Debunking sorority housing myths in Oxford

By Bonnie Meibers, Senior Staff Writer

Contrary to popular belief, Miami University sorority women chose - and continue to choose - to live in sorority suites on campus instead of in sorority houses off campus.

A Panhellenic agreement was made that stated sorority women would live on campus for the benefit of sorority life.

Myths as to why sororities do not have off-campus housing like their fraternal counterparts have been circulating the university for years. One of these myths describes an Oxford city law which states a single house with a certain number of girls is considered a brothel.

Another says that a woman made a large donation to the university in the early 1900s wanting her money to be put toward on-campus sorority housing.

Both are false.

"There is no law prohibiting [off-campus sorority housing]," said Jung-Han Chen, director of Community Development.

The truth is that in the late 1940s members of the National Panhellenic Council at Miami agreed to have sorority housing on campus.

These women thought that creating off-campus sorority housing would cause increased cost to sorority women and increased competition between different sororities.

In the Panhellenic agreement, the women also state that a reason to keep sorority housing on campus is that off-campus housing may cause women in sororities to become more "cliquish."

"We, as a cross section of sorority women at Miami University, are strongly opposed to sorority houses as residences for women on campus," states the Panhellenic agreement.

Because Miami was a predominantly male campus until the mid 1900s, both Greek and unaffiliated women had few housing options compared to the men on campus. In fact, in 1951, women in 10 of the 17 sororities on Miami's campus were living in temporary housing.

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The university's solution to this problem was creating sorority suites.

"It's a lot easier to let the campus manage it," said Jennifer Levering, director of the Cliff Alexander Office and the Office of Student Activities.

In these suites, all situated near each other in Central Quad, women have minimal maintenance and fewer worries than if they lived off campus.

"It is kind of hard to watch my friends at other schools move into sorority houses," said Kim Brochocki, a first-year and member of Zeta Tau Alpha. "However, I think the idea of sorority quad is really cool because it brings us together as a Panhellenic community."

Areas where sorority houses could be built off campus are called R2MS zones. Theses zones are mostly near Miami's campus and on W. High and Beech Streets.

Sorority and fraternity housing falls under the category of conditional use. This means that the sorority or fraternity, in order to build a house in an R2MS zone, or anywhere, must put together an application to be approved first by the Oxford Planning Commission and then by City Council. According to Chen, these groups talk about issues like parking space and how trash will be managed on the property before coming to a decision.

While there may not be a law prohibiting it, Levering said off-campus sorority housing is not a current reality.

Availability of space in Uptown Oxford and the cost it would take to renovate houses to accommodate as many as 100 women are among the reasons Levering does not see off-campus sorority housing in Miami's future.

Martina Oriz, a first-year and member of Pi Beta Phi, said she does not see any reason to change the system currently in place.

"I'd say I'm content because, this way, all sophomores can live together, there's no way a house could hold all 60 of those girls," Oriz said.

The main things holding sorority women back from moving into off-campus sorority housing are Miami's two-year live-on requirement and the agreement between members of the National Panhellenic Council in the late 1940s to live on campus.