So whose chapters DO NOT have houses?

[AlphaPhiBubbles]

I'm sure many people won't believe me...but my first year or so in college I was really frustrated with the fact that SF State didn't have greek houses, so I heard about that law, and decided to look it up. Now, i'm sure it may not be to prevent brothels or anything like that, but I found some civic code (or law or whatever it was) that DID state no more than X number of men/women with different last names could inhabit one household. Then it listed examples, including fraternity houses. So, it doesn't seem like a myth to me. At least not in San Francisco.

[Little E]

Originally posted by Buttonz
About the fire codes in RI, EVERYTHING is a fire hazard. I'm @ JWU, so I feel your pain. I have a suite, and we don't even have locks on the indivual doors...just the main one

Any houses up here are off campus....but we don't have anything regulated by the schools.

Our first house didn't have locks on doors of the individual rooms and they school was forced to put them on because someone's parent's homeowners insurance wouldn't cover her room if it didn't have its own lock.....


There are many advantages both ways regarding houses. It is nice to have the space to gather, to have the option to live in etc, but it can be expensive for the chapter, difficult to fill spaces and cause more drama than you can imagine...

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by AlphaPhiBubbles
I'm sure many people won't believe me...but my first year or so in college I was really frustrated with the fact that SF State didn't have greek houses, so I heard about that law, and decided to look it up. Now, i'm sure it may not be to prevent brothels or anything like that, but I found some civic code (or law or whatever it was) that DID state no more than X number of men/women with different last names could inhabit one household. Then it listed examples, including fraternity houses. So, it doesn't seem like a myth to me. At least not in San Francisco.

One of our girls did some investigating a while back and found the same law. But when I posted that on here I just got told pretty much that I'm stupid and that there is no such law.

I'm glad we don't have houses. I wish we did, but our dues were nice and cheap compared to other campuses.

[KDMafia]

I went to a school where there were fraternity houses but no such luck for teh sororities. Part of it has to do with the fact that most sororities on our campus and transfered over from locals around six to seven years ago. So none of our alumni are in the position to even try to buy us a house.

I didn't mind not living in a house because I think that would have deterred me from rushing but there are specific problems i saw with it. Since we were forced to live on a wing we also had independents living with us. This started some animosity from people who had to live in the "sorority hall" and didn't help to foster the strong hatred against greeks at my school.

The biggest problem though was having older people with enough experience on our e-boards. Since we were allowed to move off campus our senior year most people wanted to move out of the freshman sized dorm rooms so they wouldn't run for any positions when they were juniors. The rooming issue also keeps a lot of people from rushing as well since the sororities have, hands down, the shittiest dorm to live in if you're looking at it from an unbiased perspective. I personally had a blast and it helped me get to know all my sisters but i can see how it looked like it wouldn't be fun to others

[Aphigal]

Many of the laws concerning what can be hung in dormatories in RI stem from a fire in 1977 at Providence college which killed 10 young women.

Then fastforward to the Station Nightclub fire, which needlessly murdered 100 people and RI has gotten even more conserative in terms of fire safety.

[jubilance1922]

Originally posted by AlphaPhiBubbles
I'm sure many people won't believe me...but my first year or so in college I was really frustrated with the fact that SF State didn't have greek houses, so I heard about that law, and decided to look it up. Now, i'm sure it may not be to prevent brothels or anything like that, but I found some civic code (or law or whatever it was) that DID state no more than X number of men/women with different last names could inhabit one household. Then it listed examples, including fraternity houses. So, it doesn't seem like a myth to me. At least not in San Francisco.

Minneapolis's fire code does have that type of law, I believe no more than 3 people with different last names can live together. A few years ago, there was a fire and 3 students died, so they started strictly enforcing that law around campus, but not for the entire city.

I've never heard of it being applied to sororities in Minneapolis though.

[powerpuff07]

sorority houses and fraternity houses are illegal in San Francisco making it frustrating to have events

[catiebug]

Let me guess - brothel law???

Originally Posted by powerpuff07

sorority houses and fraternity houses are illegal in San Francisco making it frustrating to have events

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Aphigal

Then fastforward to the Station Nightclub fire, which needlessly murdered 100 people and RI has gotten even more conserative in terms of fire safety.

First of all, that Nightclub fire was awful. And because of this, and many other factors, I'm not surprised that RI has more strict fire codes.

Secondly, my campus doesn't have houses. One of the fraternities has one off campus, and none of the 3 sororities have one.

But when I was active, there were 4 sisters who lived together in a house off campus, so it was kind of like our unofficial house. And there were also 4 girls who lived in an apartment on campus, so that gave us a good place to have some of our COB recruitment events and/or just to hang out and watch tv together. I almost think that it was a better situation because no one had to worry about the cost and upkeep of a sorority house.

[tallgreekalum]

Originally Posted by KillarneyRose

This is very off-topic, and I'm posting this because it's you that asked, Bobby...

I bet that thing could be NASCAR approved as a crash helmet

[honeychile]

For KillarneyRose and any other Pitt people, they finally put the floor plan of Amos Hall online. For those who don't know, the Schenley Apartments were the apartments for the rich & famous from 1927-1950, when Pitt bought it. It became the Schenley Quadrangle, and since Building A (Amos Hall) was considered the toniest, the sororities were forced to relocate there in 1959-60. The only exception were KKG & Theta, who had just built a duplex together. Oh, at first, each sorority had either half of the floor or a whole floor, according to size but now they all have a full floor.

You can see the floor plan at here. Unfortunately, they lack the dimensions; the living room is 25'x18'. Each sorority has a different scheme, though - some have a bedroom where the Chapter Room is, and the rooms between #18 & #20 are different now. Right now, it's closed, as there's going to be a major renovation.

Back on track: We once had a HUGE housing corporation fund, enough to buy a house, and we really harped on our alumnae that we wanted one. Once they gave us the figures of what a house would cost, with a housemother, meals, taxes, etc, etc, we happily accepted our suite!

[piphiangel314]

At my school, 7 of the 11 sororities do not have houses, instead we have suites. The 4 that do only do so because the building where the suite was is in the process of being renovated.

And only a handful of our fraternities have official houses.

[brunetteddd]

At my school, all of the 6 IFC fraternities have houses, which they rent from the school. However, no brothers are allowed to live in these houses - they are used only for meetings and (of course) parties. None of the NPC sororities have houses, but we do each have our own private office and a large meeting area which we all share for chapter and events. Years ago, one of the sororities did have a house, but as the amount of social GLO's on campus grew it was decided that they would no longer be allowed to rent that space from the school.

On the bright side, not having a house makes dues SO much cheaper than they would be elsewhere.

[ASAgirl89]

None of the greeks at my school have houses. We do have a very very small part of our dues going to a decorating/building (something like that) fee for whenever we might get a house... but no guarantees.
However a lot of sisters choose to live with another sister, so it's all good.

[JellyFish72]

None of the GLO's have housing at my school, though I think the university is looking into it... We don't even get all housed in the same place, though I think that there is one apartment on campus that's had a Theta in it the entire time we've been chartered.