From August until May, Riverside Avenue is usually an area of bustling activity, but once Finals Week draws to a close and thousands of students head home for the summer months, it looks just as deserted as the rest of campus.
The street is home to seven of Ball State's fraternity houses, and many of the them are empty for the summer, Brandon Cutler, assistant director of Student Life, said.
"Most students go home and chapters' facilities are locked up tight," he said. "It's pretty quiet."
Each chapter has its own way of handling summer arrangements, from who mows the lawn to who actually resides in the house.
Some of the chapters, such as Sigma Nu, have members do all of the yard work themselves, whereas other chapters hire some type of maintenance service, Cutler said.
One reason for a limited number of open houses during the summer has a lot to do with cost efficiency, he said. Most facilities have fixed costs throughout the calendar year, but having residents during the summer means that operating costs would be higher. A lot of times the number of people wanting to live in the house doesn't justify the need.
Since most of the facilities are empty during the summer, there are usually members who live in town, past alumni or chapter advisors who check on the properties, Cutler said. They do it to ensure that if there is any issue with the house, it can be resolved quickly instead of when students return in the fall.
As for university-owned greek houses such as the Phi Gamma Delta and Theta Chi houses, they operate similarly to regular university residence halls. The move in and move out dates for members are about the same as residence hall dates. Members of the chapters can't really visit during the summer, either.
But not all of the houses are empty. Several have summer residents, but nowhere near the amount they have during the regular academic year. It partially has to do with the fact that during the summer, there isn't a high demand for residence in the houses, Cutler said.
If a member of a fraternity is taking summer classes, for example, they sometimes have the option of staying at the house, but it all comes down to the chapter's guidelines.
Cutler said that with less people occupying the houses during the summer, it is easier for necessary repairs to be made.
"If you're putting in new carpet or painting [the walls], you don't want a lot of people around," he said.
Cutler said members of the greek community taking summer courses can always move into LaFollette Complex.
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