Debunking the "Brothel Law" Myth

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by tanzera

I just wanted to comment on this because I go to University of Nevada and our wack counterpart UNLV does still adhere to the brothel law. It is not a myth or a rumor. No sororities or frats have official houses because there is still a brothel law in nevada and UNLV and UNR are not in cities that allow brothels.

Why would a brothel law prevent fraternity houses?

Unless you can actually cite a statute or ordinance, I'm calling it a myth.

[SWTXBelle]

Zoning laws - often restrict the number of unrelated persons who can live in a single family dwelling. They often also will not allow dwellings which allow more than a certain number of people to live in them in certain areas of the city/county. The specific use is often dictated - i.e., commercial vs. residential. Sometimes fraternity and sorority houses are not built at a certain university because of ZONING LAWS.

Brothel laws - an urban legend that will not die. If you feel your community has a brothel law, please post the relevant legal citation. We'd love to see it. Really.

[UGAalum94]

No doubt that the brothel law isn't what prevents Greek housing, but you guys know that Nevada really does have brothel laws, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Nevada

[xxstardust]

I just wanted to mention that when I met with my university president about Greek life at my school - he told us that they didn't have sorority houses at his college because of the brothel law! And he looked very disappointed to find out that it wasn't true!

[ZTAngel]

adpiucf-
I was told that the brothel law was the reason that there were no College Apartment complexes in Oviedo that had more than 3 bedrooms. (More than 3 women in an apartment was supposedly a brothel) That story got chucked after Grandeville, Tivoli and Northgate were built!

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by adpiucf
DeltAlum, I think I love you.

adpiucf: (Blush)

Seraphimsprite:

I hadn't heard about that. You learn something new every day!

[texas*princess]

I've heard the "brothel law" thing for several schools... one of them being TWU, which is seriously 5 minutes from where UNT is building the Sorority Row So I figured that was not a real reason why some campuses have houses, and some have only "lodges" and some don't have either.

[Boodleboy322]

Texas Princess,

The "Brothel Law" did apply at UNT for many years. Prior to Sorority Row most of the Sororities used to meet in Chapter Suites at the bottom level of the College Inn Dormitory building on Monday evenings. I used to live upstairs from Chi Omega . The reason that UNT moved forward with Sorority Row was that they challenged and appealed the legal stipulations that were outdated and old. TWU could probably do the same but I know that the greek system there is very small. Not sure if that would make a difference or not.

Fraternally,

Boodleboy

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I've heard the "brothel law" thing for several schools... one of them being TWU, which is seriously 5 minutes from where UNT is building the Sorority Row So I figured that was not a real reason why some campuses have houses, and some have only "lodges" and some don't have either.

[Tom Earp]

DeltAlum is mine!

He is a fun Guy!

Sorry D A!

In many instances, The Brothel Law is Brought up and is untrue as has been shown.

Private and Realigious Affiliated Schools have different Rules to abide by.

That is called the Law of The Land. They Dictate the circumstances of living Facilities.

LXA lived in a School Owned House after Theirs Burned. William-Jewell, in Mo.

I was in it a couple of times and asked the Brothers, what are you doing living here, this house should be condemmend!

Well, not a Problem now, a new 3 1/2 Mill. house!

But The Cardinal House was scarry as Hell!

A fire would have wiped out almost all of the Chapter.

But, many times, maybe the Brothel Law is brought up to disway Soroitys from expanding on campus.

Dont Know, but am sure you can go to the Legal City Ordaninces, LAWS and find out about this from the Zoning Department!

[RiaLucia]

shima_mizu said:

But I think we used to have sorority houses a long, long time ago. Need to double check on that though.

Cat, I'm almost positive we did. I'm not sure if Phi Beta Chi (for anyone who wants to know, that was our local chapter heritage before going to an NPC sorority in 1998) had a house, but I'm pretty sure I saw in a yearbook somewhere a sorority house. I might've even read it in the Valpo urban legends/myths spread that The Torch did towards the end of the semester. Perhaps one of our sisters in our chapter can shed some light on it.

[adw5862]

at my school this is a true law...and the is being fought as we speak...the school is trying to get it removed to build a sorority row on campus...but there is another law too, not sure what, but it is the reason we only have on fraternity house

[33girl]

Originally posted by adw5862
at my school this is a true law...and the is being fought as we speak...the school is trying to get it removed to build a sorority row on campus...but there is another law too, not sure what, but it is the reason we only have on fraternity house

THERE IS NO BROTHEL LAW. ANYWHERE.

The laws your school is trying to get reversed are ZONING laws. They have NOTHING to do with brothels or the fact that it's women, not men living in the house.

[Corsulian]

Originally Posted by 33girl

THERE IS NO BROTHEL LAW. ANYWHERE.

The laws your school is trying to get reversed are ZONING laws. They have NOTHING to do with brothels or the fact that it's women, not men living in the house.

Thank you.

Seriously, consider for a moment who would create a brothel law. Ever recall a time in the history of Puritan-founded America that brothels were just popping up all over the place?

In Fairfax County (Virginia), you cannot have more than 4 unrelated adults living in a single dwelling. It isn't because we might all become prostitutes, it's because of other reasons such as parking, traffic, square footage of dwelling space per resident laws, and more--all under the umbrella of Zoning Regulations.

On the campus of George Mason University, there are student apartments with 3 bedrooms holding two people each. So, you could have 6 girls in a single dwelling. It doesn't matter what the residential zoning laws are because a university is its own zone.

Greek Housing is generally considered unnecessary to a campus unless your organizations happen to do more good things than bad things, and then follow that up with Public Relations exposure. It's also prohibitively expensive. I know you pay a lot of tuition, but universities spend it on things like salaries and maintenance--they don't just sit on piles of money laughing at how you can't have cool things.

Also, if the reason you can't do something begins with, "there is an old bylaw buried away somewhere..." then that's not the reason.

[Tom Earp]

You mentioined days of yore, not today!

Those days of Laws that were enacted too are far gone from Ordinances (City) Laws (State).

Schools cannot make laws, they can only have rules and if they are private schools, that makes it so much easier. They can rule against said Ordinances and Laws, but not disobey them.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Corsulian

Seriously, consider for a moment who would create a brothel law. Ever recall a time in the history of Puritan-founded America that brothels were just popping up all over the place?

While we're on the subject of debunking myths, the Puritans founded Massachusetts Bay Colony, and as a result, were influential in New England. There was also some emmigration to the Chesapeake Bay region, but the Puritans never had the influence there that they did in New England. Puritan dominance of politics in New England had waned by the early 1700s.

Undoubtedly, Puritanism influenced the founding of the American Republic, but America is not "Puritan-founded."