Department of Residence Life

Helpful Information About Greek Housing

A Little Bit of Background

With the exception of Theta Chi, all of the Greek houses at Susquehanna are located on University Avenue. The houses are owned by the university and treated like a series of small residence halls. The tradition of granting free-standing houses to fraternities and sororities is a very long one and spans virtually every college campus in America. The purpose is to provide the organizations with the opportunity to have members live near each other and in a location that allows for regular meetings, work sessions, resource centers, etc.

Who decides who will live in the houses?

The organization itself is responsible for making that decision. In February, the president of each group receives a packet of materials (a floor plan, instructions, etc.) from the Office of Residence Life. These materials should be completed and returned to Residence Life by February 29, 2008.

Does it cost more to live in the single room?

Yes, there is an extra charge of no less than $400 per semester to live in the single room.

Is it true that Greeks can’t be released to live off campus if their house isn’t full?

Not anymore! The Office of Residence Life and the Greek Advisor recently reevaluated this practice and created a new process for filling the beds in Greek houses. The new plan, “The 3 Tier Plan”, was presented to the presidents and house managers during the fall semester. Here’s how it works:

First your organization fills the house with members that volunteer to live there or those that are required to under the organization’s by-laws.
If the house is not full at this point, the 3 Tier Plan tells which member(s) are next in line to live in the house.

Tier One: by pledge class, starting with the most recent
Tier Two: by class year within pledge class, starting with the youngest
Tier Three: by cumulative GPA at the time of the housing lottery

So here’s an example. Let’s say a sorority has one empty bed in their house. The first sisters that would be in line to fill the space are the members of the most recent pledge class. In this example, let’s say that the Spring 2008 class is the most recent. Now let’s say that there are 9 members of the pledge class. But we only need one so then we look to the sisters in that pledge class that are the youngest by class year. Let’s say there are four women in the pledge class that are first-semester sophomores and there is nobody that is in a lower class year. Again, since we only need one of them, we go to the last criteria which is cumulative GPA at the time of the decision. So, of the four remaining women, the one with the lowest GPA is the sister that will fill the empty space in the house.

In this way, there isn’t a person or group that has to choose who will fill the vacancy. It’s simply a matter of determining who is next in line. The only exceptions to this would be for students that are RAs, students that have a disability that is not accommodated by the house or students that will be abroad the semester that they would live in the house.

For more information, see the president of your organization.