Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta) sorority and Sigma Nu (SigNu) fraternity held a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of their new shared house on 90-94 Curtis Street Sept. 12.
Tufts Theta Chapter President Lesya Horyn said that the ceremony was a small welcoming event for Theta and SigNu, their advisors, Tufts administrators, several chapters and University President Anthony Monaco.
“We invited Tony Monaco to come and christen the house as our new space because we’re coming into something new and Sigma Nu is coming back, and so it’s kind of an exciting new foundation, a big step for both of us," Horyn, a senior, said. "I’m just really excited to start off the year on the right foot and [SigNu] really did a lot of work for this -- I would say they did the majority of the work for this."
Tufts SigNu Chapter President Alexander Siegel said he and Monaco made short speeches before cutting the ribbon for the house.
“We did it jointly with Theta, which is really cool I think," he said. "We’re both really excited about opening up our new spaces, so we did it as a communal thing."
Although the two organizations will be sharing the house, they each occupy completely separate apartments in the building with access from the outside only, according to Horyn.
“So while it’s completely separate, we’re trying to make a point to have a good relationship, and that’s something that’s really important, and it’s an exciting opportunity being in such a situation," Horyn said.
SigNu House Manager Robert Lewis said that this has been a long process for the fraternity, which lost its house at 92 Professors Row in 2012.
“Numbers were low, and even though we had enough kids to fill the house, no one wanted to, and there was just a lack of order,” Lewis, a junior, said.
Siegel said the decrease in interest in living in the house was due to its condition.
“Some of the seniors were a little bit careless leaving the house after our freshman year, and they left it kind of in disarray,” he explained.
SigNu has been working to return to a house on campus ever since, Siegel added.
“Since then, we’ve been in constant communication with the administration, and with the help of our alumni corporation, we were able to figure out some sort of housing option for this year, and we’re really happy with it,” he said.
Theta, which started up at Tufts in fall 2013, was Tufts' first new chapter in about 60 years, according to Horyn.
"A lot of these are really old chapters and are really well established ... they haven’t brought on a new chapter in a while, so it was a new thing for the Greek system, but also a new challenge on the administrative side," she said.
According to Horyn, when Theta first came to campus, they were told they would have to wait three years for housing to become available. At the end of last year, however, Theta was presented with a housing opportunity at 90-94 Curtis Street.
“That was a first step in the right direction," Horyn said. "Especially at Tufts, where I think that Greek identity ... feels very tied to the house ... it was exciting for us as a new chapter that the administration was able to work with us and give us this opportunity to really be able to establish ourselves like that."
Both Theta and SigNu are confident in the new housing situation, according to Horyn and Siegel.
“We’re really excited about it," Siegel explained. "We’ve been really clear and direct with them in conversation, they’ve been really clear with us and we sort of have expectations of each other and each of us expects the other to be a respectful neighbor, and it’s worked out very well so far.”
"I know that the girls have had exclusively positive experiences so far," Horyn said. "I’ve only heard great things about it."
Since SigNu was on social probation his freshman year and has been off-campus since, Siegel said that he is excited to experience parties at the fraternity.
Horyn explained that she does not, however, foresee any problems resulting from SigNu's parties.
“They’ve been very respectful and willing to negotiate and let us know if [parties] will happen, when they will happen and kind of just give people a heads up because ... there’s still those shared walls and noise and stuff," Horyn said. "We’re just trying to be respectful and courteous and diplomatic about these things."
