In an attempt to draw more students into Greek Life housing, the occupancy requirements for fraternity houses at Washington University will be increased from 93 percent to 95 percent of each house’s ideal level of occupancy.

The expectation is that houses have 100 percent occupancy, but if any chapters fail to meet the minimum requirement, they will be fined by the administration.

The goal of the change is that by having more students living in the fraternity houses, there will be less strain on Residential Life housing, which will be limited by upcoming construction on the South 40.

Each chapter house on the Danforth Campus houses 19 to 38 men, said Director of Greek Life Ryan-Jasen Henne. As a result, each chapter has a different experience in trying to fill the house.

“[It] all depends on the number of men in the chapter and the size of the house that they live in,” said Henne.

The Inter-Fraternity Council works with the small number of fraternities that have difficulties filling their houses, to help them improve their numbers.

Some fraternities on campus require members to live in the house for a designated period of time to meet these requirements, while others do not. For instance, Beta Theta Pi fraternity members must live in the house for a year, while members of Sigma Phi Epsilon can choose whether or not to live in the house at all.

Beta does not usually have any difficulty filling its house, said Beta President Marius Johnson, as “everybody has to live in the house for a year so it’s just a matter of managing when they live there.”

As a means of enforcing the occupancy standards, if fraternity members choose to live elsewhere on campus rather than living in the fraternity house when they have the opportunity to do so, the students are dropped to the lowest level of the bidding process for Residential Life housing, the administrative round.

The University loses money on every room that is left unoccupied, which leaves the administration with less budget money to spend on improving the fraternity houses.

To many students, the decision to live in the fraternity houses is one that they do not regret.

“Living in the house is one of the greatest experiences that you can have,” said sophomore Slavi Fildish, a member of Sig-Ep.

According to Fildish, he has truly become “brothers” with all of the other men living in the house.

Some students choose not to live in the fraternity houses because they perceive the arrangement as a distraction from the academic demands of the school. These students are in the minority, however, as most students say that living in the house has made them more disciplined with their schoolwork and with other obligations.

“You can’t just sit around and be lazy if you want to live in the house,” says senior David Kurland. “You learn how to better manage your time and how to be organized with your class work, which are very valuable skills for anyone to gain.”

Having a fraternity house is seen as a privilege, and the idea behind the occupancy requirements is to force fraternity members to take advantage of these benefits.

According to Henne, “A fraternity house is an awesome place to be. You become extremely close with the other guys living there because you have the same rituals to back you up.”

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