The feelings behind Miami’s sorority LLC

Hailey Roth came to Miami University last fall excited about the many opportunities of college life. A local to Bethesda, Maryland, Roth saw college as her opportunity to break out of her hometown mold and start something new: a new living situation, different classes, a fresh environment and most importantly, new friends.

For Roth, this meant rushing one of Miami’s 18 Panhellenic sororities.

As a psychology major, Roth knew she would make some friends through her classes and in Tappan Hall; however, she said her anticipation for spring recruitment began before even attending Miami.

“My parents were both in Greek life, so I knew I definitely wanted to go through [recruitment],” Roth said. “After hearing other people’s experiences [at different schools], I think it seems nice.”

This excitement of joining a sorority is not unlike many other undergraduate men and women at Miami. Approximately one-third of undergraduate students at the university are involved in Greek life, which includes over 50 sororities and fraternities.

One of the most unique aspects of Panhellenic life at Miami, which differs from many colleges, is that Miami does not have sorority houses and does not allow sororities to occupy university-associated houses (in other words, chapter houses). Instead, most sophomore sorority women must live in one of the five assigned dorms in Central Quad, excluding women who commute or have specific living requirements.

But do sorority women feel like they’re missing out?

For first-year Roth, Miami was the only school she looked at that did not have sorority houses. Her list included schools like Elon University, the University of Richmond, the University of Delaware and Lehigh University. While she found it odd at first, Roth said the lack of sorority houses did not affect her decision to come to Miami or rush a sorority.

“Once I went to Sprite Dates [in the fall], and heard from the girls living in the dorms about their positive experiences, I realized that it doesn’t really matter,” Roth said. “It’s not traditional, yeah, but I still think you get the same experience.”

Roth is not alone in this opinion. Emily Bame, a senior strategic communications major, lived in Hamilton Hall during her sophomore year. She said the dorms still gave her the opportunity to live with her Zeta Tau Alpha sorority sisters and felt like an upgrade from her first-year dorm in Morris Hall.

“I think I honestly preferred the dorms to a house because I felt like it gave a super similar experience to what a house would have given us,” Bame said. “I know houses are probably a little bit nicer just because they have full amenities and a ton of common spaces and stuff like that, but still it was just so much fun to live with my entire pledge class.”

In a survey sent out to the members of Zeta, nine sorority women commented on how they felt about their sophomore-year living situation. A majority said they would have preferred to live in a house over a dorm, citing reasons like they were ready to get out of the dorms or to have a chapter house to themselves instead of sharing a dorm with other sororities.

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Photo by Olivia Patel | The Miami Student

After living in a dorm for a year, six of the nine women reevaluated their preferences on living situations, and some even changed their minds.

While two girls commented that they enjoyed living in the dorm and found the accommodations comfortable and similar to a chapter house experience, two other women noted their extreme displeasure with the situation. They said the different floors in the dorm separated their pledge class too much.

“I highly dislike the suite and dorm style of sorority housing at Miami,” one response read. “After moving out of the dorms I feel way more disconnected to my sorority and also feel a lack of identity which a house can give members. I wish we were able to have chapter, recruitment and sisterhood events in our own house/all in one place. The entire chapter let alone an entire pledge class can’t fit in the suite. I also hate the stigma against sorority housing and Miami’s history tied to women-only off-campus housing.”

One benefit addressed in several survey responses is the affordability of living in the dorms. Bame said the price of the dorms versus living in a sorority house made joining possible for her, as she pays most of her sorority dues herself.

Before attending Miami, Bame compared The Ohio State University (OSU) sorority dues to Miami’s and said she would not have rushed a sorority if she attended OSU because the housing costs were too high.

Alyssa Ciango, associate director of fraternity and sorority life, said her team leans heavily on advertising the benefits of sorority women living in dorms through testimonials from current sorority women. Some of these benefits include lower cost, provided maintenance and cleaning services, as well as access to full meals through Miami’s meal plan. Ciango also said living close to the center of campus is a huge plus, which was echoed by several women in the survey.

“I think when women automatically think that there are no chapter sorority houses on campus, they think that they’re missing out on something,” Ciango said. “So I really try to change the mindset that you’re not missing out – you’re actually gaining a really cool experience.”

patelou@miamioh.edu