IRVINE : Homes to Be Sweet for UCI Fraternities

Fraternities and sororities at UC Irvine have long sought a place where their members could live together and call it home. Come fall of 1993, many of the school’s “Greeks” will have those homes in the form of two- and three-story dormitory houses that they can lease.

Located at the far east corner of campus, the residences will be part a $16.5-million project that will provide housing for student groups whose members wish to live together. In addition to fraternities and sororities, the 35 separate residential buildings will be open to academic clubs and organizations, school officials said.

The campus currently has family-style apartments for graduate students, as well as traditional dormitories for undergraduates, but none of the communal-style housing that is common on other residential campuses.

Kecia Watari, a 22-year-old member of Gamma Phi Beta, says the new housing will give life to a dream that her sorority has entertained since its inception almost 20 years ago.

“We’re really excited about this,” she said. “Since 1974, girls have been saving money for housing. It’s just something we’ve always wanted and we’re finally gonna get it.”

Jim Harvey, a 1984 UCI alumnus and member of the Phi Delta Theta, said he remembers hearing that his fraternity brothers had asked for on-campus housing as far back as 1975. Today, he is involved in lease negotiations between the university and Greek organizations.

Housing on campus “is important to fraternities and sororities at UCI,” Harvey said. “It’s something we’ve always asked for, but because of the image that frat houses are animal houses, (school officials) were afraid of what might happen.”

During the mid-1980s, the school seriously began thinking about the idea as a good one, according to Jim Craig, UCI director of housing.

Craig expects the Greek organizations to lease at least 60% of the housing available in the 10-acre area, each displaying affiliation letters in the front of their homes. Others leasing buildings in the housing area will include honors clubs, international studies clubs and ethnic groups.

The project should be completed by Sept. 1, 1993, when the 35 brown, yellow and red houses will be available to students arriving for the fall semester. The buildings are in clusters of four that will surround landscaped courtyards. Each house will include a kitchen, laundry, dining and study areas and connecting walkway bridges at the second-story levels. As many as 32 students will live in the biggest houses, while 16 will fit in the smaller two-story ones.

Craig said the school will ask three months rent in advance, with the rent for a building set between $5,500 and $10,000 a month.