myth to visiting students and parents, so it's not wonder it continues. For my campus, the sororities are housed in a residence hall mainly because of the money factor...most sororities did not have the financial ability to establish houses when they were founded. Plus, isn't there a NPC rule about equal resources for all sororities? If one sorority has a house, than all the sororities have to have the opportunity to have a house?

Guess what? Its no urban legend. Sororities at University of Michigan Dearborn and Wayne State University are not allowed to have houses because of a brothel law. Sorry bur ur wrong.