Colgate is providing housing for Delta Delta Delta (Tri Delta), Phi Kappa Tau (Phi Tau) and Kappa Kappa Gamma (Kappa) starting in the fall of 2005 due to the recently initiated Vision for Residential Education and the University’s greater involvement with the Broad Street community under the ongoing Broad Street Initiative. These groups have been recognized as active Greek organizations on campus for a number of years but have operated without a house due to the lack of available and appropriate housing. “As a part of the Vision for Residential Education that was announced by the Colgate Board of Trustees in July 2003, each fraternity and sorority must be in Colgate University owned property by fall 2005 to maintain their recognition level,” Director of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs Kelly Opipari said. “The University recognition is what allows fraternities and sororities to recruit new members, utilize campus services such as the Greek life office and programming services, run an approved new member education program, utilize University records through the alumni office and obtain liability insurance.”All three groups submitted group housing proposals to the Office of Residential Education by mid-March and met with a committee comprised of four students, two faculty members and two members of the Residential Education staff to argue their case. Before the committee that reviewed their proposal, each Greek organization was required to demonstrate its understanding of the terms of the group housing for which it was applying, the strength of its ideas and its commitment to follow through on its verbal plans and goals with concrete action. After taking the groups’ dedication to meeting of these criteria into consideration, the Office of Residential Education decided on the best locations for housing them, according to the strengths and programming needs of the students within the group.”Residential Education had to make sure the groups were interested in helping to form and develop a community and that the groups were able to fill the houses that we offered them,” Opipari said. “More people are interested in the smaller residences that house between 12 and 15. For those that house around 30, we obviously need to have a greater number of students willing to live together.”The housing proposals of all three organizations were reviewed and accepted. Starting next year, Tri Delta Delta will officially be housed in 84 Broad Street, Phi Tau in 104 Broad and Kappa in two of the new townhouses on Route 12B. Most embrace this change as an opportunity to become closer to their fellow members as they live together and see it as a physical and visual representation of their presence on campus.”Getting a house is very positive move for Tri Delta,” junior New Member Educator for Delta Delta Delta Chelsea Swank said. “We have been considering getting a house for some time, and it is great that we have now done so. This is a very exciting time for our sorority. I cannot wait to move into 84 Broad and continue to build upon a community that is already thriving,”While Swank does not feel that the new residence will dramatically change her sisterhood, she is confident that there will be many positive effects. “I am definitely excited to have the opportunity to live with so many of my sisters,” she said. “I am looking forward to the house bringing me even closer than before to my sisters and even to those who are not living in the house, since they will have a more centralized location to meet up with everyone. Having a house will also serve to give us even more of a visual presence on campus and give us an opportunity to collaborate to a greater extent with other organizations – both non-Greek and Greek – on campus.”Kappas are also excited about living together, especially in the newly constructed University townhouses. “I’m really looking forward to living as a big group and I love the layout of the townhouses,” sophomore Kappa Rebecca Brereton said. “I think living together will bring our new member class together and has the potential to be a very positive experience. Another huge perk is getting to have several non-Kappas live with us as well,” Brereton said.Although Kappa was offered a house, the sorority voted for alternate rooming instead. “I’m excited for Kappas to be able to live together even if it’s not an official house,” sophomore Kappa Emily Crantz said. “And since so many juniors are going to be away each semester, it’s a good way for the ones who are here to stick together,” Crantz said.Time will tell how the townhouses turn out, but students are still looking forward to moving in. “The townhouses seem a little far away,” sophomore Kappa Molly Bate said, “but they look and sound really cool.”Tri Delta is optimistic about what it can potentially do with its new residential base and anticipates that it will have positive effects on its sisterhood.”We anticipate many changes during the transitional year, but our chapter structure is strong and that will be an asset as we work through these changes,” junior Tri Delta member and Chapter President Lauren Mondrone said. “We are dedicated to working to make the house suit the needs of our sisterhood and to preparing it within the first three weeks of the semester for formal recruitment. I hope that becoming residential will help us to demonstrate to potential new members and the campus community the strength of our sisterhood and exactly what we stand for.”Current Resident of 84 Broad senior Katherine Davey sees the change of residence next year as a positive one. “A sorority like Tri Delta, as close and as dedicated as it is, would be a good resident and add to the idea of a Broad Street community,” Davey said. “While I can’t speak for all the houses on Broad Street, especially the fraternities, I am pleased that a coherent group like Tri Delta will finally get the space it has needed and I am glad that my house’s facilities will finally be used in the way they were designed to be used.”