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Post by kevinkagy on Jan 12, 2008 2:01:05 GMT -5
I was walking around campus today and I saw the entrance signs we have on the corner of 107th and 8th and around the other entrances and it reminded me how boring they are. Those plain signs are so unimpressive and lame, you can't even read them at night!
We need to get new, legible, sophisticated signs, especially for a heavily-transited intersection such as the 107th/8th St intersection. Those signs have got to go.
And one other thing, mostly for the Greeks here. WHERE ARE THE OTHER 3 FRAT HOUSES? We still haven't built the other 3 frat houses on Greek Row. When are they going to start these?!
And while we're at it, we need more dorms ASAP, the waiting list is insane. But that's another story...
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fiupike
Puma
SLEEPING GIANT AWAKES in 08
Posts: 281
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Post by fiupike on Jan 12, 2008 10:57:22 GMT -5
I am not sure what you mean by "we" but the university is not responsible for the development of greek row. FIU was kind enough to designate the land and allow the greeks to build. It's not easy, It took us (Pi Kappa Alpha) close to 8 years of raising $$ thru PIKE alumni nationwide (small gifts) so we had enough to move forward with a business plan and down payment for the bank to approve our loan. I am one of the original members of PIKE at FIU back in 1994. There is alot of work involved in getting a house built....Trust me.
I am surprised that Sigma Phi Epsilson has not moved forward with a home. They do have some young successful alumni that I know personally. However, the greek system is young and many of the organizations don't have local alumni that graduated from FIU that can open a check book and offer a significant donation.
PIKE was lucky in many respects, the FIJI house was generously donated by Mr. Kirk Landon a FIJI alum from what I understand...Our local alumni and FIU administration were able to get us a favorable bank relationship and great deal with our designer and builder.
I am hopeful that SIG EP, SAM and the Pi Kapp's can follow suit soon. I do think if the main street idea near the stadium moves forward the school should try and build greek housing similar to what USF has...They basically have villas and not FRAT homes. But it keeps the greeks invloved in campus events. The greeks rent them and the school maintains them.
However, the biggest challenge is all the students who are active in the greek system and live at home with mom and dad. Until that changes, student life will be limited . The best thing I ever did while at FIU was live in the old apartments, despite growing up here and going to Killian Sr. HS.
I am
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Post by kevinkagy on Jan 12, 2008 11:52:21 GMT -5
Thanks fiupike. I understand that the houses depend solely on the fraternities themselves, but it just seems like it's been a long time since the idea was first put out there back in 1999 I believe. Do you know if Sig Ep, SAM, and Pi Kapp are working to get their houses built, or has it mostly been forgotten? If so, how soon do you think we'll see a new frat on-campus?
I wonder how other universities such as UCF and UF, that have on-campus Greek houses do it. Are they given the land from the university or do they have to purchase the on-campus land and the house?
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Post by The OC Panther on Jan 12, 2008 21:01:19 GMT -5
FIUPike, do ypu know an pike from FIU named Eli Bardewell? He's and old friend of mine i'd like to get in touch with again
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fiupike
Puma
SLEEPING GIANT AWAKES in 08
Posts: 281
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Post by fiupike on Jan 13, 2008 11:33:12 GMT -5
NYPanther,
What years was he there ? I served as chapter advisor at FIU from 2000 - 2003, his name rings a bell....I'm sure I knew of him. Let me try and geta number for you. Send me a message.
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Post by yippee on Jan 13, 2008 11:55:31 GMT -5
I can tell you a couple of things about this. First, the three fraternities Are Sammy, Sig Ep, and TKE, not Pi Kapp. The Sammy lot is located to the left of FIJI's, the sig ep located directly behind the Pike house and the TKE lot is closer to 107th. The money has to be either raised by the fraternity themselves or given to them by Alumni which happens in most cases if there are people that would give money. Yes, the FIJI house was generously donated by Mr. R. Kirk Landon, and to my understanding he also donated money to the Pike house. I was told this by some of your fraternity brothers fiupike.Mr. Landon is not an FIU alum, he is a very successful graduate from Georgia Tech. He is on our the Board of Trustees here at FIU and has made more generous donations to FIU as a whole (business school news.fiu.edu/fiumag/summer2004/features/feature_kirk_landon.htm) The land was well rented from the university for like a dollar for an amount of years. 10,20. not too sure. and our own FIU president Mr. Madique is an honorary Sigep.. so I wonder sometimes, why wouldn't he give money?
