<p>Why do fraternities at UA do it like this?</p>
<p>I think S is going to take your suggestion NJB. Check things out during the fall and look into pledging next year if he is still interested.</p>
<p>You know I have never understood why the Fraternities made the change from the way it used to be to the way it is today. Back in the dinosaur days when I went through recruitment the fraternities had their formal recruitment the week before ours. It was the same kind party type thing the girls did. I think there were bbq’s and a couple of activities at Alumn’s homes as well as stuff at the Frats. The guys got their bids and then they paced back and forth across a strip of grass in front of the fraternities on Greek Row. The actives stood in the yards (with kegs) and chanted and sang. One by one the guys would cross over and the actives would pour beer on them and then that night there was a huge band party in the parking lot at the end of Greek Town. That then freed up the guys to sit in lawn chairs in front of the frat houses while we walked with our Rho Chi’s to each appointed party. Did I mention they had cards with the number 1 through 10 on them and as we walked by they rated us…yeah fun!!! I do think the current system for guys need to change. NJ your solution sounds great. Have you ever thought about pitching it to Greek Life, who knows they might bite :). There has been a lot of talk about how the girls go through recruitment as well. Words like shallow, materialistic, judgmental all have been spoken but am not sure there is a better way to get 1600 girls through the process. If you look at the OOS pledges you will see that this number steadily rises each year. I think it’s hard for OOS girls to attend, yet alone get invited to, the different recruitment teas that start the January before recruitment in August and end in May. We were lucky in that my involvement with my particular sorority got DD invites and then while staying at Bama with some girls, she then met other girls in other houses and got more invites. With the changes in the ability of incoming Freshman being able to stay with current girls (curfew ect.) this isn’t the case any more. I would encourage girls who are looking at going through recruitment at Bama to have alumns write letters of introduction to their sorority. Sometimes these letters will generate an invites to those parties. You will of course have to figure out how to get to Bama for what could potentially be an hours meet and greet at a local restaurant, but I will tell you that these get togethers can be beneficial. For those of you who are coming from the East I know this process can be confusing and frustrating, especially if you do have a Greek affiliation yourself. I would encourage you to reach out to one of us here on CC to help you. There are several of us who have ties to particular sororities and fraternities on campus and would be more than willing to help. In the case of recruitment at Bama networking is important!</p>
<p>My D was a pi phi girl and S1 a delta chi at Cornell. They have been giving S2 advice, but it’s so different at Bama. </p>
<p>I told S to stop by some frats while he is at Bama Bound and introduce himself. I am thinking that is not going to happen. He’s pretty outgoing, but not quite enough to walk into a frat unannounced. He really should have gone to the weekend, but couldn’t make it.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Since his bro is a Delta Chi, can’t that help a bit?</p>
<p>I did not know that university did not pay for the upkeep of the houses. I thought it was only logical since the university builds the houses.</p>
<p>I am not sure about Alabama but at WSU the University did not build the houses. The money t build the houses come from the alumni. At UA everything that has to do with DD’s sorority is run through a service called Greek Resources that is independent of the University. Our meal plans, parlor dues, ect all are billed through them. Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t the University own the land but not the structure. Somewhere I remember being told (or maybe I read it…Panhellenic Preview maybe???) that the sororities and fraternities rent the land back from the University for $1.00. Keep those big old houses up is expensive. Think of your kids and the amount of electricity and water they use…now times that by 60 girls…I would hate to get that bill. The sororities also have house boys, a live in house mom and a cooking staff that are paid for by that particular sororities housing corporation. My second DD was house manager of her sorority (not at Alabama) and I will tell you the finances end of it is a huge headache sometimes. I know the sororities are different from the guys but our “social” end of it swaps, dances ect are also included. It seems that fr DD’s boyfriend there was extra cost involved here. I would agree with SEA_tide that there are ways to budget and so I would echo don’t let the financial stuff scare you away if this is something that is important to you.</p>
<p>Cornell was the founding chapter of Delta Chi. His brother being a legacy would help get him in the door but most fraternities only really care if you’re a legacy of that particular chapter.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing with Delta Chi at UA. We got booted off campus in the mid 90’s for reasons I don’t want to discuss. We then came back for a year and got booted again for alcohol violations while on our probationary period. What was once a solid fraternity was decimated. There are probably only 5 - 6 fraternities at UA strong enough to not really feel the effects of getting kicked off campus. And I’m not sure anyone other than the Deke’s and SAE could recover from getting booted off twice within such a short period of time.</p>
<p>Numbers remained down during most of the 2000’s. However the last 5 years have shown a continued growth and a few renovation projects have taken place inside the house including a much needed kitchen renovation. Last years pledge class was solid and numbers aren’t far off from where they should/need to be. Another class or two like last year and things should be back to where they were in the 80’s and early 90’s when we were firmly in the top half of fraternities on campus.</p>
<p>BTW, Coleman Coliseum is named after Jefferson Coleman who was a Delta Chi at UA. Richard Shelby was also a Delta Chi at UA but doesn’t acknowledge it much for political reasons.</p>
