3 min readDepending on where you’re from, Greek life—sororities and fraternities—may feel either very familiar or entirely new. I grew up in South Carolina and joined a sorority in college, so I assumed I understood the culture pretty well. Even so, I still come across traditions in the Panhellenic world on social media that surprise me. Around college admissions season each year, TikTok stirs both confusion and curiosity about a particularly unusual feature: sorority cold rooms, sometimes called sleeping porches.
These “cold rooms,” also known as cold air dorms, are shared sleeping spaces used by members of some larger sororities and fraternities at universities like Indiana University, Purdue, and the University of Washington. Often located in attics or basements, they’re set up with rows of bunk beds—similar to military barracks—and are intended for members to use for sleeping at any time of day.
To maintain ideal conditions for rest, these rooms are always kept dark. Overhead lighting is rare, and blackout curtains are often closed 24/7. They're also kept at cold temperatures, with air conditioning cranked up so high that electric blankets and heating pads are common necessities. At Kansas State University, for instance, cold dorms are regularly maintained at a chilly 62 degrees. Since these rooms are exclusively for sleeping, residents store their clothes and study materials in separate parts of the house.
One TikTok user, 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 one 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 cold air dorm was built as a necessity to house the larger incoming pledge classes, sometimes up to 90 women who were all moving into the sorority house at one time.
Caroline Lassman, an alumna of Kansas State University, slept in her sorority's cold dorm for two of her three years in the house. Some bunks were more coveted than others. “Bunks were assigned based on a 'points' system,” Lassman told 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 would all go off at once, Lassman recalls those rooms being a very peaceful place to sleep.
These odd sleeping arrangements have historical roots. In the early 1900s, sleeping porches were just that: A screened-in porch with beds rather than traditional porch or living room furniture. Because older homes were built to trap warm air in the winter, summers could be stifling, especially in the Southern United States. Sleeping on the porch was a chance to make the most of a cool night cross breeze.
Today, though many homes have central air conditioning and climate control, sleeping porches actually look quite pleasant. Plus, if you have trouble sleeping, a pitch-black, cold room filled with your best friends might be exactly what you need to finally get some well-deserved rest.
