The fate of Ball State’s sorority housing has taken an unexpected turn.
After all sorority presidents were requested to attend a meeting last Thursday, it was revealed that the national chapters were not allowing Ball State’s sororities to move forward with their housing lease agreements. Members of all the sororities were then notified by their officers that the national chapters were unable to agree on the length of the leases for the housing project.
The houses were originally planned to be built on Riverside Avenue as a part of Ball State's Greek Village Project, which would also potentially include fraternity houses in the future. Only a few sororities currently have their own houses, and the university has been working with the international, national and local sororities to develop a housing plan that "meets the needs of current and future sorority members," according to the project's website.
Part of the plan included razing three houses that are currently situated on Riverside Avenue and building new Greek Life housing in that same location. The university also intended to build on the empty lots next to those houses.
Samantha Johnson, who is the president of Delta Zeta, said the decision not to move forward with the project at this time is disheartening, but it's nothing the sororities can’t handle.
“It’s not the end of the world," Johnson said. "We’ll pick up and move on from here, but we were definitely disappointed.”
Delta Zeta does not have anyone living in any of the current sorority houses, but Johnson said this won’t be a problem in the immediate future because the sorority will still be given suites in Woodworth Complex.
As of now, those suites will remain under sorority control for at least another year, and Johnson said this is one of the reasons why she knows everything will be business as usual for the sororities.
“At the end of the day, nothing is going to change for us," Johnson said. "I guess the positive side of it is that things will continue as normal. Our community will continue to grow.”
The university also released a statement regarding the current decision not to build the sorority houses: “The sorority housing project is on hold indefinitely. Ball State heard from the national sororities that they were not ready to sign lease agreements. The university is exploring other possibilities to continue with the project, but no decisions are imminent.”
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