Three Hospitalized (Alcohol) at U of Central Florida

FL-E1973 · #1 11-09-2006, 04:54 PM

I don't know if I am talking to a brick wall here or not but the house is not going to be empty, second of all, recruiting a fraternity without a house is no picnic either.

TSteven · #2 11-09-2006, 05:02 PM

Some hypothetical questions.

Would a sorority lease a house knowing that it would only be for X number of years? And how many years do y'all think a chapter would be willing to lease it? Would it hurt the chapter "down the line" to have been housed for a couple of years, then un-housed?

And a non-hypothetical "real" question.

Why are some chapters un-housed? Why not rent something off campus? Do they have some sort of space (suite, dorm floor, etc.) currently?

adpiucf · #3 11-09-2006, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TSteven

And a non-hypothetical "real" question.

Why are some chapters un-housed? Why not rent something off campus? Do they have some sort of space (suite, dorm floor, etc.) currently?

They simply don't have the space available for Greek housing. Thus, of the 11 sororities, only 6 are housed: ADPi, ZTA, KD, DDD, Alpha Xi, Pi Phi. During recruitment, XO, Theta, Kappa, DG and AEPhi each take over a fraternity house and rush out of that house for the week. And even the housed chapters can't fit all of their members into the house as live-ins. Of 100+ members per chapter, 30-40 can live-in. Off campus, members will rent blocks of apartments together.

We don't have formal sorority suites or dorms-- there isn't the space within campus housing. The university has gotten so large (at or over 50,000 students-- one of the largest universities by enrollment in the US) that it has purchased privately owned apts just off campus for use as university housing and the continue to build more and more oncampus housing options, not to mention new classroom buildings. Everytime I visit the school, another dirt parking lot is gone and there's a new classroom or paved road in its place.

The unhoused chapters have weekly meeting rooms on campus or the student union for their meetings and conduct ritual at alumnae's homes or nearby churches. There's some prohibition about renting a house off-campus to function as the "chapter house." The fraternities are allowed to, but the sororities won't do it-- I don't know if this is a university rule, campus Panhellenic rule or a Risk Management issue unique to each sorority's house corp.

The Florida Epsilon chapter of SAE may not sound as "pretigious" as the ones in the SEC, but at UCF, SAE was a very strong fraternity, and well-recognized throughout the state. It is very unfortunate that the chapter has closed due to the immature actions of a few members. I hope other fraternities will exercise better common sense so that this trend does not continue at UCF. Whether or not they were hazing, they got caught doing something. I realize there are other fraternties doing similiar stupid things and not getting caught. And sadly, that is what makes the difference in the end.

FL-E1973 · #4 11-09-2006, 05:24 PM

I heard that most of off campus Greek housing aka "The Greek Ghetto" is being leveled, that really sucks for all the groups in there.

ZTAngel · #5 11-09-2006, 05:02 PM

Any word on Greek Park 2? It's been in the works forever and I thought they finally got the turtle problem solved.

TrueBlueKappa · #6 11-09-2006, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZTAngel

Any word on Greek Park 2? It's been in the works forever and I thought they finally got the turtle problem solved.

At our Founders Day this fall, the current collegiate Kappa president told me and some other young alums that it is in the works (for real this time

). It is supposed to be located across from Sigma Chi. The houses will be smaller than the current houses, but each house will have its own distinctive front. If you have been on campus recently, you'll see that they're changing all the roads. The entrance off University isn't going to be the "main" entrance anymore. I got the impression that maybe they were going to have the main entrance at this new Greek park.

sherbertlemons · #7 11-09-2006, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FL-E1973

I don't know if I am talking to a brick wall here or not but the house is not going to be empty, second of all, recruiting a fraternity without a house is no picnic either.

Well, I certainly hope you're not talking to a brick wall. :-)

I agree, recruiting without a house is no fun for anyone, epecially when chapters around you are housed. However, I will argue that it is different. Now, I'm no expert on fraternity recruitment (obviously), but my understanding is that they have a much more laid back recruitment. More time for the PNMs to get to know the brothers, etc.

Now take sorority recruitment. At UCF, we generally had between a half hour and a hour with the PNMs. You have a very short period of time to make a first impression, which was often all the information the girls had with which to make a decision. The first thing girls noticed when they were walking into my chapter during recruitment was "Wait, we're walking into a fraternity house." I haven't even met the girl and I already have explaining to do!

The first words out of her mouth are "Why don't you have a house?" After I finish the answer, the next question is "Are you going to get a house?" Beleive me, "eventually" doesn't seem to satisfy most PNMs. So I've just wasted several minutes out of my precious thirty minute conversation answering questions that really don't have happy answers. IMHO, that is why recruitment without a house is far worse on sororities.

