The return of Farmhouse is finally coming back as past alumni and current students of UI have been working together to bring their once-present fraternity to return to campus.
Back in December 2020, the fraternity Farmhouse located on New Greek Row made the difficult decision to leave UI. The decision came from the impact of COVID-19 and the overall bad reflection of the core values of the house.
Farmhouse is an acronym for the fraternity’s core values. Faith, Ambition, Reverence, Morality, Honesty, Obedience, Unity, Service and Excellence. The Fraternity at UI is looking for members who value hard work and who show respect for others.
Ty Sherman, the president of Farmhouse, shared that for two years Farmhouse has been active in building the organization from scratch. Gaining new members and investing in the reconstruction of the house. Fall of 2022 was the schedule of members moving in, but reconstruction made that impossible.
“Even when I and the Delts moved in the rooms were bad” Sherman explained, “The house hasn’t been touched in a few years, my floor is still cheaply glued down, and if I step on the wrong one the board comes up with my foot,” Sherman said.
The return of this fraternity is all thanks to past alumni of the house and help from the alumni board of the fraternity. With their support Farmhouse may have been gone, but not for long. They helped to build the foundation and values of the house to light, sparking the passion of house President Sherman and other members to work to bring the fraternity back to life. Sherman is the only Farmhouse member living in the house while construction is taking place. He isn’t alone as the house of Delta Tau Delta has taken shelter there while their house is recovering from flooding.
“They have actually been very respectful to the property,” said Sherman, “They have put a hole or two in the walls, but they repaired everything and have been phenomenal.”
Nine members are a part of the fraternity with a goal of 20 more by the end of this school year. Since the house is not ready and complete for any official move-ins members of Farmhouse instead are living in places spread out across Moscow.
Members are estimated to be fully moved in full-time by the next school year in the fall of 2024. With their returning addition to UI, Greek Life will then have a total of 35 sororities and fraternities on campus.
Sophia Newell can be reached at [email protected]