Sorority Housing Debated

Which is more unfair: exclusive housing that favors men, or housing that treats men and women equally - but is still exclusive?

This is the debate currently circulating through the Kenyon community: students, faculty and members of the Greek Council and Senate have opinions on whether or not the College, and more specifically Residential Life, should grant permanent "division" housing to Kenyon's four sororities. Kenyon already reserves space on South Campus for fraternity division housing, including housing for its two co-ed Greek organizations, the Archon Society and Peeps o' Kenyon. Sororities are the only Greek organizations that must apply for special interest housing every year.

According to Jessica Marroquin '12 of Theta Delta Phi, "[The policy] is sexist and even if division housing is unequal … it needs to include women." The Theta sorority is one of four that recently drafted a formal proposal requesting permanent sorority division housing by spring 2010. Members of Theta Delta Phi, Epsilon Delta Mu, Zeta Alpha Pi and Nu Iota Alpha co-wrote and co-signed the proposal that demands "the right to permanent division housing."

According to the proposal, "The current housing model is fundamentally discriminatory towards all-female organizations and must be modified in order to attain gender equality on campus." Because every fraternity and co-ed Greek organization on campus has housing security from year-to-year, the sororities' precarious housing situation is unfair, according to the proposal.

Alex Kaplan '11 of Alpha Delta Phi said of the debate: "It's hypocritical to not give [sororities] housing because by denying them housing we're denying them a really legitimate claim to being on campus. In doing so we're denying them real status. So to let fraternities have it and not sororities is really hypocritical." According to a survey sent out by Independent Representative to Campus Senate Gavin McGimpsey '11, most students are in favor of the change. "People were generally in favor of giving sororities housing: they see it as an equality issue," he said. "If we're not going to get rid of division housing entirely, and that's by no means on the table, the issue is, 'Do we want this to be equitable?' and the [students'] answer was, 'Yes.'"

Campus Senate has considered the sororities' proposal in its past few meetings. Dal Burton '10, president of Greek Council, said of the future of the proposal: "There's going to be a vote before the housing lottery and hopefully before the division placement. There are ongoing discussions and the Senate wants to make sure they go about this very methodically."

In the meantime, everyone from independent students to professors has been weighing in. According to President S. Georgia Nugent, Professor of English Kim McMullen and Professor of Psychology Sarah Murnen spoke to Campus Senate about their opposition to housing that promotes gender segregation and said they would be against giving division housing to sororities. Additionally, Nugent said that Vice President for Student Life Laura Snoddy '11 created a survey for independent students to express their views on the issue. Snoddy, using the results of McGimpsey's survey of independent students, said that only 14 percent of students were opposed to sorority division housing, while an overwhelming 76 percent were in favor of it.

Among other issues, the proposal suggests that lack of permanent housing inhibits sororities' ability to develop a lasting tradition using decorations: "Inhabitants of division housing are permitted to decorate their residence with paintings and murals that, over time, develop historic significance, promote group unity and connect the group to their space in a meaningful way," it states.

"Because sororities are not afforded the same location year to year, similar decorations are considered defacement of Kenyon property and are thus not permitted," Alicia Johnston '11 of Epsilon Delta Mu said. "I think it'd be really valuable for us to have a space of our own. … We [can] use that space to make campus [a] more welcoming place, not only for our organization, but to serve the community." Although fraternities have to clear out their spaces each year, the Delta Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Delta Phi lounges in the basement of Old Kenyon are painted with permanent decorations, something sororities, who could be moved from year to year, cannot have in their living spaces.

The proposal concludes that: "If fraternities are not to lose their division housing, the most reasonable solution is to grant such privileges to women. Providing sororities permanent division housing, would … challenge the current, unacceptable status quo. The more social control women are granted on campus, the more equitable the balance of social power." This very issue, however - that of social power - is the crux of the debate between many Kenyon faculty members and the sororities themselves.

According to McMullen, "There is a problem of housing on campus and it's a problem of fair housing. … I don't see the issue in terms of sorority housing; I see it in terms of fair housing. Where my personal response to the situation differs from the sororities' opinion is that I don't think the solution they've proposed makes fair housing policy." McMullen and 27 other professors drafted a letter to Nugent, Chair of the Faculty and Associate Professor of History Jeff Bowman and other prominent members of the Kenyon community requesting "a systematic internal and external evaluation of the student housing system at Kenyon" before any changes are made to the current division housing situation.

McMullen said, "[The current system] extends a privilege that's now held by a small minority to another small minority and so therefore it doesn't solve the problem of unfair housing for other women on campus and for other men on campus who aren't members of these exclusive groups." She said she believes, like the other professors who co-signed the letter, that the fundamentally unequal housing system must be rectified before Campus Senate discusses making a change to division housing policy. "I think it's premature to make a decision about [division housing] because I think until there's a systematic evaluation of the housing situation … it doesn't necessarily address larger issues and it might, in fact, close off the possibility of addressing those larger issues," she said.