It's been a very long time since I was a college student, so this was something new to me. There is talk on some campuses about an "old law" that says a house with a certain number of females living there is legally considered a brothel.
This is a completely strange concept to any single mother with daughters, or anyone who ever lived in the old-fashioned dormitories that were segregated by sex (I have lived in both situations). Have you ever heard of such a thing? Read more about housing laws that do and don't exist at mental_floss. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user albioncollegespecialcollections)
The story is often told to explain the absence of sorority houses on certain campuses. But for as many times as the tale is told, these laws have never actually been documented anywhere. In 1998, a group of eight Tulane University students searched through municipal and state law books going as far back as the 1800s and came up empty. I did a little digging of my own closer to home; I couldn’t find any laws in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the municipalities where I went to school.
This is a completely strange concept to any single mother with daughters, or anyone who ever lived in the old-fashioned dormitories that were segregated by sex (I have lived in both situations). Have you ever heard of such a thing? Read more about housing laws that do and don't exist at mental_floss. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user albioncollegespecialcollections)
For that same reason, sororities were required to live in dorms instead of houses.
http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/city/in-focus-evanston-will-enforce-brothel-rule-starting-in-july-nu-administration-won-t-fight-it-1.2446387
Most of Pitt's sororities are housed in Amos hall, and people cite the brothel law as reasoning. But it's clearly false, as we do have sorority houses on upper campus.
Use some common sense, people.