By James El-Mallakh and Johnathan Masters–

The Student Government Association senate gave its support to the expansion of the Panhellenic houses on 3rd Street, also known as Greek Row, last summer.
“Greek students statistically have higher GPAs, retention rates and involvement on campus,” states the SGA resolution.

Kurtis Frizzell, SGA president and University of Louisville’s Greek God for 2010, said the university “went from six percent of the student population being Greek to 10 percent, so with that expansion happening anyway, there’s a need for more Greek housing and that’s the reason we decided to support that bill.”

The resolution passed does not officially authorize the expansion of Greek row. It still needs to be approved by President Ramsey and the board of trustees.

Though, according to Frizzell, it is likely that it is going to happen.

“It’s expected, I think there’s a very strong chance that it will happen, mainly because it’s part of our 2020 plan,” Frizzell said.

The SGA’s 2020 plan did not specifically call for the expansion of Greek row, but to “increase IFC, Panhellenic and NPHC Greek membership to 20 [percent] of the student population.”

According to Frizzell a “Greek housing expansion would help get the number from 10 to 20 percent.”

Depending on which plan of expansion the university decides to go with, Greek row will either add 12 new Greek houses or six new Greek houses, along with a 500 bed residence hall. In order to complete the outline of either proposal, West Hall and Wellness Hall will both be torn down and Center Hall may need to be removed also.

Ryan Khuri, president of the currently houseless Sigma Pi fraternity, said “ all Greek organizations on campus can be shown to increase retention in the general student population by giving the students a deeply personal reason to stay in college. Furthermore, a Greek organization with an occupied house provides students a place to live on campus and to constantly be around brothers – or sisters – to support them both academically and emotionally.”

Paul Mick, SGA senate speaker, said housing has been considered in the expansion.

“Our first concern was it’s going to expand through areas that are already existing housing for non-Greek students,” Mick said. “However, when you look at the quality of that housing right now, much of it’s in disrepair and was going to need replacing in the near future anyway.”

Some feel that removing housing and focusing on Greek row is unwise, especially in light of the fact that full-time students will be required to live on campus next year.

Matt Robeson, a sophomore chemical engineer, said “I don’t have any inherent problems with expanding Greek row, but it’s going to take away housing that we need. I think that maybe it could wait… I’m a scholarship student and I have to stay on campus to keep that money, so I don’t want to have any sort of situation where I have a hard time finding a place to stay here.”

In terms of the housing policy that will require incoming freshman to live on campus, Frizzell explained that “the actual increase of students who are going to be living on campus with this live-on policy is actually pretty minute… I believe the number of beds, just an estimate, was like 500 additional beds.”

The addition of new Greek housing would also add several years of more construction to the campus environment – another issue concerning students.

Skylar Graudick, a member of the SGA senate and the lone vote against passage of the resolution to expand Greek row, stated “the main complaints of the majority of students remain largely unaddressed: parking, the meal plan and evening security, for example. I voted against the expansion of Greek row because I thought it would prioritize the use of the resources in the community pool, in a self-serving way, to benefit a campus minority – Greek life – which already enjoys so many other benefits.”

Jeremy Wright, a U of L senior sociology major, said “if the majority is with one sect, then they are biased because they are in the majority. I don’t think the majority of student government cares about the general student body anyways… As a commuter, I can’t ever get to [an SGA] meeting, but I would like to know what is being discussed at their meetings.”

Besides payment for the new Greek houses, which Frizzell assures students will be paid for entirely by the Greek houses themselves, Skylar’s concerns about bias within SGA is something Frizzell acknowledges.

The top four executive officers and 60 to 75 percent of the senators are Greek. According to Frizzell, “there’s a lot of Greeks in SGA, but you also have to realize that a lot of these Greeks are involved in countless other RSOs, in which they reach out to students that aren’t Greek… it’s always hard to reach out to commuters but I think we try that as best we can.”

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Photo: Erin Standridge/The Louisville Cardinal