Fraternity and Sorority Housing Meeting Minutes
October 27th, 2005
I.
Introduction of reps
II.
Overview of previous committee work
a. Purpose of today: Talk about housing, where we are at, and what
happened from 2002 – 2004
 Already have site plans
 Not everyone liked the plans and the costs were too high
 In order to get the most affordable price range, the houses in the
original proposals needed to sleep no less than 18 students
 Organizations at that time were not strong enough to commit to
housing that many students for the ‘long haul’
b. Letters were sent to headquarters about continuing the project
c. President Catanese wants to re-visit the project and form a committee
III.
Other Housing Projects Successes
a. Houston
i. Approx 40 person houses
ii. ‘if we build it, they will come’ philosophy
iii. 4 out of 10 houses have their 3rd floors empty
1. charging organizations for extra cost
iv. Allowed chapters to customize their houses
1. drove price up
2. chapter can not fill the houses
v. Rule: pay rent whether or not you live in the house
b. USF
i. Lots of problems with policies
ii. Did not inform groups of the social rules about parties
iii. One group moving out therefore driving up the rent for others
c. Georgia Southern
i. Built with what groups could sustain at the time (15 beds)
ii. Now chapters have 100 members
iii. Chapters building off the row now
iv. Long-term lease of land chapters own house
d. Brenau
i. Slept 32 in houses
ii. 2 chapters did not fill and the chapters were billed for the empty
beds
iii. On-campus housing agreement
e. Elon
i. Looks like condos
ii. Have good relationship between school and organizations
iii. Have good security
iv. Do allow parties and alcohol in houses
1. rarely have a problem
2. sleep about 12
IV.
Current Status
a. EBI Survey
i. Fraternity & Sorority Task Force was created
ii. Compared what our students said with 6 schools like us and 26
other institutions
1. found our we are sig. below GPA at other school
2. we are below the mean on almost every factor
3. asked chapter Presidents to go back to their e-boards and
create a plan to increase results
b. Membership Numbers
i. Need a minimum number of organizations to commit to housing
project in order to get “best financial deal”, this minimum number
is yet to be determined.”
ii. Need numbers to go up
c. Organizational soundness
d. Developed HCB
How would we pay? Options discussed:
-
University could collect rent from individual students
University could collect rent from the organizations
Need to look closely at the pro’s and con’s of each option before making a decision.

Would it be possible to own the house or part of the house that is on the
University’s land?
o The university could not use tax free bonds and give the chapters equity
o Problems arise when a chapter falls below numbers or is closed
o Most headquarters does not want to own the houses, even though the
chapters think they do

Expectations during the summer
o Financial obligation will be for 12 months, during the summer the
organizations possible “subletting” may be discussed or may pay 12
month rent in 9 months
V.
Action Plan
a. Timeline Development
i. Formed a committee who will develop a timeline of when things
need to be done
Zach Nelson
Heather Sommers
Jay McNeely
Tom Schuler
Randy St. Romain II
Loren Strand
b. Chapter Action Items
i. Develop a template for organizations to look at where groups are at
ii. Gives you a good idea of where you need to be
iii. Do individually with Advisor and collegiate member
iv. Need to come up with a timeline for chapters
VI.
Current Plans
a. Recruitment Boot Camp
i. November 12, all day
ii. Proven to increase recruitment numbers
1. up to 25% on a campus
b. Strengthen the governing councils
c. Recruitment Publication included fraternities this year
d. Expansion
i. ATO is coming in the spring to colonize
ii. Interested in having housing on campus