Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Carolina News__ ireek Village Dm page 1 it’s what NPC is trying to do by say ; not to build until more sororities can it," said Gena Runnion, director of eek Life. “We’re never going to have evel playing field where that’s con med.” Zeta Tau Alpha is ready to build a use, thanks to an edge they have on iter sororities - a national house cor ratign. For close to 25 years, each ZTA chap r nationally puts money towards the tional house corporation. For quite ne time now, the USC chapter has been xt in line for the funding of a house. “The Zeta Tau Alpha chapter at South irolina is and has been next in line to reive funding,” Runnion said. “For some ne, they’ve been ready to do this, tey're just waiting on it.” Despite being prepared, ZTA cannot ild until NPC gives other sororities the '-ahead. "Ethically, ZT\ is bound by this agree snt,” Runnion said. Runnion doesn’t think this stalemate ill last indefinitely. “I don’t think it will ever reach a lint that none of them can build until 1 of them can build,” Runnion said. “I rn’t know that it’s necessarily an all-or itliing situation. My guess is if there’s landfill that can pull it together, then ey’U go ahead with it.” These restrictions were put into place a sign of support for ther other soror ities. “Most of the national presidents want to support each other in the housing pro ject, in that they want us to wait until all chapters can build, so no one sorority is left out,” said Tracy Bonds, Sorority Coun cil president. But some might say the waiting could hurt sororities in the long run. “The 11 could go quickly,” Runnion said. “I think it will snowball and more and more will want to do this.” Unlike other schools in the South eastern Conference, USC has no plans of building a fraternity row and a sorority row. The Greek Village is available to women and men. There are, however, other spots around campus that were chosen for Greek housing lots before the purchase of the land on which the Greek Village will be located on. Will those spots be available after the 15 lots in the Greek Village are full? “There have been some spots on cam pus earmarked for Greek housing,” Run nion said. “With the dynamic nature of the University and the needs of the Mas ter Plan, you just never know if those spaces will be available. The University will work with any sorority or fraternity that wants to build a house of this nature.” It is possible that all the slots in the Greek Village could be filled by frater nities while the sororities wait. “It could definitely pan out that way,” Runnion said. “It just completely depends on how that all turns out.” Bender hopes sororities won’t ulti mately be frozen out of the village. • “Hopefully other fraternities and sororities will be able to begin building soon after the first four because in order to have a true greek village we need all our members present,” Bender said. Because of the volume of funds that need to be raised to fund the build ing of a house, there has been no drop dead date placed on entering the Greek Village. “Our plan is to have the money raised, the paperwork in and a lot selected by the end of this fall smemster,” Tau Kap pa Epsilon member John Floyd said. “We've recieved confirmation that sev eral Alumni will be making very large donations. We ve yet to locus on the smaller donations, but we hope to put together some activities in the fall that will allow us to focus on the smaller donations.” The Greek Village has its critics, but those inside of Greek Life think it will do a great deal for the University. Sorority Council Secretary Jessica Lentini thinks the planned Greek hous ing will be a boost for the Greek com munity and the University as a whole. “It would not only make the Greek community stronger but also make USC more appealing to incoming students,” Lentini said. “The Greek community gives a lot back to USC in terms of leadership, service and academics. A hous ing complex would give individual chap ten more of a chance to come together and work as a unit in order to make more of a contribution to campus.” Bonds thinks the houses will add to the physical image of the University as well. “Greek houses are a great thing to have on any campus,” Bonds said. “Not only will they be structurally beautiful and add to the overall image of the Car olina community, but they also offer ben efits that our current living conditions do not.” At present, the Greek population at USC is a small percentage, but the addi tion of houses might give that percent age a boost. “The Greek Village will have a phenomenal impact on Greek life at USC,” Bonds said. “I think once the hous es are completed, fraternities and soror ities will become even more visible on campus.” Bender agrees with Bonds, con cerning the impact of the houses on Greek Life. “I believe the construction of Greek housing will bring a whole new facet to USC,” Bender said. “Not only will a Greek village bring about a sense of communi ty among all fraternities and sororities, it will attract new groups of students pre viously not interested in joining a Greek organization.” Floyd believes that the house will have a definite impact, but that impact will go hand-in-hand with continued work on the parts of organizations. “If fraternities believe that just by building a home they are insuring suc cess, then they are mistaken,” Floyd said. “Fraternities must continue to strive for excellence and success if they want to remain on this campus.” State Briefs ■ Summer heat still local fire concern Columbia (AP) Firefighters across the state are gearing up for what looks to be another hot, dry weekend. And with low humidity this week end stripping moisture from forests across the state, fire officials worry that it might only be a matter of time before one of the 20 or so small fires they fight every day turns into a blaze. ■ Firefighter lawsuit settled Goose Creek (AP) - City Coun cil has voted to settle a lawsuit by 11 Goose Creek firefighters for $137,500. The council voted Thursday night to settle the lawsuit filed last November which accuses the City of various pay irregularities. ■ Mistaken identity prompts lawsuit Greenville (AP) - A Taylors man is suing Greenville County and the sher iffs office after his mugshot was dis played on the evening news as one of the area’s most-wanted armed robbers. John Christopher Mauldin, 36, has sued for libel and negligence in a case of mistaken identity. The October 7th LSAT is approaching. Get the score that gets you in. 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