Unhoused and proud!

[Oregon Alpha Xi]

My chapter is unhoused, which is kind of difficult for other people to understand. It has its advantages and disadvantages, just like having a house. I was hoping that other Greeks out there who are also unhoused could tell me what it's like for them, and maybe even housed Greeks will take this opportunity to ask questions.

[fuzzie]

We are also unhoused. All of our sororities have suites in the basement of one of the dorms. These are small rooms about the size of two dorm rooms put together. This is because there is an old law in PA that prohibits more than 7 girls residing in the same place. It is considered a brothel . I don't think the law is even really enforced anymore, but now all the room for houses around the campus is gone. We used to have a Fraternity Row, but that is slowly getting torn down for expansion by the university (which isn't really necessary). Of our 16 fraternities on campus, about 4 or 5 still have their houses. They, however go elsewhere, but then their houses are impossible to find and take forever to get to for any kind of function. I'm rambling now, so I'll conclude this. We get along fine without a house, but it's not really an issue because none of the other sororities have one either. I would think that it would be nice to have meetings and other functions where you live instead of walking across campus to the suite. And an added plus would be that I could see my sisters a little more than I do now.

[ZChi4Life]

My sorority is unhoused. I think it works for us cuz it keeps our dues very, VERY low! So that part is extremely good. But it can suck b/c we have to reserve rooms in our student union or other buildings, to have parties or whatever. It can be a pain b/c of the large amount of student orgs on our campus that are also trying to get rooms to hold events. So in that respect, it would be nice to have a house, but we really don't need one.

[This message has been edited by ZChi4Life (edited November 30, 2000).]

[SoCalGirl]

Hi Oregon AXi!

Are you the only ones on campus without a house? Or does no one have a house? I'm a lil confused.

At my campus, the only GLO with a house is Sigma Chi. I'm not sure when they came onto campus but their nationals snapped some of the primest land in San Diego. Now they're trying to get a Greek Row started. For the most part, from what I hear, most of the nationals on campus are torn about this. Houses are cool but cost a fortune. I don't really think the Greek system at UC San Diego is strong enough to fill houses.

I swing back and forth on whether I would have wanted to have a house. On the one hand it makes things sooooo much easier in terms of where to meet and where to store things. But I think girls are less intimidated by a sorority when there's no house. I know I was. I never would have rushed if I had gone to San Diego State. They've had houses for decades. But their Greek system is a complete 180 from ours.

[Oregon Alpha Xi]

Originally posted by SoCalGirl:
Hi Oregon AXi!

Are you the only ones on campus without a house? Or does no one have a house? I'm a lil confused.

Just to clarify, we are the ONLY ones without a house. Two chapters are recolonizing, and will get their houses back next year, but we are the ONLY chapter without a structure at all.

[kmullini]

When I was in school there was no greek row and there was no on campus greek housing. All of the greeks, including myself, either lived on campus in the dorms or lived off campus in a residential house each GLO designated as their own. Most of the GLOs used the university class-rooms for their meetings. Our chapter did and it worked out well. When it came to going to parties it made it interesting because of the fact everything was scattered. The greeks tended to be the most involved at my school too because of the fact it was a commuter school. I definitely liked the fact there was less dues with no house, but I think there would be more advantages to having one. We also had to reserve tables and rooms on our campus for rush and events too. The fact D.C. was so close to our school made it nice though.

Kevin Mullinix
Beta Theta Pi Alum
Epsilon Mu Chapter
George Mason University

At my campus all Greeks with the exception of one local frat are all unhoused. The UH-Manoa campus is in a really urban area where there's practically no land available to even build a house. The cost of living here is also a factor. It's too expensive to even lease a house that I doubt we'll be able to get one soon. The only way we'll probably get a house is if some wealthy alum decides to donate one to us. What we've been thinking about is maybe designating a dorm floor or apartment wing to AGD. A lot of our girls aren't from here so they all live in campus housing. It's something that I think we can handle financially.

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*I'm an Alpha Gam...Yes I am, Yes I am!*

[Honeybee]

At our school, all of the fraternities have a house, but none of the sororities do. I love the face that our dues are lower because we don't have a house, but I think it would be a great opportunity to get one. What could be better than living with your sisters??? We seem to manage fine without one though. We just reserve a room on campus for our meetings every week and we always have sleepovers at somebody's house so that we can just hang out and have fun together. We tried to get a house in the past, but there are too many regulations. So, for now, it is easier not to have one.

I agree with you honeybee, in a way it's better that we are unhoused because we don't pay the chapter house fee our other sisters do on the mainland. Monthly dues are good enough for me!

I was looking at our members roster and most of the girls already live on campus, with a majority living in the same apartment complex. Housing is so close together that it's fairly easy for a sister to find another sister.

Even though we don't really have a place to call our own (yet), everything still works out fine.

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*I'm an Alpha Gam...Yes I am, Yes I am!*

[CutiePie2000]

Oregon Alpha Xi
According to this webpage: http://osu.orst.edu/dept/activities/sorfra.htm
the Gamma Phi Beta's are unhoused too. Has this changed? Just curious.

[SilverBlueAngel]

I'm going to use this space to rant a little. We too only have housing for the fraternities. Neither of the sororities have residential houses. Our alums got together to buy us "bungalows" to hold meetings and other chapter events. This is the annoying part...the men get their housing deposits back to use for the house. This means that their dues are actually lower than the sororities. The sororities actually have to pay rent for our bungalows on top of our dues. This situation makes it hard to get interest in the women's greek system. We are currently in negotiations with our school and should have housing in less that 5 years!!...basically the school is between a rock and a hard place b/c of gender inequality of the Greek system.

[kdgirlie]

hi,
we don't have a house either--- but we are looking for one. All the other sororities do but I don't care. We still have an excellent sisterhood and that's all that counts.

[Tom Earp]

Housing can be very expensive as I know. We have a house that waw build when Christ was a cub scout and very much needs to be replaced before someone dies in it. We are in the processes os building a new house All but one Fraternity has a house, owned or rental (1).
I Woukd Please ask you to tell the schools you are at as I check schools out and want to see wht the Greek Situation is at your campuses. While we have a normal enrollment, we have less Houses than alot of campuses of our size.

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

[33girl]

Originally posted by Tom Earp:
Housing can be very expensive as I know. We have a house that waw build when Christ was a cub scout and very much needs to be replaced before someone dies in it.

Tom, LMAO...because there is a special on A & E right now called "The Unknown Jesus." I'll have to see if they show him getting his camping badge.

[KDladyECU]

I am a Kappa Delta at ECU and we are unhoused. Really, I don't think it should matter that much to PNM's whether we have a house or not. I think that when you decide to pledge a sorority, it should be the place that you feel like you belong and not the place that has the biggest house. We are getting a house this fall and it's a really exciting time for us. I know how hard it is to be a united sorority without a house but I also know that when we get our house, it's going to be the best thing that happens for us. Just remember, all you fellow greek women out there, that even without a house, you can still be united. Since we started looking for a house, we have been more united than ever!
I love all of you KD ladies at ECU! AOT

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