Although it was proposed for them, some fraternities and sororities won’t be calling the Greek Village their home.

Before they ask fraternities and sororities to commit to building houses, Western and the city of Bowling Green still have to work out the final details of the project, which would move several Greek organizations to a designated area near campus.

But some of those groups already know what direction they’re going to go.

Charley Pride, student activities coordinator, said the interest among the Greek organizations ranges from great interest to no consideration at all.

“They’re waiting for information about how much it will cost and what the parameters will be – those questions haven’t been answered yet,” Pride said. “They are waiting to see what comes of the Greek Village before they make any final plans.”

Members of some organizations listed various reasons for why they aren’t interested.

Susan Hoehn, a senior from Mount Vernon, Ind., and president of Kappa Delta sorority, said they want to remain at their current house on Chestnut Street.

Their house is near campus, has plenty of parking space for its members and is paid for, she said.

“It wouldn’t be a financially smart decision for us right now,” she said.

But she sees moving into the Greek Village as an option for the sorority 10 years from now. She said she liked a Greek village she saw while visiting a friend at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.

“I’m sure it would be beneficial for us to be located closer to each other for contact,” Hoehn said. “That would lure us in the future.”

Farmhouse fraternity doesn’t have the financial ability to build a new house in the Greek Village, said Philpot senior and Farmhouse president Chad Aull.

Because the fraternity started less than 10 years ago, they don’t have the alumni base that other fraternities have to do the fund raising for a new house, Aull said.

“We’re just waiting for our alumni to get older to contribute more money to the fraternity,” he said.

Gene Tice, vice president for Student Affairs and campus services, said a lot of the details for the project still have to be worked out before Greek organizations can start signing up.

He said he knows that some groups are not interested. For now, he wants to focus on a few organizations that already have plans to build new houses or sell their houses.

One such group is Sigma Chi fraternity, which has already purchased land in the proposed Greek Village area.

They were going to build a new house whether or not the project goes through, said Stetson Dickerson, a junior from Green Brier, Tenn., and president of Sigma Chi.

Sigma Chi has been raising money for for three years, he said. They were going to schedule a ground breaking this past summer, but decided to wait to see the university’s plans for the project.

“We’re ready to go,” he said. “We’re waiting for the university to decide on what they want to do.”

Although the proposed village would delay the building of their new home, Dickerson said it would be good for the fraternity to be involved.

“If you got something really nice, it says something – that either your organization is financially strong, your alumni is strong or you have a strong active chapter,” he said.

Alisha Yates, a senior from Cross Plains, Tenn., and president of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, said they are for the Greek Village and already have a new chairwoman that would be in charge of developing plans for a new house.

“We think it would be nice to have all the Greeks in one development, and we would like to have our own chapter room and stuff like that,” Yates said.

Tice said the tentative plan is to have a few core interested groups, such as AOPi and Sigma Chi, start building their houses in the village, and then build more houses as other groups become more interested.

“We’re trying to look at both the short and the long term,” Tice said. “Once the concept will start, others will be interested too, once they see the results and the houses.”

Reach Mai Hoang at [email protected].