Sorority House “Cold Rooms” Are the Chilling Campus Custom That TikTok Can’t Cease Speaking About

Depending on the place you grew up, Greek life—the world of sororities and fraternities—may be one thing you understand nicely or barely encountered in any respect. Having grown up in South Carolina and joined a sorority in school, I assumed I used to be fairly accustomed to its customs. Yet social media nonetheless introduces me to campus traditions I’ve by no means heard of. Every yr round school admissions season, TikTok sparks loads of questions on one particularly surprising characteristic: sorority chilly rooms.

Sometimes referred to as sleeping porches or chilly air dorms, these communal bed room areas may be present in sure bigger sorority and fraternity homes at faculties together with Indiana University, Purdue, and the University of Washington. Typically located in an attic or basement, the rooms include rows of bunk beds harking back to barracks and provides members a devoted place to sleep at nearly any hour.

Cold rooms are stored darkish across the clock, normally with little to no overhead lighting and blackout curtains that stay closed all through the day. As their title suggests, they’re additionally maintained at unusually low temperatures. Air conditioning might run so intensely that residents may have electrical blankets and heating pads. At Kansas State University, for instance, chilly dorms are routinely stored at a cold 62 levels. Because these areas are reserved strictly for sleeping, members hold clothes, faculty provides, and different private belongings elsewhere in the home.

One TikTok person, a former Kappa Kappa Gamma at Purdue University, took to the app to explain her experience. “It’s one big room that’s really cold and really dark; you make it the coziest space possible,” she says in a single video. “At one point, I had a bed in the cold room, a closet in the hallway, and a desk downstairs. I loved every minute of it.” She goes on to say that KKG’s chilly air dorm was constructed as a necessity to accommodate the bigger incoming pledge courses, generally as much as 90 ladies who have been all shifting into the sorority home at one time.

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A “cold room” in one of many sorority homes on the University of Washington.

Caroline Lassman, an alumna of Kansas State University, slept in her sorority’s chilly dorm for 2 of her three years in the home. Some bunks have been extra coveted than others. “Bunks were assigned based on a ‘points’ system,” Lassman advised us. “We gained points by having a good GPA, participating in community service events, helping out the sorority for events, etc. From there, we were able to pick whether we wanted the top or bottom bunk and at what part of the room. You’d typically want to be in one of the farther corners so you weren’t by the door that was opening/closing all the time.” Other than the cacophony of morning alarms that might all go off without delay, Lassman recollects these rooms being a really peaceable place to sleep.

These odd sleeping preparations have historic roots. In the early 1900s, sleeping porches have been simply that: A screened-in porch with beds fairly than conventional porch or lounge furnishings. Because older houses have been constructed to lure heat air within the winter, summers may very well be stifling, particularly within the Southern United States. Sleeping on the porch was an opportunity to benefit from a cool evening cross breeze.

Today, in fact, central air con has made sleeping porches far much less crucial—however the idea nonetheless has its enchantment. Plus, when you’ve got hassle sleeping, sharing a pitch-black, chilly room crammed along with your finest mates may be precisely what it’s essential to lastly get some well-deserved relaxation.

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