New Sorority Housing at Auburn

[oldrusheenowmom]

Just curious- are the fraternities housed in university housing too- I just assumed all SEC schools had sororities with southern mansions-

[AUAZD2001]

Fraternities at Auburn have houses. The new sorority housing will be located adjacent to the "Old Row" Fraternities.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by oldrusheenowmom

Just curious- are the fraternities housed in university housing too- I just assumed all SEC schools had sororities with southern mansions-

I believe that only the sororities at Auburn and Tennessee do not have houses. They have suites/housing in dorms. The rest of the SEC fraternities and sororities have houses. Or at least the opportunity to have a house.

Also, my understanding is that the sorority and fraternity houses at Vanderbilt house a small number of members. Under ten and usually just officers.

[AUAZD2001]

Another drawback is that it is so far from central campus. The Hill is just about a 5-10 minute walk from Haley Center. But thev Village is at least twice the distance away. I know Auburn is going to a pedestrian campus, but I only see a very limited amount of parking near these buildings. One of the drawbacks of the Hill is that there is not enough parking for major sorority events (mainly recruitment and chapter).

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by TSteven

I believe that only the sororities at Auburn and Tennessee do not have houses. They have suites/housing in dorms. The rest of the SEC fraternities and sororities have houses. Or at least the opportunity to have a house.
.

True- but at Tennessee the sororities are begining to build houses.

[ThetaDancer]

Originally Posted by TSteven

I believe that only the sororities at Auburn and Tennessee do not have houses. They have suites/housing in dorms.

Just curious, but why is that?

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by ThetaDancer

Just curious, but why is that?

Well I think it is a combination of the brothel law and the rich university benefactor who stated in his/her will that there could never be sorority houses.

Actually, I don't know the reason, but I felt the need to be a smartass.

[AU_ZTA86]

Can't speak to UT but at Auburn, the only reason that there aren't houses is that no group has stepped up to be the first to build. Plain and simple.

[33girl]

Wouldn't everyone pretty much have to step up at the same time, Panhellenic advisories/rules being what they are?

[ThetaDancer]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

Well I think it is a combination of the brothel law and the rich university benefactor who stated in his/her will that there could never be sorority houses.

Actually, I don't know the reason, but I felt the need to be a smartass.

Haha, I was expecting someone to bring those up.

[carnation]

I'm not sure how it would have to pan out at AU, but at MS State, one sorority finally said to heck with the university's rule about no sorority houses, we're building one. You'd better believe that the others rushed to buy land and keep up. One sorority that was floundering said no way and left at that point. So much for Panhellenic spirit, lol.

But I remarked earlier about how little privacy they had in those 2 dorms with 9 chapter rooms crammed in the basements. I don't blame the sororities for wanting to get out of there.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

True- but at Tennessee the sororities are beginning to build houses.

Thanks for the reminder. I do recall reading about this on another GC thread regarding UT sororities as well.

Houses Are in the Future for Sororities

Originally Posted by ThetaDancer

Just curious, but why is that?

From the Tennessee Panhellenic Website - Do the sororities have houses?

The UT Panhellenic community chose to build a Panhellenic Building to meet the needs of their members in the 1960s. It still provides our chapters a wonderful place to host events, and meetings, as well as a place to meet friends between classes. In addition, many chapters have designated floors in residence halls where many women live together from the same sorority. What we have is the best of both worlds.

[UGAalum94]

The downside to houses is that they cost more money and that dues have to go up a lot, and I think that you also end up needing more alumnae support in terms of house associations and upkeep etc.

If you really could have the best of both worlds: housing people wanted to live in with some autonomy and the security of on-campus support for upkeep and financing of the structure, wouldn't that be great?

And houses the groups own also can destroy any sense of a level playing field among groups. With dorm floors and chapter rooms, a small group can afford to exist and be solvent with a small chapter; with true group supported houses, forget it. It's not going to work out to just have a tiny house when everyone else has mansions.

[texas*princess]

When I read the initial posts (before opening up the link), I thought the "same building" meant like it is at UNT.

At UNT, the sorority homes are pretty much connected together (same building pretty much) - but they are seperated (sort of like really big townhomes!) and they look like traditional greek homes on the outside (pillars, etc)

I personally don't dig the layout of the Auburn place. I like that they have individual bedroom suites (at the old ADPi house we had roomies and while I loved my sisters, it was hard cramming 2 ppl's things in one room and still trying to keep it orderly.) but that's about it.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Wouldn't everyone pretty much have to step up at the same time, Panhellenic advisories/rules being what they are?

Apparently not. At least, that's not what's happening at UT. Initially all of the groups were going to have townhouses in a Greek Village of sorts, but one group decided it wouldn't suit their needs long term and wanted to go ahead with an actual house. Other groups followed suit and dropped out of the townhouse plan. However, not every group on campus had prepared for the eventuality of a house (financially) and therefore are staying with the townhouse option or possibly a lodge since they can't afford or aren't ready to build - at least not right now. I think the chapters planning to build houses are AOII, ADII, DDD, Chi O, and KD. I've heard rumors of others as well.

There is more information at this website put together for AOII's capital campaign.