Housing Shortage Irks Frats, Sororities

Due to a shortage of University housing allotted to Greek groups, three organizations do not currently have chapter residences—and won’t for the foreseeable future­—a situation that they say puts them in a bind during rush season.

According to Thomas Meister, CC ’09 and president of Phi Gamma Delta, the past few years have seen a rotating cycle in which three fraternities are always left without houses due to the number of brownstones available to Greek organizations.

“It’s not like the housing situation has improved,” Meister said. “It’s just that the winners have switched places.”

Recently, fraternities Delta Sigma Phi and Phi Gamma Delta and sorority Alpha Chi Omega all applied for the house that the University had forced fraternity Zeta Psi to leave in June due to housing violations. On Jan. 30, the house was awarded to Delta Sigma Phi.

“I am thrilled beyond belief,” said Delta Sigma Phi’s Ariel Deshe, CC ’10 of his fraternity securing the house. “I think Columbia should do everything they can to get all Greek organizations that show themselves responsible and worthy of a house to get one, because it’s a great asset for every aspect of a frat.”

Fraternities and sororities without houses face a number of challenges, especially during the rush season, which ended this past week. Such groups “stand at a disadvantage in terms of recruitment,” Meister said. “You lack an identifiable space in which to meet and bring recruits. ... When you’re not a physical presence on 114th Street, it hurts.”

“The nature of a fraternity or a sorority is such that having a house is essential,” said Interfraternity Council president Matt Heiman, CC ’09. Referring to the University’s use of brownstone buildings for graduate school dorms, Heiman asserted that “fraternities and sororities need that space more.”

“Putting grad students in brownstones isn’t the most efficient use of space,” Heiman said. “That kind of common space is much more important to a Greek organization than it is to strangers living together.”

Phi Gamma Delta has been without an official residence since 1999, when the University ousted the fraternity from its house near campus for reasons of “financial insolvency and risk management,” Meister said.

In recent years, Alpha Chi Omega and Delta Sigma Phi have occupied special interest suites in East Campus townhouses, where six members live together.

The three groups in question are actively pursuing housing, but according to members, there is little hope of finding suitable accommodations anytime in the near future, as there is currently no organizational preference given to Greek groups in University housing.

“If we [fraternity brothers] end up living near each other, it’s by coincidence,” Meister said. “I think it’s ridiculous that the University can’t even allocate enough funds for six of our brothers to live together that we can guarantee every year.”

When it comes to housing, Greek groups at Columbia have to grapple with challenges that their counterparts at other institutions do not.

“We do go to a school where space is so limited, and in the city, property is really expensive,” Heiman said. “When you try to compare the University to peer institutions, it’s hard because at other schools, fraternities can buy their own houses because they are cheap.”

Victoria Lopez-Herrera, Columbia’s assistant director of Greek life, serves as the administrative liaison for Greek groups on campus, and according to fraternity and sorority members, has been the most helpful of all University officials in helping to address housing problems.

Lopez-Herrera has “done a lot to help us out,” Meister said. “Victoria’s getting Greek life here organized.”

Heiman understands the need for the Interfraternity Council to formulate a plan. “Right now we haven’t developed a specific initiative to address the housing issue,” he said. “It’s a long term goal, and we are looking into it.”

samantha.saly@columbiaspectator.com