North American fraternity and sorority housing (Redirected from Sorority house)

North American fraternity and sorority housing refers largely to the houses or housing areas in which fraternity and sorority members live and work together. In addition to serving as housing, fraternity and sorority housing may also serve to host social gatherings, meetings, and functions that benefit the community.

History

The first fraternity house seems to have been located at Alpha Epsilon of Chi Psi at the University of Michigan around 1846. As fraternity membership was punishable by expulsion at many colleges at this time, the house was located deep in the woods.

Fraternity chapter housing initially existed in two forms: lodges that served as meeting rooms and houses that had boarding rooms. The lodges came first and were largely replaced by houses with living accommodations. Lodges were often no more than rented rooms above stores or taverns. The idea of substantial fraternity housing caught on quickly, but was accomplished with much greater ease in the North as southern college students had far less available money for construction. The first fraternity house in the South was likely one rented by members of Beta Theta Pi at Hampden–Sydney College from at least 1856. Alpha Tau Omega was then the first fraternity to own a house in the South when, in 1880, its chapter at The University of the South acquired one.

Early chapters of women's fraternities often rented houses where they could live together, usually with a chaperone. This was in a day before colleges and universities had housing available. The first chapter house built by a women's fraternity was the one Alpha Phi erected one at Syracuse University in 1886.

Many colleges eventually came to support fraternity and sorority housing as they allowed increased enrollment without construction of costly dormitories. The nature of this benefit varied between campuses as some houses were paid for entirely by alumni, some were rented, and some were built on land leased from the college. It was further recognized that, while fraternities having chapter houses did not raise academic performance, it did have a tendency to keep it from falling as the chapters could not afford (financially) to have members leaving school and no longer paying for their rooms.

The Inter-Sorority Congress of 1913 saw the establishment of uniform rules and regulations regarding life in chapter houses.

The number of houses owned by fraternities and sororities grew from 772 in 1915 to 928 in 1920.

Design

Fraternity and sorority houses range in size from three to twenty bedrooms or more. They can usually be identified by large Greek letters or flags on the front of the house. The larger houses generally have a large meeting room and/or dining room, commercial kitchen and study room. There is usually a lounge of some sort, access to which is often restricted to fully initiated members. Fraternities and sororities will also often maintain a chapter room, to which only initiates may ever be admitted and even whose existence may be kept secret. The walls of the house may be decorated with pictures of past chapter events, awards and trophies, decorative (or historic) paddles, or composite photos of members from past years.

In some fraternities or sororities, only the representatives live in the houses while in others the entire fraternity or sorority may live in the house. Other, larger fraternities or sororities may have more than one house to accommodate all of its members.

At many colleges, Greek houses are placed on the same street which is traditionally referred to as "Greek Row."

Policies

Fraternity and sorority houses are typically owned either by a corporation of alumni, the sponsoring national organization, or the host college. For this reason, such houses may be subject to the rules of the host college, the national organization, or both.

Due to the increase in widely publicized alcohol-related deaths on college campuses, many national organizations and host colleges have implemented dry housing policies in which the consumption and possession of alcohol is prohibited on house property. Some colleges make this policy conditional on overall grade performance.

In addition to banning alcohol, many university-owned fraternity and sorority houses have smoking bans in place inside.

Because of residential requirements, some college campuses and national chapter administrations also prohibit members of the opposite sex on certain floors of fraternity and sorority houses.

Notable large houses

Rank Square Footage Fraternity or Sorority University Affiliation Location Year Completed
1 55,500 Phi Gamma Delta Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 2016
2 46,356 Kappa Kappa Gamma University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 2013
3 43,000 Delta Delta Delta University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 2019
4 42,000 Pi Beta Phi University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 2016
5 40,352 Delta Chi Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 2005
6 (tie) 40,000 Kappa Delta University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 2019
6 (tie) 40,000 Alpha Chi Omega University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2014
6 (tie) 40,000 Delta Upsilon University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri 2015
6 (tie) 40,000 Gamma Phi Beta University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2015
9 39,500 Pi Kappa Alpha Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 2005
10 39,444 Phi Mu University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2016
11 39,264 Sigma Pi Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 2005
12 38,853 FarmHouse Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2012
13 38,000 Pi Kappa Alpha Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2017
14 36,884 Pi Kappa Alpha Indiana University Bloomington, IN 2016
15 36,818 Alpha Gamma Rho Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2015
16 35,000 Phi Kappa Psi University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 2005
17 34,800 Delta Gamma University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2012
18 34,000 Alpha Delta Pi Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2021
19 33,783 Alpha Tau Omega University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2011
20 33,557 Chi Omega University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri 2013
21 32,445 Beta Theta Pi University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri 2012
22 32,400 Delta Tau Delta Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2015
23 (tie) 31,000 Pi Kappa Phi University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2014
23 (tie) 31,000 Phi Kappa Psi Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 2014
25 30,534 Kappa Alpha Theta Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma
26 (tie) 30,000 Pi Kappa Alpha Missouri Science & Technology Rolla, Missouri 2007
26 (tie) 30,000 Alpha Omicron Pi University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 2009
28 29,100 Kappa Sigma University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma 2014
29 (tie) 29,000 Phi Gamma Delta University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma

2008

29 (tie) 29,000 Alpha Tau Omega Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas

2013

31 28,500 Kappa Sigma Missouri Science & Technology Rolla, Missouri 2011
32 28,070 Sigma Sigma Sigma University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri 2012
33 28,051 Sigma Nu University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma 2017
34 28,000 Pi Kappa Alpha University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 2015
35 (tie) 27,000 Pi Kappa Alpha University of Illinois Champaign, Illinois 2011
35 (tie) 27,000 Sigma Chi University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico 1951
37 26,600 Alpha Chi Omega University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 2018
38 26,500 Sigma Chi University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2012
39 26,000 Phi Sigma Kappa Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, New York 2011
40 25,814 Phi Gamma Delta University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona 2004
41 25,425 Sigma Alpha Epsilon University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio 1925
42 25,000 Kappa Sigma University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas 1931

This page was last updated at 2022-09-18 16:11 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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