In Fall 2012, Hopper Hall will house select members of the College PanHellenic Council (CPC) due to the lack of sorority housing available.

Among the reasons for moving sororities to on-campus housing, Greek Life hopes to see an increase in members staying in sororities, and an improvement in GPAs among participants—who, on average, stay above the 3.0 GPA range.

“Several years ago, PanHellenic sororities lived in Hopper Hall,” Jennifer Stroble, assistant director of Student Life for Greek Life, said.

“Since the Greek community is now around 12 percent of the undergraduate student body, there is a large push from our Greek community for a living-learning environment,” she said.

The Greek community, the administration and Housing and Residence Life discussed the possibility of sorority housing for two years before preparations were made.

“I think that this is a great decision,” Samantha Garrett, Zeta Tau Alpha member and senior mass media major, said.

“The CPC sororities have been working towards Greek Housing for a while now and I think this is a positive move towards that for our Greek Life,” Garrett said.”

Student Life for Greek Life started a Greek Housing committee in order to examine the opportunities Housing has for Greek Life.

The office of Housing and Residence Life has prearranged 3/4 of a floor in Hopper for CPC participants.

“This will not affect non-affiliated students as there are actually more beds available this year for returning students compared to other years,” Leighia Hammond, associate director of Housing, said.

The housing proposal came from the PanHellenic women and new Greek members to VSU’s campus looking for a Greek living community like the communities found at other campuses in Georgia.

University of Georgia, Georgia Tech University, Emory University and Mercer University are among the Georgia institutions that provide housing for their Greek organizations.

“This program will be assessed yearly within Housing and Greek Life for modification and continuation,” Stroble said.