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Sorority women to select housing on Central quad

Laura Bryant

Room selections for Miami University sorority members will take place Tuesday, and following policy changes requiring currently-pledging first-years to live in corridors their sophomore year, those involved feel that the entire room selection process will go smoothly.

"(The Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership) has been communicating with potential rushees or recruits," said Lucinda Coveney, the director of housing contracts and meal plans at Miami. "They told them of the policy, so there weren't any surprises."

The lottery that determined the order in which the girls could select rooms in the already mapped out sorority corridors of Hamilton, Richard, MacCracken and Minnich halls took place Wednesday. This room selection process is the first since the implementation of a policy that requires Miami's sophomore sorority members to live on Central quad, which has been home to sorority members for more than a decade.

"(The) sorority corridor initiative goes back more than 10 years, but until this year our policies were very open, such as girls could live off campus or with non-sorority friends (in the corridors)," Coveney said.

Only new members entering their second year are required to live in the sorority dorms. If there are rooms left over, students not involved in Greek life will still be allowed to live in the corridors.

New sorority pledges used to be able to live in corridors with other sorority members in Central quad, but with non-affiliated students having already selected rooms, there was often not enough room for all of the sorority girls who wished to live there, according to Coveney. This caused sororities to be broken up across corridors, and it did not allot enough rooms for all of the new members.

"Last year the numbers (of new members) increased, so we tried to figure out something that worked for everyone," Coveney said. "We have situated all of the women from the same chapter together and have eliminated mixed corridors."

A committee through the Cliff Alexander Office worked together this year to map out the exact number of contracts of girls joining the sororities so that they ensured everyone had a room.

"We had to make it an exact science," Coveney said.

Junior Kiren Devereux, a Panhellenic delegate and member of Chi Omega, sees the new requirement as being beneficial to the Greek community.

"We can't have (sorority houses) at Miami, so this is the closest we can get," Devereux said.

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Devereux doesn't think the new living arrangement will cause sororities to be separated from the rest of the campus.

"There is a slight fear of that, but I don't think it'll be a problem," Devereux said. "Overall it'll be a really good thing, not just for the pledge classes but for the whole Miami community in general."

Sororities are hoping this policy will help strengthen the community within their chapters.

"I am really excited to live with the girls next year," said first-year Samantha Smogor, a member of Delta Zeta. "I think it will bring all of us closer together, and since we don't have a house or anything, I think it is the next best option."