Return to campus proves difficult for greek houses

Fifteen years ago, sorority Alpha Omicron Pi and fraternity Beta Theta Pi sat nestled on the corner of 10th and Woodlawn in the buildings that now house the School of Informatics and Computing. Throughout time, for very different reasons, they left campus, recolonized and started anew.

With recruitment around the corner, chapter’s statuses, reputations and living accommodations are more prominent.

“Being kicked off (or leaving) campus is one the hardest things for a fraternity or sorority,” AOPi president and senior Kacey Bourdage said. “When you take someone’s house away, you kinda take away their identity.”

AOPi left voluntarily in 1996. Several other sororities had left campus the year before, and Bourdage said the sorority’s international headquarters did not think IU’s chapter — or the system overall — was a healthy one. The sorority built a new house and moved back in 2000.

“It’s overwhelming. You’re starting from square one,” Bourdage said. “There are a lot of details that go into it. It’s very time consuming.”

By the time Bourdage pledged her freshman year, in 2008, she said the house had a presence on campus, but there were a lot of things that were still unorganized — the sorority still felt “new.”

Since then, Bourdage said the women have tried to build up the house’s reputation, and it finally feels like it is established.

Though the women of AOPi continue to work hard, Bourdage said being kicked off and having returned is no longer a major piece of the sorority’s identity.

Beta’s outgoing president, junior Matt Edwards, said the re-building process is still in the minds of all members.

The fraternity, originally kicked off for a variety of factors in 2001, returned in 2003 and built a new house in 2007.

“There were a few alumni who saw this as an opportunity to bring the chapter back as it should be,” Edwards said. “We have had a good advisory system.”

Edwards said the founding fathers were really involved in campus-wide activities, which still influences the type of person Beta recruits.

“(The founding fathers) were really passionate about bringing those values to a fraternity that had been so strong,” Edwards said. “We were the first fraternity on campus.”

He described the recolonization process, and how much Beta has accomplished in five years, as “a night and day difference.”

“It doesn’t take much to get kicked off,” Edwards said. “If our members didn’t believe in our principles and continue to believe in our principles, we wouldn’t be where we are today. You have to be thinking long-term.”

Across the street from Beta sits a vacant plot of land. Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon owns it and is waiting to raise enough money and pledge members to build a new house.

In 2002, SAE was kicked off for hazing and alcohol violations. Shortly after the fraternity moved off campus, the house was destroyed in a fire.

“While other fraternities are focusing more on things like risks, that is less of my concern,” outgoing SAE president Alex Garrison said. “I really had to focus on marketing our chapter to alumni and improve those relations.”

Garrison said the fraternity has a tentative timeline for when it will move back on campus. SAE is one of the biggest off-campus fraternities with 50 active members, but Garrison said it will be difficult to continue to expand without a central location.

“A lot of our younger members realize there is a lot of work to get the house on track,” Garrison said. “Until we get that house back, we will continue to work hard. Once people are living it, I wouldn’t be surprised if we became really influential.”