Sorority house complex

[frontrowfan]

most Soph and JR will live in the house and most sororities have about 40 members

[covufan]

most Soph and JR will live in the house and most sororities have about 40 members

Not another double post!

Woops it double posted

the other one is in the thread with all of Paul's pictures of campus

I truly hope nobody goes looking for this thread...

http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1894.msg46421#msg46421

[crusader05]

Actually, at the end of this recruitment the average chapter size was 72.  They will be smaller next year with graduating seniors but most will be in the low sixties.  They definitely will have enough women to fill the houses and most organizations will have a system set up to make sure that happens.

In regards to house mom's, all I've heard is that there will be one RLC for the whole complex but maybe they're planning for the future?

[okinawatyphoon]

The groundbreaking for this project is scheduled for Monday, March 16.

[valpopal]

Not sure if anyone is curious, but I was on campus the past two days, and work on the sorority complex across from the ARC finally began this week with excavation and laying of stakes after months of non-activity since the groundbreaking ceremony.

[94Alum]

Out of curiosity, where does this project currently stand?  A google search provides zero information on this after last summer.  Isn't it seriously delayed?  I would imagine students should be moving into it in the fall.  A pic would be greatly appreciated if someone has (or can take) one.

[ValpoFan]

It is almost done and will be ready for Fall move in.
Here is a picture of one section that was recently tweeted last week by Valpo Greek life account.

[94Alum]

Awesome.  Thanks!  Looks good.

[valpotx]

It is truly amazing how many buildings have been put up on Valpo's campus in the last 12 years since I graduated.  I can only imagine how it feels for people who graduated before me, but it shows that VU is always investing in the future.  I get very tired of reading the new arena comments, mainly because the school is taking care of some much needed additions first, before needing to consider anything with the ARC in regards to a major renovation or new build.  The dorms were very outdated, except for Memorial/Guild, which underwent a major renovation while I was on campus.  Getting the Greek Row setup will help to make Scheele more open to all students.  I believe that there were non-sorority students in Scheele, and they always felt out of place.

[bbtds]

It is truly amazing how many buildings have been put up on Valpo's campus in the last 12 years since I graduated.  I can only imagine how it feels for people who graduated before me, but it shows that VU is always investing in the future.  I get very tired of reading the new arena comments, mainly because the school is taking care of some much needed additions first, before needing to consider anything with the ARC in regards to a major renovation or new build.  The dorms were very outdated, except for Memorial/Guild, which underwent a major renovation while I was on campus.  Getting the Greek Row setup will help to make Scheele more open to all students.  I believe that there were non-sorority students in Scheele, and they always felt out of place.

My issue with this is that an investment in ARC renovation would have yielded probably as much increase in enrollment, and therefore more revenue, as almost all the other building on campus since the Christopher Library. It's my opinion. It's what strangers talk about when I met them and Valpo U is mentioned.

[wh]

Just drove through campus for the first time in about 3 months. The nearly completed sorority complex looks amazing. Of all the new buildings in recent years, this is 1 of my 2 favorites in terms of completely transforming a major area of the campus. The other is the Welcome Center and adjacent Rt. 30 entrance.

[vu84v2]

Good to hear that the new sorority dorm looks good. Valpo clearly needs to overhaul its dorms (they are still using Alumni, Lankenau and Brandt with minimal renovation). While I don't agree with the vastly outdated mindset that fraternities can be off campus, but we must "protect" the sororities, more modern housing can only help the university.

[Vale O. Paradise]

It's always been my understanding that the fact that sororities are in university housing doesn't have anything to do with overprotective university policies (or some antiquated brothel law, which is definitely nothing more than a tall tale). The reason is much more straightforward: money. Sororities have not been around as long as fraternities and have only been associated with national organizations for a couple decades. They haven't had time to accumulate the resources needed to own their own houses.

[vu72]

It's always been my understanding that the fact that sororities are in university housing doesn't have anything to do with overprotective university policies (or some antiquated brothel law, which is definitely nothing more than a tall tale). The reason is much more straightforward: money. Sororities have not been around as long as fraternities and have only been associated with national organizations for a couple decades. They haven't had time to accumulate the resources needed to own their own houses.

Not arguing with you and that does make sense.  However,(and I might be wrong here) I thought going back to the fifties and before that sororities did have houses. 

[vu84v2]

My understanding is that the Dean of Women (who was a woman) decided in the early 1960s that the women needed to be 'protected' and thus the sororities should not be in their own houses. While I do not know this for sure, I doubt that the university gave the sororities an option to acquire their own houses rather than live in the new dorm complex.

[vu72]

My understanding is that the Dean of Women (who was a woman) decided in the early 1960s that the women needed to be 'protected' and thus the sororities should not be in their own houses. While I do not know this for sure, I doubt that the university gave the sororities an option to acquire their own houses rather than live in the new dorm complex.

So I finally took the time to research the sorority house history question.  In Richard Baepler's book on Valpo's history, "Flame of Faith, Lamp of Learning", I found the following;

"Throughout the 1950's, Valpo's sororities still rented houses in the vaciniity of campus.  Most of them were fire traps, with ropes hanging from upper-floor windows for use in case of emergency. Although they had their own residences, sororities maintained the same 9 pm curfew, with lights out at 10, that governed the dormitories, though students found ways to evade the rules.  Some of the houses had housemothers, but most were under the charge of a senior student...

The condition of most of the houses was so poor that opportunities were sought to find alternative sorority housing. In 1961, the University took advantage of government funding to build Scheele Hall, which was designed with as much individuality as possible to house the eight sororities."

[crusader05]

The local sororities moved onto campus in part due to funds and lack of acceptable housing off campus. In regards to now, Houses are incredibly expensive and difficult to insure. Most National organizations will not want to build a house unless they are being colonized on a campus that is already housed or they are replacing an old one. The national orgs had no interest in taking on that cost hence the leasing of these dorms.

[FWalum]

My understanding is that the Dean of Women (who was a woman) decided in the early 1960s that the women needed to be 'protected' and thus the sororities should not be in their own houses. While I do not know this for sure, I doubt that the university gave the sororities an option to acquire their own houses rather than live in the new dorm complex.

We are not the only ones to have done this.  I guess at Wake Forest they must think that both the Fraternity and Sororities need to be protected, because of the 15 fraternities and 11 sororities only one fraternity has off campus housing.

Most fraternities and sororities have housing blocks in residence halls among other independent students, allowing people to share the same spaces and form bonds even when they aren't in the same organization. - Taken from the Wake Forest FAQ

My daughter was the RA for one such fraternity block.

[historyman]

I remember at least one sorority house being off campus during the 1960's.

[wh]

Good to hear that the new sorority dorm looks good. Valpo clearly needs to stop overhaul its dorms (they are still using Alumni, Lankenau and Brandt with minimal renovation). While I don't agree with the vastly outdated mindset that fraternities can be off campus, but we must "protect" the sororities, more modern housing can only help the university.

An interesting recent article from the Washington Post as to whether sororities should be on campus or off:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/22/why-frats-can-throw-parties-but-sororities-cant/

As per normal, things are never as simple as they appear at first glance.

[vu84v2]

The legacy brothel comment in the article is humorous, since such laws do exist in parts of the US. For example, in Boston it is not legal for more than five women to live in the same house. This is not a blue law, since if six college women rent a house, all of their names cannot be on the lease.