Four fraternities will have new on-campus accommodations next year, amid continuing discussions of Greek housing at the College of William and Mary.
The Chi Phi, Phi Kappa Tau, Sigma Pi and Theta Delta Chi fraternities will move into the Ludwell Apartments beginning in the fall of 2010. The organizations will occupy buildings 204, 402, 604 and 700.
Director of Residence Life Deb Boykin said that the change would not affect non-fraternity students.
“All students who paid the $200 room reservation deposit are fully eligible to participate in the room selection process,” she said. “Had these men not been assigned to spaces in Ludwell, they would have selected other spaces on campus. Their being in the process did not increase the number of students who were wait-listed, as the same number of spaces are available.”
Boykin said that the move is due to the inability of smaller fraternities to meet the required occupancy level, not to an overcrowding in the units.
“Each unit in the fraternity complex houses 36 residents,” she said. “Chapters must fill 90 percent of the beds with at least 80 percent of the occupants being members of the chapter. Individual chapters have struggled to fill a 36-bed unit.”
Chapters with fewer members requested to transfer to other on-campus locations last spring. Boykin said that other proposed buildings included Chandler Hall, Jefferson Hall and the Bryan Complex, and were met with little interest by the Council for Fraternity Affairs and individual chapters.
“We also offered [fraternities] the option of sharing a fraternity complex unit, like Kappa Alpha and Delta Chi are doing,” Boykin said. “No other chapters were interested in sharing a unit.”
Boykin said that Ludwell is the only complex set to change next year, and that Reslife believes it will be the only building affected in the future. She also said that the College has started planning for the construction of new fraternity housing to accommodate about 200 residents.