Sleep Porches

[BigRedBeta]

The fraternity chapters I know of that had cold airs/sleeping porches/open airs/whatever, did not allow girls in them. If you were hooking up, you took the girl back to your "other" room, and used the couch or futon as necessary (hopefully, for your roommates' sake you put some sheets down and made sure you did laundry often). I do know that the Betas at KU do not allow any girls above the first floor - Seniors and early roll number Juniors got the pick of the downstairs rooms first. I've heard but can't confirm, that the basement of the house gets used by younger guys, and that there's a fair amount of sneaking girls upstairs as well, but again, I have no idea how true that is. It's just one reason why I'd never have been able to be a KU Beta.

As for alarm clocks, every chapter I've heard of uses a system where pledges each take a week or two in which they are required to get up at 4:30 or 5am and then wake brothers up at the requested time throughout the rest of the morning. I'd imagine most times you could just put your schedule down for the semester and it'd stay pretty constant from week to week.

[nate2512]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

As for alarm clocks, every chapter I've heard of uses a system where pledges each take a week or two in which they are required to get up at 4:30 or 5am and then wake brothers up at the requested time throughout the rest of the morning. I'd imagine most times you could just put your schedule down for the semester and it'd stay pretty constant from week to week.

Yeah, wouldn't be a smart idea to kinda put guys who wake up around the same in time in a group or such?

[Cutie_Hootie]

My campus calls them Rack Rooms, and it was the best sleep I ever had!!

Our rack room was on the third floor of our house, and had the rows of racks (beds) and a bathroom. The gigantic exhaust fans made great noise, and it was quiet 24 hours a day (unless a fraternity did a Rack Raid, but that's another story...), so I loved to go up there and nap between classes. I had my room downstairs that I shared with two other girls, and it had our sofa, desks, dressers, closets, etc. Then each girl had a rack upstairs--most were bunk beds, but a row in the middle had no bunks above them. Those were coveted and willed to younger sisters at Senior Wills.

We all had our alarm clocks next to our beds or somewhere at the foot or head of them (the cords could be very hazardous). Strangely, you only heard your own alarm clock every morning--I have no idea how I tuned the rest out, but I did. You were only allowed to push snooze one time out of courtesy for your neighbors (The fraternities had their pledges do "wakes"--they had a list of what time to come wake up the actives, which was pretty interesting if a girl was shacking with them.). Also, it was chilly up there in the winter because we always had one window cracked (to keep the air flowing supposedly), and "warmish" in the fall. People were actually sick less frequently by using the rack room than they were if they shared a sleeping room with a roommate--it seemed like the whole air-flow thing may actually have had a purpose.

To answer the other question--when you shacked at a fraternity (since no guy ever would shack at a sorority!!), you either stayed downstairs in his room or he would put up blankets and sheets around his rack for a little extra privacy.

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

As for alarm clocks, every chapter I've heard of uses a system where pledges each take a week or two in which they are required to get up at 4:30 or 5am and then wake brothers up at the requested time throughout the rest of the morning. I'd imagine most times you could just put your schedule down for the semester and it'd stay pretty constant from week to week.

Oh yeah, I forgot about wake-up duty. I've seen it where some places have a "map" of the racks on the door to the cold air room. Each bed on the sheet had the name and the time that person wanted to be woken up. I think generally it was every half hour or so from 5:30-7:00. After that you were on your own.

[sarahsmilehawk]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

I do know that the Betas at KU do not allow any girls above the first floor

I've been upstairs at KU's Beta... A friend's cousin gave us a tour the first night we were allowed to go out after recruitment. Hmm, whoops. No one was home anyway.