The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life's suite in the Bryan Center will be expanded to include a collaborative space for the four Greek governing organizations, including in particular the Panhellenic Association.
The room is currently devoted to post-graduate storage in the Duke Postal Operations' Bryan Center Contract Station, and the change will not impact any students, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said.
Moneta said he has hoped to remodel the room for use by student groups since he began working for the University, but he noted that Panhel's compelling need for space won administrative support for the project this year.
Any student group will be able to reserve the room for a meeting, but Panhel will have prioritized access to the space, Moneta said.
Panhel is one of the largest student organizations, counting about 40 percent of female undergraduates among its members, but its leadership has been negotiating for space with administrators for years. The association currently has storage facilities in Trent Drive Hall and vies with other groups for neutral spaces like the Bryan Center's Von Canon rooms to hold weekly chapter meetings.
Panhel President Rachel Nordlinger, a senior, said she looks forward to interacting with the other Greek governing organizations in the new space.
"This is a great first step," she said. "Working with other councils is a huge goal of Panhel's so the fact that we're all together in that space is an exciting opportunity."
Although the renovation is too small to accommodate an entire chapter, Moneta said he envisions the space as a place where sororities' composite pictures can be hung and executive boards can meet.
Nordlinger added that Panhel's next step will be lobbying administrators for space on "New Campus," and Moneta said the association's need for space will be a priority as plans for construction are finalized.
Although the space allotted in the Bryan Center provides a quick fix for Panhel, "New Campus" will present long-awaited expansion opportunities for many student groups, Dean of Undergraduate Education Steve Nowicki said.
"What we tried to do with Panhel was to just find an immediate solution," he said. "This is the tip of what I hope is just an iceberg of us trying to configure space for [student groups]. 'New Campus' will allow us to do a lot of that, but I didn't want us to wait."
Former Duke Student Government president Paul Slattery, Trinity '08, said Panhel's need for space is so pressing that DSG offered their office in the Bryan Center to the association, which the chapters declined.
"This doesn't correct the fact that [sororities] don't really have a viable social space that's theirs," he said. "What we don't want is for [administrators] to go, 'Oh, the Panhel space issue is resolved now.'"
Slattery added that with "New Campus" still decades from completion, space for sororities in the interim is invaluable.
"I think it's encouraging that in the short time frame before 'New Campus' is finished-meaning about 75 years-the University has made a move."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.