"Houses" v. "Chapters" / "Sororities"

[Benzgirl]

Ohio State calls them houses. The non-housed school that I work with calls them houses or sororities. They never use chapter.

[aephi alum]

At my school, when I rushed, the terms "house", "fraternity", and "chapter" were used pretty much interchangeably for fraternities and independent living groups*. Sororities were generally referred to as sororities or chapters, as only one out of five sororities actually had a physical house - although our chosen welcome chant on Bid Day refers to the "house of AEPhi".

* ILGs are local organizations. Most are co-ed but one is open only to women. All ILGs own houses.

[excelblue]

At my college, it's still casually referred to as "houses" even though there's been a significant effort in progress to phase it out, and some members always say "chapters".

This is partially due to a particular Greek Life advisor that raises a huge row every time someone says "house" outside the context of the physical place. (eg. it's OK to say: Which house is the event at?, but not: Which houses are participating in this event?)

[irishpipes]

At Illinois we always said house. It wasn't disrespectful in any way - it was just campus culture.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

At Illinois we always said house. It wasn't disrespectful in any way - it was just campus culture.

You were there before me, right? I feel like they made a conscious effort to change over to "chapter" when I was a sophomore...around the same time we had to stop using the word "rush".

[lovespink88]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

You were there before me, right? I feel like they made a conscious effort to change over to "chapter" when I was a sophomore...around the same time we had to stop using the word "rush".

They may have tried to push chapter, but it doesn't seem as though it was successful. Everyone used "house" when I was there ('06-'10).

[ProudandTrue]

We all had houses, but back in the day both sororities and fraternities on my campus were referred to as "groups." i.e. "What group are you in?" or "That's a great group." Odd, now that I think about it.