The State
Columbia, SC
Omega Psi Phi, a national black fraternity
whose members include the Rev. Jesse Jackson and basketball star Michael Jordan,
will begin work today on the first residential house for an African-American
fraternity on the Greek campus of USC.
The new $ 2 million residence hall will be the Omega fraternity's first such investment on any campus. It will make USC one of only a handful of large, state-supported universities in the South to have campus housing owned by an African-American Greek organization.
Omega's national president, George Grace, said the decision to make the investment at USC was due, in large part, to USC president Andrew Sorensen's personal outreach to local and national Omega leaders.
"Dr. Sorensen said he wanted an African-American presence (in the Greek Village), and we happened to be in a position economically to do it," Grace said.
In addition to approaching local leaders, Sorensen personally appealed to him as Omega's national president, Grace said.
The house represents the growing economic capacity of black South Carolinians, who increasingly are able to give money to organizations like Omega and to open doors to other potential donors.
One such person is Tony Grant, a former Bank of America executive and Omega member who has been instrumental in raising the necessary funds for the Omega house. To date, $ 300,000 has been raised.
Grant said Sorensen's personal involvement was key. "We have a leader here intent on creating a diverse environment," Grant said.
Grace said USC offered Omega "the same opportunity to invest that they offered other organizations."
Jerry Brewer, USC director of student life, said those terms include leasing
the real estate to the Greek organizations and building utilities
and other infrastructure.
USC retains architectural review rights, but the financing, construction and operations of the Greek houses fall to the fraternities and sororities.
In addition to the redevelopment of an aging industrial area in the heart of Columbia, the Greek Village creates ongoing economic activity in the area. Each house has four to five employees, and the residents buy groceries and services in the rapidly developing area. Grant estimated the Omega project could create as many as 100 new jobs during the construction phase.
The Greek Campus, which borders Blossom Street, already has 15 houses, built by historically white fraternities and sororities. Five more are under contract, including the Omega house.
The existing houses have averaged investments of $ 1.5 million apiece, for a total investment of $ 22.5 million. The houses on the drawing boards will boost that total to more than $ 30 million.
The Omega house will comprise residence space for 40 students, plus gathering places and food service for nonresident Omega members, and meeting and entertainment spaces that can be used to recruit new members, Brewer said.
The Omega house, for the first time, will put black students on equal footing
with their white peers in terms of having a focal point for social
interaction and networking.
Of USC's 25,500 students last year, roughly 3,600 were African-American.
Dylan Bess, the national second vice president of Omega Psi Phi, graduated from USC in 2004. He said Omega and other minority fraternities have missed out on potential recruits and memberships have remained low because it was difficult for them to compete with Greek organizations with big houses and hundreds of members.
"We will be able to attract a lot of potential new members we have been missing out on in the past. This house will help students see we are not limited," Bess said.
Omega has about 20 members at USC, Bess said. He hopes the new house will increase that number dramatically.
Grace said the USC Omega house is a prototype for the fraternity, which he
said is interested in building more such residential houses on other campuses,
including historically black colleges.
