Delta Delta Delta members have the opportunity to live in University Terrace next year. Collegian File Photo.
ANNIE FAULKNER | STAFF REPORTER | aefaulkn@butler.edu
As construction and renovation plans are underway for Delta Delta Delta and Lambda Chi Alpha, both organizations have announced housing plans for the 2020-21 school year.
Delta Delta Delta
Active Tri Delta members will have the opportunity to live in the UT apartment complex during the 2020-21 school year. As plans continue for extensive renovations on the current Tri Delta house, the sorority has been working with Butler University Residence Life to provide a location for chapter members to live while the house is under construction.
Residence Life presented Tri Delta with a variety of options for potential housing opportunities. The chapter worked with Residence Life and came to the conclusion that the best option would be to reserve a clump of apartments in UT for the sorority.
It is possible that UT will be reserved solely for Tri Delta members, but that will be dependent on the number of members planning to live in the apartment complex. To have the whole building reserved for the sorority, upwards of 60 members would be needed to live there. Tri Delta has been in the process of surveying the chapter to assess how many members are planning on living in UT, which will determine how many apartments will be reserved for the sorority.
Claire Paciga, Tri Delta chapter president, has been working with the university to arrange the plans for Tri Delta members to live in UT.
“I think a lot of people are excited about it and hopefully they’ll look forward to living there,” Pacigca, a junior pharmacy major, said. “We’re working on finalizing the plans now.”
Tri Delta member Julia Shein is excited about the opportunities that living in UT will provide for the sorority.
“It’s kind of a perfect opportunity,” Shein, a sophomore elementary education major, said. “It’s only going to take a year to do the renovations [on the Tri Delta chapter house], and then afterwards we’re going to have a brand new house, so everything is working out timing-wise pretty well.”
The majority of Tri Delta members living in UT will be rising sophomores and juniors. This presents sophomore students with the unique opportunity to have a community dining plan, rather than the resident dining plan required for sophomores living in Fairview House, as the UT apartments include full kitchens.
While juniors will be able to opt out of a meal plan entirely, sophomores will still be required to have a dining plan. However, the community dining plans are significantly cheaper than the resident dining plans required for students living in dorm buildings. Resident dining plans cost $7,250 per academic year, while community dining plans range in price from $1,220 to $4,300.
“For sophomores it’s nice, if they want that experience where they don’t have to necessarily eat at A-Town every day,” Shein said.
While seniors have the option to live in UT, many seniors, including Paciga, will not be living in the apartments due to prior housing arrangements such as leasing a house off campus.
“I’m sure I’ll be there a lot anyways,” Paciga said.
Abby Lane, a current first-year who is planning to live in UT as a sophomore, said she is excited for the unique experience that this housing opportunity will provide.
“I think it gives a lot of girls in different pledge classes the opportunity to live in at the same time, so you get to build deeper relationships with girls that I don’t think you would with living in the house,” Lane, an elementary education major, said.
Tri Delt’s house renovations will be completed by Fall 2021.
Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha looks to rent Phi Kappa Psi house next year. Collegian File Photo.
While construction on the new Lambda Chi Alpha chapter house is scheduled to proceed, housing arrangements are being finalized for the fraternity for the 2020-21 school year. Lambda is in the process of renting the Phi Kappa Psi house, located at 810 W. Hampton Dr., next to the Alpha Phi sorority house. Though the agreement has not been finalized, contracts are in the process of being drafted.
If the plans go through, Lambda will be renting the house from the Phi Kappa Psi housing corporation. Although Phi Kappa Psi still owns the house, no members have lived there since the fraternity was kicked off campus in 2014.
Noah Ditzler, president of Lambda’s Alpha-Alpha Zeta chapter, has been working with representatives of Phi Psi to arrange the plans for the 2020-21 school year.
“Right now we’ll be working on getting everything that we need out of the agreement, everything that [Phi Kappa Psi] need[s],” Ditzler, a sophomore marketing major, said.
In order for the house to be suitable for Lambda Chi Alpha members, renovations on the house are underway. The majority of the renovations are aesthetic and will include updates on paint and carpeting. Additionally, the smoke detectors in the building need to be replaced. A house manager for Phi Psi is currently living in the house, but this staff member will move out if Lambda rents the property.
The Phi Kappa Psi house does not have a full kitchen, so Lambda Chi Alpha will not be hiring a cook, unlike other fraternity and sorority houses. Members living in the house will be required to have a resident dining plan through Butler Dining.
Will Hones, a Lambda Chi Alpha member, is looking forward to the opportunity of living in the Phi Kappa Psi house.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity for all of the guys,” Hones, a first-year accounting major, said.
Ditzler is working to ensure that Lambda Chi Alpha will treat the rental property well.
“This is a privilege,” Ditzler said. “We’re not entitled to this by any means, and therefore we should treat [the house] with respect.”
Lambda Chi Alpha’s new chapter house, which will be constructed on the former Tau Kappa Epsilon property, will be completed for the Fall 2021 semester.
