Top Newbie Questions

[audaz49]

i didn't say anything about it being a brothel law, it is a city ordinance (law) that no more than 3 unrelated persons of either sex may live in a single dwelling in ames, ia. ames municiple code (under rental housing, bottom of page 1 into top of page 2) how do i know? i lived there when the ordinance was challenged at the city council meeting. i also plan on moving back there this year. it was all over the news IN AMES. now, i don't know if anyone else cares outside of ames, but it was a big deal for those of us who lived off campus and in larger houses (not sorority/fraternity, but actual houses we rented).

as far as the petty comments regarding my post structure and grammar... well, as i said, they're petty and meaningless.

edited to correct facts related to ordinance and add link

[Drunkie679]

I know Riverside County is big on that...UCR and Cal Poly Pomona have that rule and I think it is crazy...I think the best part of being in an house is somewhere that you can esacpe the dorms and relax with your organization

[AlphaFrog]

Re: Post from 2001 (Newbie does not check date of OP to see that the OPer has probably graduated 3 years prior)


Newbie: Rants about how much of a loser the OP is. Ditto for OP's sorority/fraternity. More general ranting. None of the ranting contains punctuation, grammar, or capital letters.



Moral: Before you rant on a thread, you might just check the date to see if anything you're saying may actually still apply.

[girliegator]

Originally posted by audaz49
and there are laws which could possibly prevent sorority women from living together - some cities provide that no more than x amount of non-related persons live in the same dwelling.... though i know ames, ia has such a law, and also has fraternity/sorority houses - how the exception works, i don't know... i haven't looked into it that deeply

If it's anything like my college town, the law only applies to areas that are zoned "single-family residential." The campus is not part of a zone like that so the sororities and fraternities are exempt from the law.

[33girl]

Not everyone's fraternity/sorority houses are on the campus.

Also, some laws are written that do include the campus land - it's different in every city/county/state.

But at any rate, there's still no brothel law.

[audaz49]

Originally posted by girliegator
If it's anything like my college town, the law only applies to areas that are zoned "single-family residential." The campus is not part of a zone like that so the sororities and fraternities are exempt from the law.

Thanks for that explanation. I did end up looking it up in the city ordinances, and it is a zoning difference. The houses aren't *ON* the campus, but very near, and have been zoned similarly to the dorms.

[D.0.7]

ohh i think i got one

I have a brother or sister going off to college this semster what schools have the best community service and anti-Hazing policy in the state of IL, OH, GA, NY, VA, LA, and ever other dang state on the map...LOL

[LionTamer]

I heard that there is an XYZ pin on the moon. Is that true?

[polosandpearls]

Originally posted by Lindz928
I'm not sure this question has an answer. The closest I have come to is, "Some people enjoy being mean to others for no reason."

Wow, I was just coming over here to say the same thing. It's also called lacking self-confidence in yourself. Must suck to be rude to someone on the internet because your life is lacking something.

[Stef the Pef]

Originally posted by sigmadiva
"I have been through the NM education period, but I just can't remember what AOT means?!? Can someone pm me and tell me, or just send me an e-mail to: obviouslyimnotamember@pleasebuymylameexcuse.edu"

Like, didn't you know? That's the Alpha Omicron Tau Frat, the frattiest frat at Insertnamehere University!

Bwahahahaha...amen to the things not sticking during initiation commentary. I still get ribbed by sisters who remember me as "that chick who fell asleep."

Whoops. I have health issues, I swear!

[JaimeNicole]

Is it true that you have to pay to get people to be your friends?

Answer: No, I just rent them per semester.

[blkwebman1919]

Do you all haze? Do you believe in hazing?



"Haze?" What's that?

[gphiangel624]

Originally posted by Drunkie679
I know Riverside County is big on that...UCR and Cal Poly Pomona have that rule and I think it is crazy...I think the best part of being in an house is somewhere that you can esacpe the dorms and relax with your organization

I don't know how true (if any) the whole "(fill in your favorite number) women living together in a house is illegal because it's a brothel" is true at Cal Poly Pomona, but it is not true at UC Riverside. Or in Riverside County at all (BTW, Cal Poly Pomona is not in Riverside County, it's in Los Angeles County).

The city of Riverside has an ordinance that actually states that fraternity/sorority houses fall under "community living zones" just like residence halls and dorms at a university/college. They are allowed. The reason for no housing for Greeks at UCR is a whole other long story that can be posted elsewhere.

Just to set the story straight.

[James]

http://www.snopes.com/college/halls/brothel.asp

Excert:

Claim: Sororities are outlawed on certain campuses because local "brothel laws" prohibit more than a specified number of females from living together.

Status: False.

Examples:


Variations:
The number of sorority sisters that would supposedly trigger the "brothel" designation varies from telling to telling, with six being one of the more common figures cited.

This legend is told as true on any number of U.S. campuses, always by way of explanation for each school's lack of sorority houses.
Origins: This mistaken belief has been recorded since the 1960s and is probably a great deal older than that. Its possible origin might lie in a mental confluence of half-remembered tidbits about old time "blue laws" mixed with a healthy dollop of badly-parsed newer input about zoning laws adopted by various communities in more contemporary times. Short and sweet, if any so-called "brothel laws" anywhere tie a building's classification as a bordello to the number of occupants, we've yet to find documentation that proves this.

Some municipalities do indeed have zoning laws prohibiting more than a specified number of non-family members (male or female) from living together, but not even in those cases would a household in violation of those codes be labeled a brothel. Brothels earn such designations solely on the basis of what goes on in them, not upon how many women inhabit particular buildings.

Even in communities that carry such housing restrictions on their books, sororities and fraternities are exempted from them. The thrust of such laws is to set limits on how many people may reasonably inhabit what were meant to be single-family dwellings, not to enjoin those who are living in more communal settings in buildings meant for such purposes. Were such laws to apply to those latter forms of housing, local YWCAs would have been shut down and padlocked, as would a variety of nurses' residences.

Collegians have been explaining the lack of sorority houses on various campuses through this flawed factlet for many a year. Richard Roeper noted this legend in 1994, calling it "the most widespread piece of university folklore making the rounds" and estimating from entries on collegiate bulletin boards that it was being told on at least 100 campuses.

The belief that a "brothel law" bars live-in sororities from campuses is so deeply worked into the fabric of collegiate life that few now think to question it. In 1998 a group of eight students at Tulane University unsuccessfully searched city and state laws for the statute, finally concluding they'd been on a wild goose chase. "It was not found in either city or state codes," Adriana Belli, one of the student researchers, said. "We looked in every law book, every ordinance in New Orleans . . . dating back to the 1800s."

We routinely hear from students who are convinced their particular university lacks a sorority because of this non-existent law. Their vehemence aside, none have yet produce a copy of the statute they so firmly believe in, an act that would earn their city and institution of higher learning a measure of fame in the world of contemporary lore.


Barbara "daydream believers" Mikkelson

[#1_Dragon]

I am not sure WHY "HAZING" is so bad, if you have a DEAN who feels you are WORTHY then they will look you out during you process. Just getting BEAT is Whack but there is something behind every TEST you endure...

Originally Posted by adpiucf

Just for fun... What are some of the most frequently asked questions asked by new posters to GC?

(And what are the best and/or most humorous responses?)