The Office of Residential Life is considering the purchase of five properties from the College's Real Estate Office, two of which could become new physical plants for Alpha Xi Delta and Alpha Phi sororities. The properties -- located on East Wheelock, North Park Street and South Park Street -- may also be used to house an eighth sorority, which could appear on campus next year.
The purchases are due, in part, to the efforts of a working group convened by Dean of the College Tom Crady and Student Assembly President Travis Green '08 to address additional social space on campus, according Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman. Crady and Green formed the working group in the wake of the College's January announcement that a group of alumni of the Dartmouth chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity will reinstate its fraternity on the campus, forcing AZD to vacate its residence on Webster Avenue, which they rented from the group, at the end of this academic year.
The residences could also be used to house senior societies or other campus groups, Redman said. They may also be converted into upperclassmen apartment housing following the College's February announcement that it would offer housing to 100 fewer seniors next year.
"I could just use more bed space," Redman said. "Just to make them available for more beds -- for me, that's a victory for students."
Redman was not certain whether ORL would purchase the properties at once or over an extended period of time, he said. If the decision to purchase the properties is made, Redman said, AZD and Alpha Phi would likely be able to move in within two years.
"I'm assuming out of this group of five, we'll decide upon at least two," Redman said. "It's hard for me to determine what they might all be used for."
Looking for a residence to house a new sorority would "make sense," Redman said, indicating that he believes an additional sorority is likely to appear on campus in the next few years.
The Panhellenic Council has recently discussed expanding the College's sorority system to include a new national Panhellenic sorority, according to Kate Robb '08, chair of Panhell. These discussions have grown out of concerns about the large size of the sororities currently on campus, Robb said. Many of Dartmouth's existing sororities have between 120 and 150 members.
"Ideally I think that, while everyone loves their house, everyone feels like they'd have a very different feel if class sizes were smaller," Robb said. "Expansion is a possibility in the near future, and we'd like to explore that."
If the College decides to bring another sorority to the campus, efforts will likely begin after recruitment in fall 2009, according to Deb Carney, director of coed, fraternity and sorority administration. At that time, a group of female students interested in joining the new organization would examine 26 Panhellenic sororities to choose one to bring to campus.
"If it's agreed that expansion is to happen, we'd want it quicker rather than slower," Robb said. "In the next few years I'd hope there would be another organization."
The new properties might also be used to house Dartmouth members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., a historically black sorority which will return to campus during the spring or fall of 2008, Redman said. He added, however, that the size of AKA's membership would determine where they are housed, noting that traditionally, racially affiliated Greek organizations have had low membership rates at the College.
ORL's decision to look at properties owned by the Real Estate Office, Redman said, reflects the limited property available in areas near to campus.
ORL recently presented a list of the five properties to members of AZD and Alpha Phi who were invited to rank their preferences, Redman said. Properties at 25 and 27 South Park Street, which the College previously announced would house the sororities, were deemed too small -- each residence could house only seven members -- and too removed from campus to be viable housing options.
The new properties under consideration are all closer to campus and more spacious than the previous offerings, Redman said. Several of the houses could hold somewhere between 15 and 20 students, Redman estimated, and one might house as many as 30 or 36, which is likely too large to house a sorority, Redman said.
"Our sisterhood is pleased with the progress that has been made, and we are looking forward to the future, both in the short and long term," Julia Schwartz '08, a representative of AZD, said of the potential properties.
ORL has not officially purchased the properties at 25 and 27 South Park from the Real Estate Office, Redman said, and will return the properties if they are not used by AZD, Alpha Phi or any other group.
Architects from the College will examine the five new properties in the coming weeks to determine their viability for residence. Several of the properties may need significant renovation in order to house students and be aligned with building and residence codes, he said.
"If it turns out that any of those properties are capable of meeting the programming objectives, then the earnest conversation will come in as to how we pay for that," Redman said.
Because the properties are currently owned by the Real Estate Office and therefore are part of the College's endowment, ORL would need to at least match the market value of the houses in order to avoid a loss for the College. The necessary renovations, Redman said, are also a significant expense which would need to be covered.
