Housing question.

Tom Earp · #1 11-07-2006, 11:32 PM

Has it ever been done that two Zetas ever built a House together?

Possed to me tonight on the phone and is an interesting thought.

Say two Zetas are very close together and neither has a House, would it make sense?

What about a lodge type place where they can meet, party, etc?

JonoBN41 · #2 11-07-2006, 11:50 PM

Interesting question!

Closest I can think of is Kettering A&B. Maybe in Boston? (BU, Harvard, MIT).

Dunno.

john1082 · #3 11-08-2006, 02:54 PM

This is an interesting idea. Given the clustering of chapters in San Antonio and San Diego it might make some sense. However, I can see a couple of problems here.

How do you operate two Zetas in the same physical building with out one overtaking the other on operations? Two chapters but a single house manager?

What if one Zeta has management / leadership / conduct issues?

How would the two Universities deal with a joint house?

Not trying to be a naysayer, I like the concept, but the devil lies in the details!

Tom Earp · #4 11-08-2006, 04:30 PM

john you bring up a good point about two Un. being involved. But, from what I understand from the conversation, the two school share classes in conjunction with each other.

Neither Zeta has a house but thoughts were of having a 10 member house, 5 from each Zeta. They are within 5 miles of each campus.

Not sure how:
1 The school would feel.
2 How IHQ would feel either.

A new experiment maybe?

john1082 · #5 11-08-2006, 06:25 PM

Kettering A and Kettering B are a unique example as the school operates on a left / right sort of schedule. The kids spend about 1/2 their time in a conventional university setting and 1/2 their time out working. It is shift work of a sort with each half swapping out every semester.

The Navy used this concept, too, in the way that it crewed the Polaris and Poseiden missile boats. They had two crews for each boat and swapped them out after each patrol thus ensuring maximum availability of the boat. Called them blue and gold crews.

I don't know of another school that operates like Kettering. Given the "platoon" system of classes, having the two sides share a house makes sense, but they are, I believe, a single Zeta with a single housing corporation, at a single university.

I think that the GHZ ought to consider this idea, at least on an informal basis. It makes perfect sense in Boston, for example, because housing is just SO expensive. Same for San Diego, although I believe that San Diego State does own their own house. Davis and Sacramento might make a good test although there isn't any real usable real estate between Davis and Sacramento except the river bottom and a 12 mile causeway!

Ottor 246 · #6 11-09-2006, 09:11 AM

I hate to be the naysayer, but I can see a whole host of problems developing here. For example:

What happens if two chapters have a house together and one of the chapters folds?

If one chpater has a risk management issue, how do you keep it from spilling over into the other chapter?

How do you maintain individual identity and keep the combined group from morphing into one "super chapter."

What happens when one chapter is having homecoming and the other is having pre-I week?

It seems to me that the only way it could possibly work out would be if one chapter owned or leased the house, and allowed individual brothers from a nearby chapter to lease rooms in order to fill the house. I can't see two chapters using the same house as their Chapter House working out very well.

Just my 2 cents.

Mark

EM1843 · #7 11-09-2006, 10:39 AM

I could see it working if a Housing Corp. owned the house and rented out rooms to brothers from both houses. It would be similar to the case where a bunch of brothers choose to rent rooms in an apartment together, only the landlord would be the Housing Corp.

john1082 · #8 11-09-2006, 11:06 AM

I agree that there are genuine challenges here. If it came up for a vote I don't know if I would support it. But it bears study. Adequate housing is a real issue. With competition from college dorms and evolving expectations of undergraduates we can't rely on the status quo for housing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ottor 246

I hate to be the naysayer, but I can see a whole host of problems developing here. For example:

What happens if two chapters have a house together and one of the chapters folds?

If one chpater has a risk management issue, how do you keep it from spilling over into the other chapter?

How do you maintain individual identity and keep the combined group from morphing into one "super chapter."

What happens when one chapter is having homecoming and the other is having pre-I week?

It seems to me that the only way it could possibly work out would be if one chapter owned or leased the house, and allowed individual brothers from a nearby chapter to lease rooms in order to fill the house. I can't see two chapters using the same house as their Chapter House working out very well.

Just my 2 cents.

Mark

Tom Earp · #9 11-10-2006, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john1082

I agree that there are genuine challenges here. If it came up for a vote I don't know if I would support it. But it bears study. Adequate housing is a real issue. With competition from college dorms and evolving expectations of undergraduates we can't rely on the status quo for housing.

Granted, but from what I have been told, both schools work closely together in an Acadamian way. They are very close together.

As you said as others have, there are areas where housing is very expensive and many Zetas in close proximity.

Let me use this example:

Friends, two Brothers, Biological, had a house built.

Each had a side and a common area for both. It seemed to work very well.

But as you said, in Risk Managent if there was a problem, the responsibily would fall on both.

Maybe a common H C that ruled it as a land lord?

While it is still just a thought, it would be interesting to hear from IHQ on this issue.

EE-BO · #10 11-12-2006, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ottor 246

I hate to be the naysayer, but I can see a whole host of problems developing here. For example:

What happens if two chapters have a house together and one of the chapters folds?

If one chpater has a risk management issue, how do you keep it from spilling over into the other chapter?

How do you maintain individual identity and keep the combined group from morphing into one "super chapter."

What happens when one chapter is having homecoming and the other is having pre-I week?

It seems to me that the only way it could possibly work out would be if one chapter owned or leased the house, and allowed individual brothers from a nearby chapter to lease rooms in order to fill the house. I can't see two chapters using the same house as their Chapter House working out very well.

Just my 2 cents.

Mark

Tom Earp asked me about this in a phone call today, and the above is the exact thing I posed to him.

Even if both chapters have similar tones and management styles, those could change over time. And it is asking a lot to expect one chapter to take on some degree of "ownership" of the inherent risks of another.

The only way this works is if one chapter owns the house and makes all the decisions- and members of the other chapter rent units and take care to conduct themselves in the same manner as the dominant chapter.