Vanderbilt's Greek houses will soon be fitted with fire sprinklers. To finance the project, the university will make loans available to the houses to be repaid over a number of years.

by Elizabeth Latt
In the aftermath of a deadly fire at a University of Mississippi fraternity house in August, Vanderbilt officials have ordered all fraternity and sorority houses on its campus to install fire sprinklers.

The houses are already equipped with smoke detectors and alarm systems that automatically alert the university’s central emergency services center whenever they are activated. However, the university is taking the additional step of requiring sprinklers in each house no later than September 2005. Students will be prohibited from living in any Greek house that is not in compliance by that date.

Once the Greek sprinkler project is complete, all buildings that house students on campus will be equipped with sprinklers.

“Recognizing the importance of protecting the future of our Greek community, Vanderbilt is committed to providing a safe environment for interaction and social life,” Chancellor Gordon Gee and Vice Chancellor for Student Life David Williams said in letters to members of Vanderbilt’s fraternities and sororities, their parents and alumni advisers.

Five of the 15 fraternity houses and three of the 11 sorority houses on campus already have sprinklers, and others have plans to install them. However, Williams said the university recognizes the need to expedite the completion of the projects.

To help finance the projects, the university will make available to the organizations loans at a favorable rate over a number of years. The university will manage the projects to ensure they are completed by the deadline.

Unlike at many colleges and universities where Greek housing is available to the chapters’ general membership, at Vanderbilt no more than six students, usually the officers, are allowed to reside in each Greek house. Under long-term arrangements, the fraternities and sororities lease the houses from the university for their exclusive purposes. They pay a fee to the university to maintain the property.

“We have been working for several years now to bring our Greek housing up to university standards,” said Williams. Although Metro codes do not require sprinklers in the houses, “we have gone above and beyond what is required in order to provide an extra measure of protection.”

Three members of Alpha Tau Omega were killed Aug. 27 in a fire at their fraternity house on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Posted 10/12/04