The renovation of Greek Court may attract students to Greek organizations, according to the Director of Greek Life John Mountz, as fraternities complete rush activities and sororities begin their own.
“The appeal factor to students was something we considered when moving forward with this project,” he said. “Our sororities and fraternities want exceptional housing to offer their students.”
According to Mountz, there will be a greater effect on recruitment when the results of the renovations to Greek Court are visible.
“The students who are already members… are excited and students who hear about it through the rush process are going to get excited,” he said. “We’ll really see an impact with rush once the first physical houses are constructed.”
Sororities and fraternities will likely use the better housing opportunities to their advantage, Mountz said.
“Our students have asked a lot of questions about how we should talk to new students about this,” he said. “Students in chapters that are going to be part of phase one have already begun to use that as an additional recruitment tool.”
However, current members also realize that housing is not the most important part of joining a sorority or fraternity, according to Mountz.
“[Sororities and fraternities] all focus on trying to get people to join to the organization, not just to join a physical house,” he said.
William Gallimore, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon and senior in mechanical engineering, said the renovations are expected to attract potential members and will be used as a tool to appeal to students.
“It will definitely be a draw just having new nicer houses that people will want to live in,” he said. “We’ll definitely advertise it… and it’ll bring the Greek community together.”
According to Gallimore, the new house for Sigma Phi Epsilon will be built in phase one of the Greek Village project, and the old one will be demolished in phase two.
Jennifer Antal, president of Chi Omega and junior in fashion and textile management, said she expects the renovation of Greek Village to be positive for Greek Life on campus.
“It’s definitely made Greek life at NCSU look a lot more glamorous, and it’s eventually going to look more like [the University of South Carolina] where Greek life is a huge force on campus,” she said. “The fact that it’s such a new concept here makes it something people want to get involved in in its beginning stages and come back and see the final result.”
According to Antal, even though the sorority she belongs to is off-campus, her organization could still benefit from the renovations.
“One positive thing for us is that they’re putting in a big Greek community center,” she said. “It will get groups like us who are off-campus to be able to interact more with organizations that are going to be at Greek village.”
Christin Hardy, a junior in graphic design, said she thinks the housing improvements will influence students’ decision to rush.
“Just about everybody knows it’s location, location, location,” she said. “You pick your college based on location… so if Greek Life offers a more comfortable lifestyle… it will definitely have an impact on people’s decision.”
Melissa Brewer, a sophomore in biological sciences, said she disagreed.
“People join sororities and fraternities more for the social aspects than for housing,” she said.
Brewer said she would not consider joining a sorority or fraternity if doing so meant being required to live in a certain house.
“I would feel like I wouldn’t be able to rush a sorority because I don’t fit into a typical box,” she said. “My husband and son wouldn’t be able to live with me.”
