University of Virginia Library

Montague Picked To Head
Fraternity System Study

By Rick Pearson

Will Montague, a former student
at the University, has been
appointed head of a special
committee to study the future of
the fraternity system and its place
in a changing university
community. In an interview with
The Cavalier Daily yesterday, he
discussed the aims of his study.

"Once the committee is
organized, we're going to give
special emphasis to the continuing
relevance of fraternities and their
role in the educational process, and
the problems of housing and
finance. But first, we need
volunteers."

Mr. Montague attended the
University through 1964, was a
fraternity member, and participated
in an earlier study of fraternities,
published in 1964. The
Inter-Fraternity Council, which is
sponsoring the committee study,
chose him as a "nonpolitical" but
informed observer.

"Our earlier study was very
limited. It selected various sites for
new fraternity houses and
presented several designs. But it did
not find out about the availability
of new areas of development,
expansion of the University proper,
or various other important facts. It
also had little effect after it was
published.

"This new study will be much
more detailed," he continued. "We
have divided the study into four
parts. First, we will determine how
the fraternities fit into the
long-range plans of the University.
This will include plans for
expansion and how it will affect the
fraternities'. It will look into
coeducation, sororities, and the
growth in size of houses," Mr.
Montague added.

The second topic will examine
the need for new housing. This will
cover the adequacy of present
houses, and specific plans for
moving houses. "Six fraternities
have already presented definite
plans to move, and two or three
others are thinking of it. These
fraternities will move whether or
not we help them," Mr. Montague
said. It will determine how the
administration plans to help
support building, and analyze
support from alumni and national
headquarters, their profits to
finance their projects," Mr.
Montague noted. This and other
methods will be presented to help
meet the rising costs of larger
fraternities sleeping forty and
feeding as many as seventy-five
students.

The final topic of the study will
be specific architectural designs for
houses. Mr. Montague predicted,
"Teams from the architecture
school will investigate possible sites
and areas for expansion and the
cost of new buildings, and present
designs." One likely result will be
the consolidation of several houses
in one large building.

"Although these subjects deal
mainly with the physical aspects of
the future of fraternities, we will
surely devote a good deal of time to
the actual place of fraternities in
University life. This will include the
changing demands on fraternities
by the community," continued Mr.
Montague.