Campus Heat Felt by All Greek Houses

I recently read an interesting essay from Colgate University in New York, in which the author discussed the decision of the university to purchase all of the fraternity and sorority houses, forcing all their students to live in university housing. The situation arose when in 2000 an off-campus car accident left four students dead and the driver in jail charged with vehicular manslaughter. Based on a task force recommendation, trustees from the university came to the conclusion that in order to have more control over their 2,750 students, all students would be forced to live in university-owned houses. By placing more control on their students, the university hoped to cut down on hazing, sexual assaults, and other incidents. Amidst five fraternities and two sororities having agreed to Colgate’s purchasing terms, many others feel strongly against it. Among those that have argued against the decision are the alumni of these fraternities and sororities some have said that the university’s plan is a “blatant land grab.” The university has denied these claims.
After reading this article and thinking about the current situation at my own university, it got lead me to think about the situations that Greek organizations put themselves into and also the universities perspective of these organizations. Although I have a hard time agreeing that a Greek organization should ever be kicked out of their house or even worse losing their chapter, many of these situations begin because of their own negligence. Contrary to Greek’s beliefs that the university is “out to get them”, the university is simply enforcing rules so as to protect their student body. Currently, the “six-pack”, the group of fraternity houses located near the Blanding and Kirwan housing complexes, is under a watchful eye because the university has bigger and better plans for these outdated houses. One of the fraternities, Phi Sigma Kappa, has already been kicked out of their house and if they can’t come up with enough funds to pay for all the repairs to pass fire code they will lose it. Another fraternity in the “six-pack”, Farmhouse, has seen this coming for a while and currently has a blueprint for a new house as well as the land. Like I previously stated, my own fraternity house is reportedly being pushed off our on campus location as well. It will be interesting in the long run to see what becomes of this land and what the university does with it.

The article from the Kentucky Kernel can be found here http://kykernel.com/2008/09/15/the-six-pack/