Greek Housing Moratorium at Ole Miss

[thetalady]

Oh Lord....

Just noticed in today's edition of the Daily Mississippian, that the University has placed a moratorium on all construction and renovation of Greek housing that has not already been approved. Apparently the University is contemplating construction of a Greek Village.

Moratorium on Greek House Construction

Luckily, this will NOT impact the ADPi house, which they just broke ground on a few weeks ago. This decision could severely effect Alpha Phi. They colonize in 2015, but may now be prohibited from building their own house

[LuvMyPNM]

What a shame it would be if those existing houses were replaced with dorms and the organizations sent to a greek village. Sorry but I'm against that. If more on campus housing is needed, use the space for greek village for those units. I'm sure the houses need maintaining and upgrading but they're an integral part of the campus life. Ole Miss can grow without forcing out that which is an important part of it.

[thetalady]

It is pretty scary to wonder what is being contemplated by the university. I know that some of the people involved in this decision are Greek. Hopefully they will understand what the houses mean to GLO members. Chapters have spent MILLIONS on their Ole Miss Greek houses.

It is scary because the University owns the land that those houses sit on. The GLOs only lease the land. Hopefully those are really, really, really long term leases.

[thetalady]

more information.... looks like Alpha Phi's house has already been approved, so they will NOT be affected by the moratorium on building.

Moratorium on Greek Construction In Place

[pinksequins]

The moratorium was discussed on GC in another thread, and both ADPi and Alpha Phi were exempted.

[pinksequins]

Our mails crossed! : )

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by pinksequins

The moratorium was discussed on GC in another thread, and both ADPi and Alpha Phi were exempted.

How did I miss that?? Can you help find the thread? I have searched and can't find it.

[WhiteRose1912]

Mentioned in the link here. I couldn't find a "discussion", though.

[pinksequins]

That's it. The "discussion" is more properly identified as a few comments. Thank you, WhiteRose.

[thetalady]

Thank you from me, too, WhiteRose1912

[DubaiSis]

As an outsider to the school, it seems really practical on the part of the school. They know enough to know that 1-there is tremendous need for sorority housing on campus and 2-you can't develop more housing without a plan. If, using Alpha Phi as our example, they had to be the only house built several blocks away, their success would be seriously diminished. So if the school provides ground for 5 houses all together, then colony expansion would be much more likely. And more likely to succeed. Now, not knowing the school or the houses, I'm wondering if any existing sororities could be incentivized to move to a new Sorority Row. I think that would probably help.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

As an outsider to the school, it seems really practical on the part of the school. They know enough to know that 1-there is tremendous need for sorority housing on campus and 2-you can't develop more housing without a plan. If, using Alpha Phi as our example, they had to be the only house built several blocks away, their success would be seriously diminished. So if the school provides ground for 5 houses all together, then colony expansion would be much more likely. And more likely to succeed. Now, not knowing the school or the houses, I'm wondering if any existing sororities could be incentivized to move to a new Sorority Row. I think that would probably help.

Too late.

We already have 2 good sized, very well developed "Sorority Rows". ADPi and Alpha Phi are both building on the newer row, which is Rebel Drive, across from AOPi, Theta, Pi Phi and Chi Omega.

The original Sorority Row is on the same side of campus, but not close to Rebel Drive. http://map.olemiss.edu/

I will defer to Mary Poppins, but I believe that almost all of the sorority houses have had major renovations and expansions within the last 5-10 years. These houses are HUGE, custom built and cost millions. There is a lot of of history in some of the older homes and great affection for the facilities by alumnae. I cannot begin to imagne anything other than force that would make any chapter move.

[DubaiSis]

So maybe a third one?

It may seem weird for that school, but at a lot of schools the sororities are much more spread out than that.

[PeppyGPhiB]

I know Gamma Phi Beta has said that it will only colonize at campuses in the future if it can build competitive housing (for campuses that offer Greek housing). It would seem that the individual, huge houses at Ole Miss are a big part of the culture on that campus, and that a Greek Village-style house would not be competitive or equal.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by thetalady

Too late.

We already have 2 good sized, very well developed "Sorority Rows". ADPi and Alpha Phi are both building on the newer row, which is Rebel Drive, across from AOPi, Theta, Pi Phi and Chi Omega.

The original Sorority Row is on the same side of campus, but not close to Rebel Drive. http://map.olemiss.edu/

I will defer to Mary Poppins, but I believe that almost all of the sorority houses have had major renovations and expansions within the last 5-10 years. These houses are HUGE, custom built and cost millions. There is a lot of of history in some of the older homes and great affection for the facilities by alumnae. I cannot begin to imagne anything other than force that would make any chapter move.

And if groups were forced to move to try and keep all the GLOs in one place due to expansion, I can't imagine that any new group would be welcomed under such circumstances.