Not only are UCF's houses small, it is my understanding that there is at least one group with a house so small they can't even hold chapter meetings there!

TrueBlueKappa, I really hope housing works out this time. I really do. I'm just not going to believe UCF will actually make it happen until I'm standing on Kappa's front porch.

Oh, to be a rich alumna who could dangle a nice fat donation in front of UCF's face and ask that they fix the Greek housing situation.

GDIfly · #8 11-09-2006, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessXIca

study files

should you really admit to having those?

macallan25 · #9 11-09-2006, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GDIfly

should you really admit to having those?

Since when is having old tests and notes a bad thing? Hell...most teachers here post there own test files on our university website. If a professor is too lazy to make new exams every year......thats their problem.

ZTAngel · #10 11-16-2006, 04:43 PM

I have a few comments about that letter. For starters, it's been exactly 6 years since the GHB incident. It happened during Homecoming 2000. I should know because we were doing Homecoming with SAE that year.

Furthermore, the GHB incident wasn't just some brother making and selling the drug in the house. The brother ended up making a lethal dose of GHB which he sold to some Kappa Sigs who were using the drug to help with their work-outs. (a lot of bodybuilders use GHB for this purpose) Two of the brothers were violently ill and another brother was put on life support for days. It was a horrible and sobering experience for the entire UCF Greek community.

Whether you like it or not, the past indiscretions of organizations are always brought up in the future. It happens with companies as well. There are a ton of companies out there who are still paying the price for something that happened many years ago. It does not matter that the people who were involved in the unfortunate incidents are no longer around. People tend to remember negatives more than positives - it's just a fact of life. The best thing a group can do is learn from the mistakes that their older members have made in the past and do their best not to make those mistakes again.

I don't think anyone will truly know what happened at the SAE house that night. But, when you have suspicious activity at the house for the 3rd time in 6 years, it doesn't look good. And the people who determined SAE's fate would, of course, look at the history. Had this been the first time the UCF SAEs had a problem, I'd bet they'd still be on campus right now.

Let this be a lesson to all undergraduates. You might think that what your chapter did 5 or 10 years ago doesn't or shouldn't matter. It does matter. Learn from the mistakes that your brothers and sisters made and don't screw up again.

AGDee · #11 11-17-2006, 12:54 AM

I'd just like to add that it is incredibly stupid to post something in the media that admits guilt to anything as this letter did. It can so easily be used against you, your brothers, the officers, your Inter/National organization, etc.

fifi225 · #12 11-17-2006, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessXIca

Yeah. I was amazed. They basically said, "yeah, we did it, but it's not that big of a deal."

Well I mean...at some point you lose all plausable denyability anyway. I don't think that them saying "yeah we did it" is so awful...they did. It's the "but it's not that big of a deal" part...

adpiucf · #13 11-17-2006, 05:29 PM

I found the fact that they were comparing themselves to the modern Germans having to pay repartions for the atrocities of WW2 to be a bit of a stretch. If there are several allegations and incidents within a close span of years it does not matter if you were "12 years old" when the first alleged incident occured. It's called social responsibility and repeated allegations and incidents in the news leads to a pattern of behavior where the older members are going to attract similiar newer members and encourage similiar patterns of behavior.

That being said... Closing a chapter, whatever the reason, is never an easy decision. My sympathies do go out to the members, SAE and the UCF Greek Community. It affects everyone.

That also being said I hope the men of the closed chapter maintain their friendships but at least respect the decision that they are a closed chapter. Holding unofficial events (as we have seen happen at other campuses) with other Greek groups will only lead to further disruption in the UCF Greek System, not to mention the Risk Management issues involved for all concerned. I hope all concerned (closed chapter and active chapters) have the common sense to maintain their friendships and realize that there are to be no parties or activities with "SAE." I'd hate to see a sorority lose recognition or be placed on probabtion for failing to use good judgement.

TrueBlueKappa · #14 11-09-2006, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessXIca

It's funny that you said this because it was a UCF Kappa alumna who donated the land they're building GP2 on.

GP2, sounds like an action movie...

Are you sure about that? Our chapter is only 3 years old. I am a charter sister, and I think I'd know if one of my pledge sisters donated acres and acres of land to UCF.

sherbertlemons · #15 11-09-2006, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrueBlueKappa

Are you sure about that? Our chapter is only 3 years old. I am a charter sister, and I think I'd know if one of my pledge sisters donated acres and acres of land to UCF.

That was what I was about to say, too. Maybe it was a Kappa alumna, but in that case it's hard to believe I wouldn't know that for fact.

TrueBlueKappa, I tried to reply to your PM, but I got a message that said you had elected not to receive PMs. Can you figure out what's going on?