User:Corsulian/North American fraternity and sorority housing

North American fraternity and sorority housing refers largely to the houses or housing areas that fraternity and sorority members live and work together in. In addition to serving as housing, fraternity and sorority housing may also serve to host social gatherings, meetings, and functions that benefit the community.

History
The first fraternity house seems to have been from the Alpha Epsilon chapter of Chi Psi at the University of Michigan around 1942. As fraternity membership was punishable by expulsion at many colleges at this time, the house was located deep in the woods.

Fraternity chapter housing initially existed in two forms: lodges that served as meeting rooms and houses that had boarding rooms. The lodges came first and were largely replaced by houses with living accommodations. Lodges were often no more than rented rooms above stores or taverns. The idea of substantial fraternity housing caught on quickly but was accomplished with much greater ease in the north as southern college students had far less available money for construction. The first fraternity house in the south was likely one rented by members of Kappa Sigma at the University of Virginia from 1870 through 1871. Kappa Sigma was then the first fraternity to own a house in the south when, in 1882, its chapter at the University of the South acquired one.

Chapter houses for women's fraternities began when Alpha Phi erected one at Syracuse University in 1886.

Many colleges eventually came to support fraternity and sorority housing as they allowed increased enrollment without construction of costly dormitories. The nature of this benefit varied between campuses as some houses were paid for entirely by alumni, some were rented, and some were built on land leased from the college. It was further recognized that, while fraternities having chapter houses did not raise academic performance, it did have a tendency to keep it from falling as the chapters could not afford (financially) to have members leaving school and no longer paying for their rooms. The Inter-Sorority Congress of 1913 saw the establishment of uniform rules and regulations regarding life in chapter houses. The number of houses owned by fraternities and sororities grew from 772 in 1915 to 928 in 1920.

Unique among most campus organizations, members of social fraternities and sororities often live together in a large house or apartment complex. This can help emphasize the "bonds of brotherhood (or sisterhood)" and provide a place of meeting for the members of the organization as well as alumni. For reasons of cost, liability, and stability, housing is usually owned or overseen by an alumni corporation or the national headquarters of the fraternity or sorority. As a result, some houses have visitor restrictions, and some national organizations restrict or prohibit alcohol on the premises.

Design
Fraternity and sorority houses range in size from three to twenty bedrooms or more. They can usually be identified by large Greek letters or flags on the front of the house. The larger houses generally have a large meeting room and/or dining room, commercial kitchen and study room. There is usually a lounge of some sort, access to which is often restricted to fully initiated members. Fraternities and sororities will also often maintain a chapter room, to which only initiates may ever be admitted and even whose existence may be kept secret. The walls of the house may be decorated with pictures of past chapter events, awards and trophies, decorative (or historic) paddles, or composite photos of members from past years.

In some fraternities or sororities, only the representatives live in the houses while in others the entire fraternity or sorority may live in the house. Other, larger fraternities or sororities may have more than one house to house all of its members.

At many large universities, it is traditional for Greek organizations to enjoy the use of large, Victorian style mansions on campus.

Policies
Fraternity and sorority houses are typically owned either by a corporation of alumni, the sponsoring national organization, or the host college. For this reason, such houses may be subject to the rules of the host college, the national organization, or both.

Due to the increase in widely publicized alcohol-related deaths on college campuses, many national organizations and host colleges have implemented dry housing policies in which the consumption and possession of alcohol is prohibited on house property. Some colleges make this policy conditional on overall grade performance.

In addition to banning alcohol, many university-owned fraternity and sorority houses have smoking bans in place inside.

Because of residential requirements, some college campuses and national chapter administrations also prohibit members of the opposite sex on certain floors of fraternity and sorority houses.

Popular myths or misconceptions
For many years, a myth has pervaded on numerous college campuses that sororities are unable to have their own houses due to local "brothel laws." This is, despite any assertions of proof that is generally hearsay, completely false. There is additionally a long-standing rumor that the prevalence of bulimia in sororities has caused the plumbing systems of some sorority houses to be destroyed by the constant influx of stomach acids. While this is not impossible, there is no reported instance of this happening nor are there reliable figures on eating disorders within sororities versus any North American student population.