Fraternity/sorority living quarters question

[KrazeeK120]

However, some Fraternities and Sororities have sleeping porches. One big room where everyone sleeps, but small individual rooms to store your clothing. Now, I have been in Sororities where there is one bed in the individual rooms, but those are only supposed to be used when someone is no feeling well.

This was how my sorority was set up, except we didn’t have rules around the bed in the room. It was up to the roommates to decide what to do with it. We had 2 dormers with bunk beds - a cold dormer (where the windows were kept open unless it was frigid outside) and a warm dormer (where the windows were kept closed). I slept in the dormer my sophomore year, but was fortunate to have a single room my junior and senior year, so I had sole discretion over the bed! A lot of times, the nursing majors would use the beds in the rooms because they had to get up so early to do clinicals.

My school was small and we only had 4 sororities. One had no beds in the rooms (everyone slept in the dormer), one had no dormers and the rooms were more like traditional dorm rooms, and I believe the other one was set up like ours. So, even on any given campus, things can be different!

If I recall correctly, the fraternities were governed by university rules and the sororities were governed by the rules of their own national headquarters. The biggest differences were that sorority members were not allowed to have alcohol on premises (university students over 21 are permitted to have alcohol in their room) and men were not allowed to stay overnight in the sorority house (in non-freshman dorms, there are no visiting hour restrictions).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't know a ton about the greek system at my alma mater but freshmen were not allowed to live in the residences of the chapter. They do have a variety of houses on/off campus. Those houses have also been subject to covid restrictions such that if they engaged in behavior prohibited under covid-19 rules they were prohibited from going on campus for 14 days. Initially when school started back up again majority of cases were found (testing was required for students) in the greek system. Hazing and other such things have also gotten ones in trouble with the university. Also some greek chapters have closed down due to finances or enrollment or other issues.

At my alma mater freshmen in general are not required to live on campus though many probably do.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I heard it was due to some old blue book law, with not allowing a certain number of unrelated women living together.

This was an issue at the university my wife attended. They had Fraternities but were not allowed to have Sororities because there was a city ordinance that declared any house with over a certain number of unmarried, unrelated women living together was by definition a brothel. Gotta love some of the old frontier town laws that are still on the books.

That’s why my college didn’t have any sorority houses.

Being in a sorority was very important to my daughter when she was choosing a college. She refused to consider a specific school because they had the same laws still in place!

Folks, the so-called “brothel law” concerning sororities is a myth. One that apparently is widespread across the country, and has been perpetuated for decades. Look it up. I’ve heard it myself, stated as fact from student tour guides on several college campuses, but it’s simply not true. Research found no such laws in any state or city. Which on the surface seems funny, yet IMO so blatantly sexist, it’s troubling.

I was not Greek, nor was DS, however, the university he attended had beautiful old fraternity and sorority houses just off-campus, and all of them were owned by the university. My mom was in a national sorority (at a different university) back in the early 1950s. She told me about the sleeping porches in her house, as described by pp; I’m surprised to hear those still exist in some places.

 

[robinb]

Folks, the so-called “brothel law” concerning sororities is a myth. One that apparently is widespread across the country, and has been perpetuated for decades. Look it up. I’ve heard it myself, stated as fact from student tour guides on several college campuses, but it’s simply not true. Research found no such laws in any state or city. Which on the surface seems funny, yet IMO so blatantly sexist, it’s troubling.

That could be. In any case, there were sororities, all of which without houses and fraternities, some with houses. It could be that the sororities just chose not to colonize (I think that's the word). My DD's sorority was without a house for a long time and they opened up a brand new house the year before she joined.

I was not Greek, nor was DS, however, the university he attended had beautiful old fraternity and sorority houses just off-campus, and all of them were owned by the university. My mom was in a national sorority (at a different university) back in the early 1950s. She told me about the sleeping porches in her house, as described by pp; I’m surprised to hear those still exist in some places.

My DD's second choice school was Iowa State. A couple of the sororities had "cold rooms" where everyone slept in the same room in bunk beds with no heat. In Iowa. The girls giving the tour said that they loved it! Each girl had an individual room with a roommate which was set up as a hang out and for studying.

 

[EACarlson]

Being in a sorority was very important to my daughter when she was choosing a college. She refused to consider a specific school because they had the same laws still in place!

Could very well be the same one, about 100 miles to your west, just across the river?

 

[robinb]

Could very well be the same one, about 100 miles to your west, just across the river?

No, it was the UW LaCrosse. I loved that school when we visited but it wasn't for my DD.

