Daily Collegian - Frat boarding: Housing provides alternative to residence halls, apartments

Frat boarding: Housing provides alternative to residence halls, apartments

Students who believe paradise comes with a big house, meals prepared by a cook, and parties may enjoy living as a boarder in a fraternity.

Fraternity housing is an option to residence hall and apartment living, said Dona M. DeNaro, member of the Organization for Town Independent Students. Fraternities usually offer boarders a semester lease, prepared meals and an atmosphere with many people, DeNaro said.

Bill Sullivan (junior-finance) has boarded at Zeta Psi fraternity, 225 E. Foster Ave., since Fall Semester 1985 and paid $1,375 a semester for room and board and social privileges, which allows boarders to attend house parties and formals.

Social privileges and a close location to campus are two conveniences he said he has as a boarder, adding that he could not think of any drawbacks to living as a boarder at the fraternity.

"They have an outdoor pool," Sullivan said, adding that, when the weather was warmer "it was like staying over at the Hilton."

Sullivan said the cost to stay and eat in the residence halls is about the same as the cost to stay at Zeta Psi, but the fraternity offers more conveniences than the residence halls in addition to tasty meals.

Sullivan said he enjoys having a cook prepare his meals, which he could not enjoy if he were living in an apartment.

The "inconvenience of cooking is not too bad but it's the cleaning up" and washing dishes that Sullivan said he dislikes about living in an apartment.

Stephen Lesko, secretary of Zeta Psi, said many of the fraternity's eight boarders are not interested in the house social events and rarely come between the unity of the fraternity brothers — unity is stressed in the fraternity system.

Boarders help with house duties, but sometimes present problems, Pi Lambda Phi President Joe Mellon said.

"They are sometimes an obstacle to work around because of fraternity ceremonies," Mellon said.

The fraternity must be sure boarders leave the house and do not return until the ceremony is over, Mellon said.

His fraternity, at 321 Fraternity Row, now boards seven people who each pay less than $1,300 a semester for room, board and social privileges.

DeNaro said since each fraternity decides the specific by-laws boarders must follow, students should ask both past boarders and current fraternity members about quiet hours, meal regulations and the lease before agreeing to live in the house.

Alex Spencer, president of Tau Epsilon Phi, 328 E. Foster Ave., said his fraternity has three boarders who are each charged $800 for a room, $475 for food and an optional $125 social fee.

Boarders are prohibited to enter one room of the house, which is used only by the fraternity members for meetings and ceremonies, Spencer said.

Philip R. Clark, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, said because his fraternity house, 524 Locust Lane, has 41 of the 56 members living there, the fraternity doesn't have boarders.

In the past Sigma Phi Epsilon has taken in boarders who tended not to care about the the house as much as fraternity members, Clark said.

David Ferro, president of Theta Chi fraternity, also said his house has boarders only when the fraternity, 523 S. Allen St., has a low membership and members agree that they want boarders.

Ferro said the house will have 41 members for Fall Semester 1986 and most of the house rooms will be occupied.

Ken Krieger, Interfraternity Council administrative vice-president, said the University administration, the IFC and individual fraternities have an unwritten agreement stipulating that women are not boarded in fraternities during the academic year.

Women board in fraternities only during the summer when fraternities operate as boarding houses and not officially as fraternities, Krieger said.

Mary Pickens, president of the Panhellenic Council, said University sororities do not board students because the sororities have been located traditionally in residence halls.

When sorority membership is low, the University housing and food service office assigns open room spaces to students who are not members of the sorority.