<p>So to turn a short story long. I do suggest your son give Delta Chi a look and see how he likes it for himself. However he should look around at all the other houses too and see where he fits in best.</p>
<p>Feeno, The University doesn’t exactly build the houses. But they usually do provide low (sometimes no) interest loans to the different house corps for the building of such. The University also owns the land and leases it to the fraternities for a nominal (usually $1) fee. The loans are guaranteed by each fraternities house corp and they are paid back.</p>
<p>You never know what’s truth and what is fiction. But from what I understand the Deke’s were the only fraternity on campus that actually owned it’s own land. This is why they had bargaining power with The University when it came to moving them due to the north endzone expansion of Bryant Denny. They were able to get that great corner lot and were granted an exemption of how far the house could sit back from the road.</p>
<p>NJBama is correct. The university owns the land, and the GLO (Greek Letter Organization) pays to build the house. Right now UA is lending money for all the building and remodeling that is going on. Not long ago, a GLO would have to find a bank willing to lend them the money to build. Alumnae can help, but the tales of one alum coming in and paying for everything are greatly exaggerated. Thanks to UA’s low-interest loans, these are golden times for the Greek system.</p>
<p>But the university still builds the houses for the GLOs, such as the three new sorority houses going up behind President’s Mansion. I’m guessing UA becomes the mortgages the houses to the GLOs?</p>
<p>Not usually. The new ATO house is being built by the ATO house corp. The new Pike house was built by the Pi Kappa Alpha house corp. And from what I understand the Deke’s paid for most of their new house. The University chipped in part of it due to the agreement for them to move to make way for the addition to Bryant Denny.</p>
<p>However The University did build some houses back in the late 80’s for a few National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities. I’m not sure which sororities are getting houses built but it might be a similar situation. National Pan-Hellenic Council is the governing body of the 9 historically black fraternities and sororities.</p>
<p>I have no idea if The University still owns the houses they built back in the late 80’s or if they have been bought outright by the fraternities they were built for.</p>
<p>Interesting, this is all news to me.</p>
<p>First off I’d like to clarify a few things for those who don’t know. A House Corporation owns and operates the physical houses. It is separate from an Advisory Board which advises the chapter with its operations. Both are comprised of volunteer alums. Finally, Greek Resources is a local accounting firm which has been hired by the majority of the House Corps and chapters on campus to handle their finances (member billing, collections, bill payments, etc.) </p>
<p>As previously said, the University does not actually build new houses. Architects, contractors, etc. are hired and paid for by each House Corp. However, the Univ allows the GLO’s to use their bidding process. In order for a company to participate in the UA bidding process, it must meet certain qualifications. In addition, a GLO can hire a Univ project manager to oversee the building process.</p>
<p>It is not mandatory to go through the Univ, but there are big plusses in doing so. You can be confident that you are getting the best price and hiring qualified contractors/builders who will stand behind their work. That’s of course assuming that they want to continue getting business at the Univ. ;)</p>
<p>FYI, this is fairly new (within the last few years) and so is the Univ helping with loans. Before that it was pretty much up to each GLO’s House Corp and/or it’s Nationals to finance and build.</p>
<p>One of the reasons it is so hard for a new GLO to colonize at a campus like UA, is the expense of providing a new house. A chapter would be at a huge disadvantage during recruitment without house comparable to the others on campus. I know that is one of the reasons Delta Gamma has taken their time re-establishing their colony.</p>
<p>The university’s board of trustees must approve any design, and that design must comply with a long list of UA requirements. I believe the university is loaning the money directly to the house corporations, not just helping.</p>
<p>“Greek Alumni
Welcome back to the Capstone. 2010 has been a tremendous one for our University. We saw exciting additions to our campus and welcomed the largest, best and brightest class of freshmen in the history of The University of Alabama. Last year was also one of tremendous growth and accomplishment for our Greek community. Fall 2010 saw the largest new member classes our fraternities and sororities have ever seen, including the largest sorority recruitment in the United States. The size of our Greek community has more than doubled in the last 10 years, and this growth shows no sign of slowing.The University of Alabama is committed to the success and well being of our Greek community. We realize that our success as a university is dependent upon positive undergraduate learning experiences transforming into positive relationships with our alumni. To this end, we have committed a vast amount of resources to our Greek community in recent years. To date, we have made over $40 million in loans available to fraternities and sororities for house construction and renovation projects. We have more than doubled the size of the Greek Affairs staff. We are developing partnerships with a variety of constituents to ensure the long term health and sustainability of our Greek community. Our goal is simple – to build the biggest and best Greek community in the United States.” [Link</a> to UA Greek Life](<a href=“http://greeklife.ua.edu/alumni.html]Link”>http://greeklife.ua.edu/alumni.html)</p>
<p>Dr Witt made donations to the Greek housing tax deductible, by routing the funds through the University, and drummed up 15 million dollars in donations for Greek housing as a result.
[Greek Awards Speech](<a href=“http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1k85drp7fValzuZQamlHz-QchOQlSF2oksWBg-3VrajLS1hbhsUK2XQa2ivRd&hl=en_US&authkey=CK7OiucM”>http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1k85drp7fValzuZQamlHz-QchOQlSF2oksWBg-3VrajLS1hbhsUK2XQa2ivRd&hl=en_US&authkey=CK7OiucM</a>)</p>