As recruitment season in the Greek community is coming to a close, freshmen joining fraternities and sororities will find they now have more options for housing next year.
Some Greek organizations on campus are being approved as viable options to fulfill the new two-year live-in requirement that requires this year’s freshmen to stay in university housing for a second year.
Ryan Lovell, senior director of Parent and Family Relations and Greek Life, is overseeing the approval process, which is outlined in the Greek Housing Standard and the Greek Housing Implementation Report.
Criteria outlined in these documents include required study spaces and an alcohol regulation policy. Greek houses are also required to have a live-in adviser.
Lovell said the process of getting approved as a second-year housing option starts with interested Greek houses filling out a survey showing how they are going to meet the university’s criteria.
“At this time we also do a complete walk-through of the facility, verifying information, addressing questions we have from the application and pointing out items that might need to be addressed before approval,” Lovell said in an email.
Once the application and walk-through are completed and concerns are dealt with, Lovell can approve the facility for second-year living.
Alyssa Watts, a first-year in business who is going through recruitment this winter, said that she wants to live in a sorority house.
“Instead of being forced in a dorm for a second year, you can live with your friends rather than random people,” Watts said.
So far there are seven chapters approved to house second-year students, six of which are sororities. The approved chapters are Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity, and Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Chi Omega, Gamma Phi Beta and Kappa Alpha Theta sororities.
“We have an additional nine groups who have applied and are completing items that need to be addressed for final approval to be granted,” Lovell said.
The university is not limiting the amount of houses that can be approved, nor the amount of second-year students allowed to choose the facilities. However, Lovell said only the main chapter house can go through the approval process. Additional houses used by Greek organizations will not be approved.
