ATO, Acacia houses rank high

Alpha Tau Omega and Acacia were both recognized on a list of The 30 Best Frat Houses in the United States published by BroBible.com on Jan. 21.

BroBible is a men’s lifestyle site covering topics ranging from entertainment to sports. It is based out of New York and specifically caters to college-aged men. The site describes itself as the “ultimate destination for Bros.”

In order to put this list together, BroBible asked its readers to submit pictures of fraternities they thought were the best in the country.

“We put out the call for submissions back in December,” said Andy Moore, assistant editor for BroBible. “We got about 60 or 70, and we went from there. The bulk of the houses on the list were chosen from emails we received.”

The criteria when deciding which houses to place on the list were based solely on the physical properties of the house and the architectural history of the design of the fraternity.

“It’s not scientific. We factored it on how cool the house was, how unique it was architecturally, its history,” Moore said. “A good chunk of it was the case these guys made for their house. We received some really funny emails from people pitching their houses to us.”

Acacia was No. 13 on the list of 30, although they have not been an active fraternity on IU’s campus since last May. BroBible was not aware that Acacia had lost their charter when putting the list together, Moore said.

“The list is solely based on the physical houses and the quality of the emails we received, which is why we didn’t really look into the social goings-on of the fraternities,” Moore said.

Although Acacia has been unoccupied this academic year, the building will gain new tenants this fall when Phi Sigma Kappa moves into the house.

“We have a special appreciation for it since we’ve spent the last two years without a fraternity house,” Phi Sigma Kappa President Matt Cotton said. “It’s just going to be a cool and new experience to not only live in a fraternity house, but one of the best fraternity houses that there is.”

ATO President Aaron Placzek said they are grateful for the opportunity to live in a fraternity house that is ranked one of the best in the nation. This is the first year in the last two years that ATO has lived in a fraternity house.

“Two years before this, Delta Chi was in the house, because we didn’t have enough members who were able to live in the house,” Placzek said. “We couldn’t fill the house, because there was a membership review and a lot of members were kicked out. We didn’t have enough people to fill it until this year.”

ATO has transitioned from not having a physical fraternity house to living in the ninth best house ranked by BroBible.

“When I first saw the list, I was really proud to see our house on there, because we always take pride in its beauty,” Placzek said. “The fact that we are able to live in there for the first time in two years is such an honor. And now to be able to say we live in one of the top 10 most beautiful houses, there is even more pride. I was surprised, but at the same time I kind of knew that it was a beautiful house and deserved to be up there.”

There are many reasons that ATO was placed in the top 10 on the list. Aside from its architectural uniqueness, the house also has a long history on IU’s campus.

“I think part of it was how it looked,” Placzek said. “It has a very unique Tudor style that’s especially unique on our campus. I think another thing is some of the history of the house. There was a John Mellencamp MTV commercial filmed in the house in the 1980s.”

Cotton said while the architectural history and uniqueness of a fraternity house are important to its presence on campus, that is not the most important factor of being in a fraternity.

“We’ve certainly understood the importance of not focusing on a fraternity house and focusing on the brotherhood,” Cotton said. “You certainly don’t join a fraternity simply because of the structure they live in. In addition to getting this brotherhood, you get to live in this great house that has a lot of history and is a landmark on campus. We see that as a bonus.”