 

[kyton]

It’s like reading about a different planet to this Aussie! The vast majority of our universities are public, ie run by the Australian government and none have sororities or fraternities.

Some have housing onsite but again the vast majority of attendees live off site in private rentals.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

my girl has a sorority house and most opted to NOT live there. Most of them live in a new townhouse complex with clubhouse and built in pool. Not only her sorority but a different ones too. The frats have made the complex their unofficial houses too. the greek houses at her school are old and need love.

 

[bcla]

Folks, the so-called “brothel law” concerning sororities is a myth. One that apparently is widespread across the country, and has been perpetuated for decades. Look it up. I’ve heard it myself, stated as fact from student tour guides on several college campuses, but it’s simply not true. Research found no such laws in any state or city. Which on the surface seems funny, yet IMO so blatantly sexist, it’s troubling.

There might be laws regarding the number of unrelated people in a house, but that's often in university towns where they're trying to keep too many students from renting out homes and effectively turning them into dorms with 3 to a room.

 

[NotUrsula]

Yep. the "brothel law" is a myth. My cousin was the President of Panhellenic at a major SEC school a while back, and she told me that the history of sorority residences owes a lot to the principal of "in loco parentis". The universities simply didn't want additional responsibility for "protecting" young ladies in such a social atmosphere with 3rd party governance involved, partly because there was fear that they would attract predators. Dorms were different because the universities had unilateral power to make and enforce draconian safety and behavior rules (and believe me, they did. Even through the 1980's, my state school in the South had really strict rules for the women's dorms, and nothing was co-ed at that point. We also had "housemothers" (officially they were Residence Hall Managers) who were famed for having no sympathy, along with eyes in the back of their heads, plus 2 RA's per floor.)

BTW, if you want to see rooms, look at YouTube; there are tons of video tours. Sorority members at the University of Alabama, in particular, love to do them. 'Bama has HUGE houses with very elegant common areas, but the residents' rooms look like regular dorm rooms, just a bit better furnished.

OP, for an interesting read on the topic, you might want to look at Lisa Patton's novel, Rush. It's fiction, of course, and situations are greatly exaggerated for comic effect, but the race and class issues it speaks of have a basis in fact. The surroundings described are real, though the names and locations were changed.

 

[trip]

Check out greekchat.com. It’s amazing how different recruitment is across the country. Some schools have small non competitive chapters. Some school chapters are huge and girls practically start prepping to be accepted at birth.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Yep. the "brothel law" is a myth. My cousin was the President of Panhellenic at a major SEC school a while back, and she told me that the history of sorority residences owes a lot to the principal of "in loco parentis". The universities simply didn't want additional responsibility for "protecting" young ladies in such a social atmosphere with 3rd party governance involved, partly because there was fear that they would attract predators. Dorms were different because the universities had unilateral power to make and enforce draconian safety and behavior rules (and believe me, they did. Even through the 1980's, my state school in the South had really strict rules for the women's dorms, and nothing was co-ed at that point. We also had "housemothers" (officially they were Residence Hall Managers) who were famed for having no sympathy, along with eyes in the back of their heads, plus 2 RA's per floor.)

BTW, if you want to see rooms, look at YouTube; there are tons of video tours. Sorority members at the University of Alabama, in particular, love to do them. 'Bama has HUGE houses with very elegant common areas, but the residents' rooms look like regular dorm rooms, just a bit better furnished.

OP, for an interesting read on the topic, you might want to look at Lisa Patton's novel, Rush. It's fiction, of course, and situations are greatly exaggerated for comic effect, but the race and class issues it speaks of have a basis in fact. The surroundings described are real, though the names and locations were changed.

Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll check it out.

 

[HiStitch626]

This was how my sorority was set up, except we didn’t have rules around the bed in the room. It was up to the roommates to decide what to do with it. We had 2 dormers with bunk beds - a cold dormer (where the windows were kept open unless it was frigid outside) and a warm dormer (where the windows were kept closed)

My house was the same except we called them sleeping porches, there was one warm and one cold. The rooms had 1 daybed and 2 sets of desks and closets. However, since I graduated the house has been extensively remodeled and the sleeping porches are gone. They are all rooms with two beds.

 

[FigmentSpark]

OP, for an interesting read on the topic, you might want to look at Lisa Patton's novel, Rush. It's fiction, of course, and situations are greatly exaggerated for comic effect, but the race and class issues it speaks of have a basis in fact. The surroundings described are real, though the names and locations were changed.

Just a note, for anyone interested, this book is on sale for Kindle on Amazon today (possibly only today, so sorry if you see this too late)

https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Novel-L.../ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=