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Post by kevinkagy on Jan 13, 2008 12:11:11 GMT -5
Very interesting. I didn't know Maidique was a SigEp alumni. Strange he wouldn't donate to the house. Or maybe he has, but they still require more. I really would like these last 3 fraternities to get their houses up. The more Greeks we have on campus, the more of a traditional campus we'll get. I think the Frat houses as well as new dorms are vital for FIU to continue becoming more "college-like".
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Post by GPanther on Jan 13, 2008 14:42:08 GMT -5
About 8 years ago, FIU held a contest among design students to redesign the corner signs at 107th and 8th. The winning submission consisted of three geometric shapes, blue and gold lighting, water, and palm trees. Does anyone else remember this?
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Post by FIUBlue82 on Jan 13, 2008 17:22:12 GMT -5
and our own FIU president Mr. Madique is an honorary Sigep.. so I wonder sometimes, why wouldn't he give money? SigEp will not be building a house anytime soon. I am an alum and alumni board member. The money is there, but a decision was made against building a house at this time.
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2006PA
Juvenile Panther
Posts: 91
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Post by 2006PA on Jan 13, 2008 18:48:17 GMT -5
The decision on which fraternity will build on those properties is pretty much in the air by now. Which ever organization has the money first, will build first. There is no longer a priority on which fraternity can or cannot build their house. I give it about 2 years b4 the next house gets built.
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Post by yippee on Jan 13, 2008 19:43:33 GMT -5
The decision on which fraternity will build on those properties is pretty much in the air by now. Which ever organization has the money first, will build first. There is no longer a priority on which fraternity can or cannot build their house. I give it about 2 years b4 the next house gets built. where did you get this information? last spring there was a decent sized article about this in the beacon and it is talked about a lot on campus by the organizations that have the lots rented to them.
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Post by GPanther on Jan 13, 2008 20:39:11 GMT -5
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Post by kevinkagy on Jan 13, 2008 21:38:28 GMT -5
Gpanther, do you know what ever happened to that proposal, it looks good? The other signs I was referring to that need to get changed are these (I know this one's from the Biscayne Bay Campus, but you get the point). They aren't impressive, are illegible at night, and the text is too small. I was also wondering, would it be possible to get FIU banners placed down "Golden Panther Trail" and "FIU Avenue" (8th St and 107th Av) similar to what UCF has down Alafaya Trail in Orlando.
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Post by FIUFanatic on Jan 13, 2008 21:45:36 GMT -5
Well, just for the one in the corner of 107th and 8th...aren't they gonna build the Medical College Complex in that corner? I guess they will have to build that thing before thinking on putting up any other signs in that corner. The other major entrances at 8th and at 107th were overhauled a few years back and look much better than before, in my opinion.
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Post by GPanther on Jan 13, 2008 22:00:53 GMT -5
At the time of the contest, the med school was just a pipe dream and that whole open space on the corner of 8th and 107th was used for parking overflow at the beginning of semesters. Judging by the size of the palm trees, it was going to be a huge structure. I figure that money was short and priority was given to other projects. Later on, the med school was slated to occupy that area and due to space constraints, the admin decided to wait until we had a definite master plan before building something that large on the site. I'm just guessing this.
As for the other entrances (like BBC and 117th), I don't know why they use those old boring concrete blocks. I think there was some negative feedback about the 8th street and 107th entrances based on the high costs of building each relative to the lack of endowment, etc. at FIU (the $1 million wall). Some people thought Maidique was going for the Stanford look at the 8th street entrance at a time when our resources were stretched thin. The admin probably is a bit shy now about fixing up the other entrances.
There used to be some FIU banners on 8th street and also on 107th before the first football season, along with other advertisments like FIU Coke Bottles and billboards but I don't think it helped much save for the game against St. Peters. Attendance dropped dramatically for the Butler game and has been terrible ever since.
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