SORORITY, FRATERNITY, AND FALCON LIVING
BGSU unveils campus homes for Greek life
8/12/2016
The new Greek Village will be home to 33 chapters this fall. The housing, which is university owned, along Wooster Street has quadrangles, interior walkways, gathering spaces, and a promenade.
THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH
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BOWLING GREEN — A new Greek village will house 33 sororities and fraternities this semester at Bowling Green State University, continuing the university’s longstanding commitment to campus Greek life.
The 33 new townhouses vary between homes with four, 12, and 18 beds. During an open house Thursday, visitors toured the future home of Delta Theta Sigma, a four-person sorority house; Pi Kappa Phi, a 12-person fraternity house, and an 18-person townhouse that will accommodate fraternity and sorority student overflow.
“Any fraternities and sororities that are living on campus at BGSU are living here in our new village,” said Sarah Waters, the university’s director of residence life.
All houses are university owned. The university has owned its fraternity and sorority housing since the 1940s, Ms. Waters said, and ”wanted to continue that.”
“Our alumni expect it,” she said. “And we know that Greek life, in general, brings a lot of leadership and philanthropy to the campus.”
The project cost $32.7 million and is funded by Residence Life auxiliary reserves and bonds, which will be paid back by room-rental income. Project planning began in 2009 and took two years for build.
As part of on-campus housing, any single room in the Greek village costs $3,775 per semester, and a double room costs $3,225 per person. Parlor rent for chapter meetings is $6,000 a year for the 12-person houses and $9,000 a year for the 18-person houses.
“The new Greek housing has all the modern conveniences that the current students look for,” said Michael Schuessler, senior project manager for BGSU. “The wireless activity that goes on in a chapter is much more than it used to be.”
Mr. Schuessler said each house is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, including an elevator in each two-story building.
Chapters got to pick between beige and gray color palettes, kitchen cabinets, and carpet. University chapters spent $550,000 of their individual funds on upgrades like flooring, crown molding, and countertops.
Sorority and fraternity housing had been spread across campus, though some stood on the new village’s Wooster Street location. Trees from the old courtyards were kept, Ms. Waters said, lining new quads and walkways.
Sarah Waggoner, who lived in the old Chi Omega house, said she “really liked the old houses — they were really homey,” but she agreed the time had come for new housing.
“One year, our house flooded just because it had old pipes,” the 2016 BGSU graduate said.
“It looks great,” said senior Alexis Decker of Kalida, Ohio, who lived in the BGSU dorms but is not in a sorority. “They’re really similar to the dorms, just bigger.”
An 18-person house, the most common in the village, is 6,100 square feet and designed for chapters with 70-80 members. Those have four single and seven double bedrooms.
Ms. Waters said the Greek population at Bowling Green accounts for about 15 percent of the student body.
Josh Lawrie, assistant director for housing assignments, said community assistants, similar to a resident assistant, will live throughout the village.
The Khulin Center, BGSU’s new home for media and communications, also will open for the Aug. 24 start of classes, as will a new career center and a new bookstore.
Contact Janet Stengle at: jstengle@theblade.com, 419-724-6194, or on Twitter @janetstengle.