The term sorority house immediately conjures up the quintessential Greek Revival house of huge white pillars, dozens of large paned windows, and thousands of red bricks. While it is true that many sorority houses look like that, there is actually a wide variety of housing styles used by sororities across the country.
Traditional Sorority House
The traditional sorority house is a larger house that is either owned by the national sorority, the national house corporation, or a local house corporation. The house usually has multiple living rooms, a kitchen, large dining room, study rooms, and a significant number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The house may also have a private chapter room for meetings and an exercise room. Traditional sorority houses can house the entire chapter or only part of the chapter depending on the campus and the membership of the sororities.
Some campuses have a Greek Park or other specially designated area on campus where all sorority houses are built together. The land is usually owned by the university and rented to the sororities. The sororities own the houses that they build on the university land. In some instances, the universities build the houses and rent them to the sororities. In any of these situations, the university has a vested interest in the sorority housing either through the land or house.
Sorority Suites
On some campuses, sororities have suites in buildings owned by the university. The suites include large rooms where sororities can have chapter meetings, initiations, and recruitment events. The suites are decorated by the sororities, usually in the colors of the sororities.
Sorority suites do not include any bedrooms so all chapter members live in either university housing or off campus. Suites provide the sororities a place to gather, but do not provide the same kind of community living opportunities afforded by a traditional sorority house.
Sorority Wings
At some colleges and universities, sororities are given a wing in a residence hall. The sorority members all live together on designated floors in the same wing. These arrangements are made by the university.
While less ideal than a traditional sorority house, sorority wings provide more opportunities for community than the sorority suites. The women have the opportunity to live in close proximity even through they are not in a sorority house. This option is sometimes utilized on campuses where there is insufficient room to build sorority houses or the administration prefers to keep the sorority members on campus and more directly under their control and supervision.
Sorority Lodges
Some sororities have lodges. These are usually regular family houses that have been purchased by the sorority and are used by the membership. A small number of women will live in the lodge, oftentimes the president and other senior officers. Lodges provide a place for the sorority to call home and often are found on campuses where the sorority membership numbers are much smaller.
Lodges are not used extensively by most National Panhellenic Conference sororities. Although they do provide a sorority home, they are limited in what they have to offer and so are not preferred by most groups. Lodges should not be confused with annexes which are houses located near a traditional sorority house that are used to house additional members that will not fit in the main sorority house.
Sorority housing can vary greatly from campus to campus. Although most sorority women would prefer to have a traditional sorority house, many chapters utilize sorority suites, sorority wings, and sorority lodges. In each case, the sisters make the most of the housing available to them in order to enhance their collegiate sorority experience.
Sallie Schaaf Borrink - Sallie Borrink is a professional writer with extensive experience with business clients, the consumer market, and online destinations.
