Scott BresslerAlthough in past years fraternities at Washington University have encountered problems filling their houses, this year fraternity houses have generally seen greater occupancy. At the same time, this year Beta Theta Pi is having difficulties filling its house.
At 38 spaces, Beta has the largest house to fill. Other fraternity houses range from 18 slots, in Theta Xi, to 33 spots, in Sigma Alpha Mu. According to Assistant Vice Chancellor Jill Carnaghi, this year, two of the fraternities are at over 100 percent of space filled and four are at 100 percent capacity.
“This is by far the best year we have ever had. Members of chapters have set clear expectations in their by-laws,” said Carnaghi.
According to the Greek Life Office (GLO), Beta did not reach its minimum housing quota this year by March 27, the deadline for submitting fraternity housing contracts. GLO policies require that by that deadline, a fraternity house must be filled to 93 percent capacity.
According to Jessica Gendron, coordinator for Greek housing programs, GLO sets policies for housing occupancy but does not force students to live in Greek housing and it is the fraternity’s responsibility to fill the house.
Marius Johnson, vice president of operations of Beta, said that in the past more fraternity members chose to live in the fraternity house, but in recent years there has been a trend of members choosing to live elsewhere.
“I really think it is more of a cultural shift in terms of Wash. U.,” he said. “This is not just in terms of Beta, it’s that brothers in general have chosen to take a different path.”
Gendron said that this is the first time that Beta has struggled to fill its house. Greek Life is actively working with Beta to resolve the problem.
“Once [Beta’s] leadership became aware that they wouldn’t be able to meet their occupancy requirements, they really worked with Greek Life to talk about what some of the options were,” said Ronald Laue, interim director of Greek Life. “We’re still having those conversations.”
“We are dealing with this as a chapter,” said Johnson. “It is really an internal matter.”
If Beta cannot reach the 93 percent housing minimum, the fraternity faces substantial financial penalties.
“We’re working with the fraternity to figure out a way to make their house full or close to full so that they don’t have to pay exorbitant empty bed fees,” said Gendron.
For every bed below 93 percent capacity that is not filled a $2,000 penalty is imposed. With this year’s freshman class having caused a housing crunch with Residential Life, Laue said that it is important for the fraternity houses to be as filled as possible.
“The goal is to make sure that the frat houses are filled. Residential Life has a space crunch as well, so we try and make sure that our houses are as filled as possible to help them out,” said Laue. “Any house can have non-members live there, but that’s not an ideal situation. We leave that choice up to the chapter, though.”
Having several houses at or above 100 percent this year has been a boon for Reslife.
“When we get the frat house at 100 percent or above, for each member that lives there, that frees up Reslife space. This has a bearing on the entire housing situation,” added Carnaghi.
Beta President Phil Sholts said that the fraternity would not force members into living in the house.
“We’re handling this as a brotherhood, but by no means would we force people to live in the house,” he said.
Beta’s difficulties are not the first time a Washington University fraternity has had difficulty meeting its quota.
“Over time we have different fraternities that struggle to fill their house for various reasons, partially because of how much they market it throughout the year living in the fraternity houses as an option, or low membership number,” said Gendron.
Another fraternity that had a similar problem last year is Kappa Sigma.
According to sophomore Glenn Laatsch, grand scribe of Kappa Sigma, the fraternity encountered difficulties filling its house.
“We have some of the smallest doubles on campus and faced with the choice between living here in the house or in ResLife, most members choose Residential Life housing,” said Laatsch. “Last year a lot of people had to make sacrifices to live in the house so that we wouldn’t be faced with penalties.”
To avert the problem, the fraternity had to take a new approach during its rush week.
“We focused our rush efforts on getting a group of guys during rush that would be willing to live in the house. Our new members realize that they gain something by living in the house together,” said Laatsch. “A lot of it falls to the new members. They haven’t lived in the house before and it falls to them to step up.”
-Additional reporting by Erin Fults, Sam Guzik and Mandy Silver