Fraternities in Martin Hall are no longer required to recruit a specific percentage of their members to live there. There was previously a guideline that fraternities had to fill 30-35% of beds in Martin Hall, but that has been removed from the occupancy agreement.
Trelana Daniel, director of UNK residence life, said this removal is to help students focus on being involved rather than meeting requirements.
“The percentages we’ve moved away from,” Daniel said. “We’re really just trying to encourage Greek life students to live in the community, and make that a really great leadership opportunity for them to live there.”
Chapter presidents in Martin Hall previously had to meet occupancy requirements in order to receive free room and board. Now that these percentages have been removed from the agreement, they receive waived room and board fees regardless of how many members they recruit.
Last fall there were non-Greek life students living in Martin Hall due to renovations in other residence life buildings. This year, only students involved in a fraternity live there.
Creating a positive community for Greek life students was a driving force behind removing occupancy percentage requirements.
“Students for a bit fixated on the percentages,” Daniel said. “So they were having a hard time moving past that and seeing it as a vibrant community to live in. We wanted to get rid of the stigma.”
According to a fraternity member, the previous occupancy agreement was unfavorable.
“It was an incredibly stressful ordeal,” said an anonymous fraternity member in a leadership position. “The language in the initial occupancy agreement was very aggressive and inclined us to believe that if we did not meet their unreasonably high contract expectation, we were going to lose our chapter spaces such as our lounge and chapter room. Not a single member was willing to live in Martin Hall.”
This member chose to remain anonymous due to potential conflicts with Residence Life.
Opinions voiced by current residents may suggest that Martin Hall isn’t appealing to students.
“On top of the constant facility issues, the chapter spaces are exceptionally smaller than what can be considered comfortable,” said the anonymous fraternity member. “I know this is outside of Residence Life’s control, but the price tag is just not appealing to anybody looking to move in, especially when comparing that same price tag to a building with many more amenities such as the suites.”
Bess Furman Armstrong Hall recently opened up for housing and is located in the northwest corner of campus. Katie Lytle, Alpha Phi president, said the space is fulfilling the needs of her chapter.
“I feel like the spacing is a lot better,” Lytle said. “It mimics what we used to have. Our chapter rooms and lounges are big, and our rooms are all pretty similar in size.”
Current occupancy agreements only contain information regarding how Greek life members are expected to use their spaces, which helps keep students and administrators on the same page. There are no significant differences in the agreements between Armstrong Hall and Martin Hall.
