Arboretum could become SDSU frats
BROOKINGS – Greek life is growing at South Dakota State University, and officials are eyeing a pristine swath of trees for more fraternity houses.
But this is no ordinary forest. The arbors in this corner of campus are a carefully assembled collection of tree species, paid for by donors and planted for academic purposes.
Designer wants arboretum protected
"It's no different than a museum, and it should have the same kind of protection," said Norm Evers, a retired horticulture instructor for SDSU.
Evers, 77, designed the 45-acre arboretum decades ago.
The university no longer uses the arboretum like it used to, and the land targeted for development is "minimally maintained," said Barry Dunn, dean of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences.
Meanwhile, participation in fraternities and sororities has reached record levels. Greek programs on campus are adding houses, chapters and undergrads.
Some chapters are still disconnected from the strip of Greek housing in the southeastern edge of campus, near McCrory Gardens. Others don't even have a house.
"It's very common for universities to have Greek houses in a community, which improves, I think, the whole life experience and the campus," Dunn said.
The signs of growth are clear along 20th Avenue, dubbed "Greek Village" by college officials. The street is already dotted with new buildings and construction.
The road would cut north another 308 feet, according to planning documents approved earlier this month by the South Dakota Board of Regents, ending in a cul-de-sac.
Around the edge of the cul-de-sac, about three acres, including some land from the arboretum, would be split into three separate lots.
The lots include areas where SDSU researchers planted maple trees and column-shaped shrubs called arborvitae, often used as hedges.
The green space was designated as the South Dakota State Arboretum in 1988. Evers said he began planting years earlier.
Trees to the east of the planned expansion include South Dakota's premier collection of maples, Evers said, with variations of sugar maple, red maple and Norway maple. There's also a Pennsylvania striped maple, a tree common on the East Coast, but so rare in this state most people probably don't know it exists, Evers said.
Mark Law, a supporter of the arboretum, guessed his family donated about $25,000 for trees, including the maple collection. He didn't know about the Greek Village expansion plans until reached Friday by the Argus Leader.
"That's the first I've heard of it," Law said.
Evers doesn't remember when he discovered the sturdy Rushford arborvitae, a strain immune to winter burn, capable of staying green through harsh Midwestern winters.
But he knows where he was. The arboretum gave him the ability to research the plant and propagate different variations years ago, he said.
"It doesn't come out of the blue," Evers said. "It comes from arboretums."
There are no immediate plans to develop the sites in the lot boundaries approved by regents, SDSU officials said.
The plat still needs to be signed by the Commissioner of School and Public Lands and Gov. Dennis Daugaard.
If student housing was built on those lots, the university could move or build around trees, said Doug Wermedal, associate vice president of student affairs.
Designers have taken similar steps to preserve trees and green space around other building projects, he said.
"That same care and effort would be made in anything that would land in the arboretum portion of this," Wermedal said.
Fraternities good for students and community, students say
Alpha Gamma Rho is one of the only houses in the Village that isn't either brand new or under construction. The space was built in 1979, and rests on a double lot next to the arboretum.
"We were just the first ones out here," house President Dan Larson said.
The home sits on northern tip of what has since become the campus' Greek housing area, near the heart of the gardens-arboretum space.
Fraternities and sororities can be a resource for students, giving them a place to make friends and get involved in the community, said the 21-year-old agronomy student.
He thinks a stronger Greek presence would help the university impress high school graduates, looking for the right fit.
"You have prospective students coming in," Larson said.
Across the road, FarmHouse Fraternity is a signpost for the campus' growing Greek system. Workers broke ground Saturday on a new, bigger house. The old building will go to Ceres Women's Fraternity.
Two other groups have built houses on the same street in recent years, and another, Sigma Phi Epsilon, has plans for a $1.2 million house.
Expansion signals progress to 19-year-old university student Matt Fritzke, house manager for FarmHouse.
Fritzke sported a buzz cut last week. He and other FarmHouse members shaved their heads for a community event, raising about $11,000 and giving most of the proceeds to the family of Ellie Loehr, a young girl who was diagnosed with leukemia in February. The rest, $2,000, went to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
"If you're going to grow organizations that can really help your campus flourish and prosper," Fritzke said. "There really should be no question."