In 2002, MTV aired “Sorority Life,” a reality show documenting the pledges of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi as they lived together in their sorority house on the campus of UC Davis. That particular experience is out of reach for Greek fraternities and sororities on Sacramento State’s campus as our school does not recognize official Greek housing.

Jake Hall, junior mechanical engineering major and member of Sigma Pi’s executive council, said funding is one of the major issues facing the development of a Greek row.

“After the housing market crash, funding for expansion projects like this became much more scarce and much more of an issue,” Hall said. “The Greek organizations at CSUS were not able to give the amount of funds to this project that were demanded. Without a large amount of funding from the individual organizations, a Greek row has a very low chance of happening.”

Another major issue derailing Greek housing is the concern several neighborhoods have about a centralized cluster of young college students.

“Currently there are a number of houses and apartments that Greeks live in in our area,” Hall said. “As it is now, the university receives occasional complaints from the neighbors around these houses and apartments. The neighborhoods around the possible development areas are in opposition to the idea of there being a large number of Greek-system students living near them.”

These possible neighborhoods include an area off Elvas Avenue, an area near the Power Inn light rail station, and a proposed “Ramona Village” off Ramona Avenue, a 25-acre former site of the California Youth Authority.

Taylor Cattaneo, freshman journalism major and member of Alpha Phi sorority, said she believes Sac State’s campus can benefit from Greek housing as well as alleviate any concerns neighbors might have.

“Everything can be controlled and monitored,” Cattaneo said. “I think we should have (a Greek row) just because it would make Greek life more fun. I think more people would like to join if we did have Greek housing. A lot more people would come to Sac State as a school to be at if we had more opportunities like that.”

Taylor Landuk, freshman child development major and fellow Alpha Phi member, said she also shares Cattaneo’s views.

“(Partying) can get out of control for some, but I think it’d be really cool if we did have (Greek housing),” Landuk said.

University of the Pacific is one college campus in Northern California that does have officially recognized on-campus Greek housing.

Michael Krieger, coordinator for Greek Life at UOP, said their system works well on the UOP campus.

“We are unique in our situation,” Krieger said. “All of our sorority and fraternity houses are university owned and operated. We have eight houses on campus- six are owned by the university, two are owned by their chapter in long-term leases.”

Hall said he believes a Greek row could be a success at Sac State.

“It would be an amazing opportunity to unify the Greek system at Sac State, as well as unify the rest of the campus. Housing for Greeks would result in much larger incentives for people to join these organizations, meaning a much larger percentage of students at CSUS being Greek. Currently we sit at 3 percent of the students at Sac State being Greek. I would love to see that number rise,” Hall said.