Greeks find ways to bond without houses

Junior Alex Ruff pledged Pi Kappa Alpha spring semester of his freshman year. He took his turn as a pledge by cleaning up, sober driving, attending events and learning all the fraternity’s rituals and traditions.

But he never moved into the house — because they don’t have one.

About 17 percent of IU’s campus is greek. All 19 social sororities have houses, but several fraternities are considered off-campus. The Interfraternity Council recognizes and represents these chapters. They sponsor pair parties, have Little 500 teams, perform in IU Sing and attend events. But they do not have a single unifying house in which they all live.

“We’re a lot more easygoing,” Ruff said. “We allow our members’ lives to revolve around other things — athletics or academics. In another fraternity, the social aspect is kind of glaring, in your face. You go home to it.”

Pi Kappa Alpha had a house on Third Street but lost it and its charter in 2003 for disciplinary violations. The University has since bulldozed the house while the men reorganized the chapter and have been off-campus ever since.

IFC vice president of communications and junior Doug Donoghue said most off-campus fraternities aspire to have houses, but there are not any vacant houses and the University will not zone more land for greek housing. 

But other schools offer only off-campus arrangements. There are 10 sororities at Ball State University and none have houses. Their pledge classes are smaller (no more than 20 girls per class) and members meet in suites in the student center.

Jessica Dietrich is a senior at BSU and a member of Alpha Omicron Pi.

“It has pros and cons,” Dietrich said. “When you live with each other all the time, you start to get on each other’s nerves. So it’s nice because we can be together when we need to be, but we can also have our space.”

And because all the sororities are off-campus, Dietrich said there is a sense of equality among them, which creates a closer greek community.

“When you don’t live with your sisters, you meet other people,” Dietrich said. “And a lot of greeks are friends with other greeks who are not necessarily in their fraternity or sorority.”

But recruitment is difficult. At BSU, the Panhellenic Association rents convention centers and hotel rooms throughout Muncie to accommodate the crowds of women.

Dietrich said the process changes each year, and it is difficult because no one has one big location for the sisters and potential new members to meet.

Ruff said being off-campus is difficult because they are competing for new members against fraternities that have big houses.

“A lot of people come to college looking for that house, and that experience, and that’s what they’re looking to get out of a fraternity,” Ruff said.

IU’s PHA has not expanded to include more sororities since the late 1990s. Currently, there are seven chapters not on campus. Whether a chapter is housed or unhoused, the process for colonization is the same, requiring votes from IFC or PHA before it can be organized.

PHA president and junior Maggie Wittman said she likes that IU houses its greek chapters because of the sense of community living together creates. 

“I like my living situation,” Wittman said. “It allows me to grow close to my sisters and not just those in my pledge class. But living out of a sorority house forces you to make the extra effort to grow closer and really appreciate the time you have together.”

Ruff said Pi Kappa Alpha has a committee of members that helps find living arrangements that keep the brothers living together and close to each other. He said such arrangements are more cost-efficient than living in a single, big house. 

He also stresses the importance of getting involved. Though houses are important, valuable for pairings and recruitment, Ruff said the emphasis on being involved, going to events and excelling at other events gains attention.

“We’re trying to grow,” Ruff said. “We offer unique opportunities, and people interested in greek life should give off-campus fraternities a look, too.”