Brendan Downes
News Editor
The past two years have been filled with change and uncertainty when it comes to theme housing. At the end of the Easter 2023 semester, many theme houses were left without a home due to a faculty housing crisis. This semester, Residential Life made changes to the system in which theme houses apply for housing and made the directors stress about what is to come for their organization.
“The information they dropped on us… was that there was going to be a theme house selection process. It obviously prompted a lot of questions: How were we going to be selected as theme houses, what is the important part of theme housing? Is it the number of events, the quality, how many people attend your events? And there was no good answer,” said Summer Vo (C’ 24).
Vo has served as the co-director of the Queer and Ally house for two years and has seen first-hand the passionate communities theme houses build and the lack of protection and consistency offered to those communities. Following a meeting with theme house directors early in the semester, Res Life coordinators announced that there would be a new theme house selection process and new steps required for directors to be granted a spot for their organization on campus. This announcement came after a disruptive year for Sewanee’s theme house system in which many theme houses lost their places within apartment buildings or townhouses and instead were placed in dorm halls.
Vo highlighted the possibility of innate bias in the selection process and the difficulties some theme houses face in securing a place on campus next year. “Theme houses are meant to cater towards a certain demographic of people. The Queer and Ally house events are meant to cater towards queer individuals, and there just aren’t a lot of queer individuals on campus, so obviously our events aren’t going to be the most widely attended. So when there’s no metric for good theme housing, it becomes a negative environment that pits theme houses against each other.”
Vo went on to note flaws student leaders noticed in Res Life’s new theme house application process. “Every theme house had to reapply for housing, but this process becomes unfair inherently because there are houses that are endowed, like the Wick or COHO, so why do they have to do it at all if they’re [definitely] going to get their houses back?”
Theme housing has become very important to Sewanee’s culture, as an alternative to Greek life. While right now, theme houses have arranged their housing, and residents have been informed of their placement in the houses, there is still frustration about the way Res Life communicates and uncertainty when it comes to the future of theme housing.
“Theme houses represent a way for Sewanee students to express their academic, creative, and social interests in a laid-back environment and connect with others outside of academics or more formal clubs,” Elena Hamann (C’ 24) said. “They are especially important in having sober, non-Greek life programming available for students to socialize without the pressure of party culture. They also offer a great way for students to easily get leadership and organizational experience without a ton of commitment.”
An organization can request a theme house through Engage, but following Sewanee’s scramble to respond to a lack of in-town housing for professors at the end of the 2023 Easter semester, residences available for theme houses dwindled. At least one student leader has noticed tension between Res Life and theme house directors due to a lack of communication. One theme house noted that they didn’t receive a house and felt blindsided. They were also frustrated by the lack of clarity in the application requirements.
Before the University took these steps to address the housing crisis, theme houses were already perennially at risk of losing their space because of how the application process is structured and the limited quantity of places available for students to live. Now, in the midst of a housing crisis, student leaders try to maintain their communities while Res Life attempts to house Sewanee’s student-led organizations.
“For a theme house, whose organization centers around having a space open to the community… having a consistent, well located, accessible space is extremely important,” Hamann said. Hamann is a co-director of Sewanee’s Fine Arts house. The Fine Arts house was one of many theme houses that lost their space on campus due to a lack of housing available to professors. The Barnwell apartments which formerly housed the Fine Arts house residents and three other theme houses were morphed into residential property for professors––this information was not officially announced to theme house leaders ahead of the announcement that they would not have a house for the 2023-2024 year.
After being told by Res Life that they would not have a house on campus, the Fine Arts co-directors secured a hall on the 3rd floor of Hodgson Hall. “We were one of the seven theme houses who were denied a house for 2023-2024, but through persistent communication we were able to secure a space for ourselves in a dorm hall,” Hamann said. “I am thankful for that compromise as it allowed us to continue existing, and we have been given a house again on campus for next year. However…the office of Res Life is wildly inconsistent with their communication, unpredictable, and generally unreceptive to student input.”
In the past, theme houses gave students the opportunity to live outside of dorms, but the status quo of what it means to live in a theme house was shaken during that eventful Easter semester of 2023. The uncertainty of if a theme house is going to get a townhouse or apartment, or have to reside in a dorm hall, also creates frustration. Without a designated house, like the fraternities and sorority houses, students, especially first years, won’t know where these houses are located and are less likely to attend events or get involved.
“Having a designated home would help ease any anxieties when applying for a house each year,” Katherine Thomas (C’ 24), Peer Health co-director, said. “Having a designated house would also help each organization create a greater impact on campus by having a well known designated space so all students know where they are located. Peer Health has resources that we provide for students (COVID tests, condoms, drink covers, etc.) and having a designated house would make it easier to distribute these resources. It would make transitioning from year to year much easier as well. It also might decrease any competition between theme houses for more convenient locations.”
Although the past two years have been tumultuous for theme house directors, some student-leaders envision a bright future for Sewanee’s unique student organizations and they say that bright future begins with a stronger relationship with Res Life. One theme house did note that the process did seem to be improving, but there is still room for growth and further connection.
Other student leaders emphasized the lack of fiscal support and promotional attention student-led organizations receive from the University. “There seems to be an underlying trend of encouraging theme house organizations to move towards a non-residential, floating club model,” said Hamann.
There is fear that if the policies continue to change and the requirements get more specific, that the current theme housing system will shift more drastically, and the student organizations will not be as valued as they are right now.
“I think theme housing will look different, and I hope that’s not the case,” said Vo. “I think eventually student organizations will not have as much of a place on campus. I think there will be a shift towards things that are more aligned with Tigers Entertainment Board––things that are University sponsored and run [as opposed to] things that are student organizations.”
The Purple reached out to Residential Life for an interview but did not receive a response.