Sorority Houses

[carnation]

WAAAAARRRRRRRR EAGLE!! HEY!!!!!

[Texas-Gal]

Originally posted by PinkRose1098
The major reason that we don't have houses is that we (sororities) have always been in the dorms. When KD came here in 1922 they were in the dorms in the Quad and every other organization has followed suite.

I thought the Quad wasn't completed until 1940 - before that, there was only one women's dorm (Smith - housing 35 girls), but most of the women lived in private residences. The sororities just rented rooms in houses. But when the Quad opened in 1940, all 4 sororities in existence then (KD, Chi-O, Sigma Rho, and Phi Delta Rho) rented rooms.

More on Auburn history here.

[PinkRose1098]

I learn something new everyday. I know that there is a sign of one of the dorms in the Quad indicating that it was started at a Works project during the Depression.

ps - WAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!

[AOcutiePi4ever]

I go to GA state in atlanta and we cant have houses bc of the whole brothel deal... however, GA Tech across the street can since they have their own fire dept and are therefore considered the "city of GA tech" blaaahhh..... someday i am going to protest those laws...

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by OUKate
I don't know why they don't have houses, but I do know that the "brothel law" thing is not true, according to snopes. (They're generally considered an authority on urban legends and lore..)

Actually this is true for us. Some of our girls in the past have checked on it, and yes... most than 4 or 5 girls unrelated living in a house constitutes a brothel. Then again, UMD is like 5 blocks from Detroit- where our house would be- so I'm not surprised that we do have this law.

[Texas-Gal]

I just checked the zoning regulations of Atlanta, Dearborn and Detroit and found no such law - and I already know there is no Georgia or Michigan code section either. (perk of being a lawyer - occasional free Westlaw access) I'd really love it if either of y'all had a cite you could share... I'd love to be able to prove snopes.com wrong, but they never are.

As has been mentioned upthread, and from my Property caselaw knowledge, there are restrictions in some localities on how many unrelated people can live together - but not because they're "brothels." That designation is a criminal one, and is only determined by the activities inside the house, not how many people live there.

[PM_Mama00]

Well then I guess someone was lying to my girls when they asked.

[BSUPhiSig'92]

Yes, there is special zoning in most communities for fraternity/sorority housing. For example the Muncie, Indiana where Ball State (my alma matter) is located, had rated fraternity housing as SSS (Student Social Services) and designated only those areas where current fraternity houses stood as Triple-S Zoning. The Sigma Nu chapter at Ball State bought a house that was on the same block as an existing fraternity house, under the (false) assumption that the entire block was zoned for Triple-S. (The fact that their realtor told them this was a major contributing factor)
The chapter bought the house, moved the brothers in and put letters on the house. The neighborhood association complained to the city, who forced the chapter to take down their letters, and restrict the number of people living in the house. They were even forced to paint over the letters they painted over the garage door. The city stated that only the currently existing Triple-S zoning would be allowed and no further expansion of Triple-S was permitted.
So yes, there may be zoning allocated for fraternity/sorority housing, but what really matters is the political climate of the city and how they view students/Greeks.

[nauadpi]

I do know that Flagstaff Arizona does have the brothel law on the books. My chapter last year officially looked into having a house, and unfortunately we would have had to go through the legal work to have the law overturned to do it. Because the university has setup a greek residence hall, it has been left on the books. No one has had a reason to fight it. The reason it is there also, is because Flagstaff was known for having very active brothels as it was an old west train town. In addition, it is still on the books that women cannot where red shoes on thursdays (not enforced though), and that when someone is released from jail they can ask for a shirt and a horse...The wonders of the old west.

[Texas-Gal]

Originally posted by nauadpi
I do know that Flagstaff Arizona does have the brothel law on the books. My chapter last year officially looked into having a house, and unfortunately we would have had to go through the legal work to have the law overturned to do it. Because the university has setup a greek residence hall, it has been left on the books. No one has had a reason to fight it. The reason it is there also, is because Flagstaff was known for having very active brothels as it was an old west train town. In addition, it is still on the books that women cannot where red shoes on thursdays (not enforced though), and that when someone is released from jail they can ask for a shirt and a horse...The wonders of the old west.

Man, I hate to be the one to break up the party again, but I can find no such law in the Flagstaff code, Coconino County zoning ordinances, or Arizona state law. In fact, the Flagstaff City Code expressly contemplates and allows sorority houses to be built:

L. FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES. Fraternity and sorority uses are allowed only within a half (1/2) mile perimeter of a university campus.

City of Flagstaff Code, Section 10-03-006-0001 ("Detailed Use Regulations"). There is nothing labeling sorority houses as brothels - I suspect your chapter had a problem because of the distance requirements.

[Angels&Arrows]

I can not speak for any University, except USM and Simmons College, but Simmons does not have a greek system only a group called F.U.

Sororities came to USM at an interesting time: Women could only wear dresses/skirts, the curfew was 10pm weekdays and midnight on weekends, ladies either lived at home, the dorm or with their HUSBANDS! Men could only come into the lobby of the dorms and had to wear socks to pick-up their dates!

There was no way these young ladies could live in a big home away from campus... That was only for the boys/fraternities. The most appropriate and safe thing was to put all the sororites in one dorm called "Panhellenic." That was just the time and the bible belt!

All the chapters continue to collect housing dues (smaller than you would at a house) and over the years every chapter has enough in the housing fund to build a new home (except the new chapter). In the late 80's, early 90s there was a vote on two occassions regarding building sorority row. However, both times it was voted down by every chapter. Most people have friends at Ole Miss and State. The chapters at USM feel that there is more unity within the Greek System because we live together. Each chapter has two floors allowing 40 +/- women to live there, a chapter room with balcony and kitchen.

It is not about brothel laws... it is about the 'ole southern daddy laws!!!!!!!!!

[BSUPhiSig'92]

Things were pretty much like that everywhere at least up until the early 1960s. My mother has told me about all the rules for women at Southern Illinois University Carbondale back in the mid-1950s when she attended. Women had a ten pm curfew on weekdays, eleven pm on weekends unless you had special permission from the housemother which would then allow you to stay out until Midnight! Everyone ate at the same time in the dining hall and you couldn't be excused from the table until everyone else at your table had finished. My mother said you had to learn to eat fast so the other girls wouldn't eat your dessert to get done faster. Also while they weren't official rules per se, a lady never wore dungarees (as they called them back then) outside of the privacy of the dorm!

And my students can't believe that at Ball State in the 1980s we couldn't have members of the opposite sex on our floors after 10pm, and no condom vending machines in the residence halls!