Over the past several weeks, rumors
have been widespread regarding the Interfraternity Council and the recently launched theme housing initiative. The IFC Executive Board met last week with Chris Puleo and Brian Reece, organizers of the theme housing initative, to discuss a situation that has been blown out of proportion by gossip and recent media events.
The idea behind theme housing is in many ways similar to that of a fraternity. A group of individuals are part of a single group, some live with that group, others do not. The house will have officers, programming, and a common purpose (in the case of the currently-forming theme house, a "coffee house" type theme). The organization is for entertainment purposes, and to improve social experience. All-in-all, it sounds fairly interesting, and could improve social life at RPI for greeks and non-greeks alike—and there are greeks involved with this project. Besides the various members of greek organizations who have shown an interest in the theme housing project, both the coordinators for the initiative are greek.
Now people have mentioned that the introduction of theme housing could lead to a situation similar to what is currently occurring at Union College. Theme housing-type residence halls are replacing fraternities, with fraternities being forced to remove themselves from campus-owned buildings. This situation is far from where we are right now. Rensselaer’s administration respects its greek system and has no plans to "take over" fraternity houses and replace them with theme housing. The situation at Union is unique, and is probably a direct result of deteriorating relations between administration and greek leaders. The idea for the theme housing on our campus, as well as the organizing effort, has come from students, not the university.
The IFC recognizes that greek life is not for everybody. Theme housing will provide a much-needed social outlet for this campus, as well as an alternative to greek life for those that don’t find what they’re looking for during Rush. Even those who are members of greek letter organizations can also be a part of a theme house, if they live on campus. The introduction of theme housing is a natural step in the social development of RPI, and we believe that there is a place for theme housing along side greek life, and that the two can coexist harmoniously.
