Frat Row, short for Fraternity Row, is the stretch of Russell Blvd. from A Street to Highway 113 where many fraternity and sorority houses can be found. You can find Freshmen and Bros cruising frat row in search of free beer on most weekends. Tons of Frat Parties happen on Frat row.

Most college campuses have "Frat Rows", however here in Davis frats are actually found everywhere depending on the zoning of the specific properties for campus organization use. In fact, Davis has a relatively small "Frat Row". Another concentrated area of Greek Life is Frat Circle across from the ARC.

Russell Blvd Fraternities

Russell Blvd Sororities

Non - Russell Fraternities

Non - Russell Sororities

Fraternities without official houses

Sororities without official houses

A New Fraternity Row? Faced with an inadequate supply of affordable and appropriate (by size) housing, many Greek chapters now exist among the City of Davis’ neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, the shift towards “informal houses” has only exacerbated the tensions between students and the city’s permanent residents.

As the university is developing its “Long Range Development Plan” (LRDP), a growing population of both students and City of Davis officials believe that the prudent choice for the university would be to take into account zoning for a fraternity row/ communal housing. In this manner, groups ranging from fraternities to club teams could benefit from group housing alternatives that serve as an excellent example of high-density living. This approach has recently been taken by San Diego State University and has received overwhelming praise. Could this proven model be applied to UCD’s “West Village Neighborhood”? Take a look and judge for yourself. At this point, this type of project is not on the table. If you're interested, contact ASUCD Senator Thomas Lloyd and see what you could do to bring this issue to the forefront of discussion.

  • Didn't Ruth Asmundson and Larry Vanderhoef mention something about this on Jon Li's DCTV show? -RobRoy
    • Funny story actually- in Jon Li’s interview with Ruth and Larry on DCTV, Jon actually threw the question regarding greek zoning out there (that I actually planted in an earlier meeting that week with Jon). Larry’s answer was that he felt that it was the city’s problem to deal with, as Davis is responsible for neighborhood problems such as the one that’s sprouting between greeks and long-term city residents. Ruth’s immediate reply was to throw it right back at Larry, claiming that fraternities and other groups are campus-based, and therefore a university problem. To avoid coming to punches live on air, Larry’s wonderfully political response was, well, maybe we could possibly look into it if there’s a demonstrated interest. Here’s the opportunity to show that interest does exist, and that the west village serves a unique opportunity to remedy the problem. -TL
    • my two cents is that it's the city's problem. The university shouldn't build a new frat row on university land. -jh
      • Maybe, but where would the city put them? Ideally it would be close to campus and I doubt they'd endorse steam rolling the rather expensive housing that exists near campus. Instead, the university's committment to high-density student housing close to campus so as to reduce traffic and environmental impacts should warrant this type of project. -TL
  • Wait, I don't get the problem. I mean, practically, aren't fraternities just like any other group of people living together? Why should either the university OR the city have to do anything about it? I mean... if I want to get together with a group of 20 of my closest science fiction watching buddies and form the 'Society for Students Who Want to Invade Other Planets', why should anybody be obliged to see that I have some place to live? What's so different between that and a fraternity (besides the obvious bit about planetary invasion)? BTW: If somebody DOES have an obligation to help house a sci-fi student group... anyone out there interested in forming the (government subsidized) sci-fi house? —EricKlein
    • I agree that such a club, if demonstrating a genuine interest and committment to benefit the community, should be open to apply for the described group housing. In fact, there already exist group housing across from the ARC that serve groups other than greeks, including the African Diaspora House and the Jewish Student Union. The point is that there is a demand for group housing, fraternity or otherwise, and there is a lack of a supply. On-campus housing is available to groups only after an application process that includes a presentation to a board selected by the university and the housing owners. So I encourage you to get your group together, demonstrate a committment to benefit the community (ie through philanthropy), and apply for housing once we get this project off the ground. It's not government subsidized (I wouldnt call the dorms "subsidized"), it's just a service that the university should be allowing for to meet the demonstrated need of a significant portion of its students. -TL
      • I don't mean to be obtuse, but I still don't really understand why there should be any special consideration. I was actually being facetious about the sci-fi house thing. I really wouldn't want any sort of special public support for a group like that. I have no problem with the fraternaties and sororities, and I wish them the best of luck with things, but I also don't see where they should get a helping hand either. They are a voluntary organization that, although made of students, and therefore somewhat school related, are not really an integral part of campus (or town) functioning. If the fraternaties and sororities disappeared tomorrow, things would be a little different, but the campus would go on pretty much as it has. I still don't understand why anyone should help out any private group with their housing needs. The dorms are a different matter. They make the transition from high school to college much easier for many students, and they seem to actually provide a real benefit to the school, the students and the town. Not that fraternaties and sororities don't provide benefits (charity work and such), but it doesn't seem beneficial nearly on the same scale as having the dorms for freshmen. Personally, I don't want my taxes or my UC fees spent to help house any group that could just as well arrange for their own housing needs. (I would be just as opposed to housing any private group, not just greeks). —EricKlein
    • Parties in Davis neighborhoods can only be fixed with real long-term solutions
  • check out where we can stick it (scroll down to page 3 and/or 5): here
  • police said there was a stabbing at a frat house on the 300 block of russell, but wouldn't tell me which house. any idea? i can't tell based on these addresses. i'm going to check when i head that way later. what i've got so far: http://patch.com/A-yj7R
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