Kelli Carter ~ Staff Writer
On Monday, Oct. 14, 2019, the Office of Housing and Residence Life at the University of Lynchburg conducted an open discussion on housing concerns with the members of the Greek life community on campus.
The main objective of the meeting was to understand why the Greek houses were designated as such and if those allocations were in jeopardy.
Some students voiced concerns they had with their homes, while others focused on the need to keep these Greek houses because they are a centralized hub for each of these organizations.
Austin Ayers, president of Phi Kappa Tau said, “ I feel like the meeting was needed but at the same time we do have many issues with our house. We put in our issues, but they do not get fixed. I feel like this is one of the reasons why people would not want to live in our house, due to the issues we have but we make do. We are very grateful for Residence Life for listening to us.”
While Gretta Simons who is a member of Kappa Delta and on council for the organization said, “I feel like if we got rid of the houses it would be very hard to keep Greek life on campus. The houses are a hub for us to go as a safe space but also they get used for recruitment events.”
Simons also said, “I know for our house we have a certain people who are supposed to live there and that helps us a lot to keep our numbers in the house. I feel like this can also help other Greek life make sure that they have a certain amount of people in their houses.”
Jennifer Hall a sister of Alpha Sigma Alpha said, “ We do not have a set system for our housing but I feel like the system could be very helpful and help us not worry as much about meeting housing requirements. I also felt that this meeting was very insightful for us to understand what other organizations are going through. I feel like it brought us together.”
The meeting allowed for not only for the Greek organizations to voice how they feel, but also unify in the efforts that Greek houses are something that are needed and makes these organizations unique.