What it takes to be a live-in house director, Tulane fraternity has put out the call

If the job headline of “Tulane Fraternity in Need of Live-in House Director,” grabbed your interest because you want to relive your wild college years, or because you saw Animal House and thought, “Huh, that looks like fun,” well, this position at Tulane’s Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) chapter isn’t for you.

“We’re looking for someone that understands the power a role model can have on college students and someone who’s interested in making sure that the chapter is successful,” said Laurence Bolotin, Executive Director of Zeta Beta Tau International.

“We’ve had two house directors since we returned to campus,” Bolotin added, “and both have been very actively engaged in a positive way with the chapter and have helped them as it relates to decision making and leadership and understanding, and how to internally run a good organization.”

“It’s essentially an amalgamation of being a coach, an extra parent, a counselor, and sometimes judge,” said Vegas Curry, one of those two past house directors, who held the position from August 2014 through September of 2015.

Even though Curry was a member of the ZBT chapter while at the University of Virginia, one doesn’t have to be an alumni of the fraternity to serve as house director.

There is no age requirement either. “It really runs the gamut,” said Bolotin. “One of our chapters has house directors that could be well into their fifties and sixties, sometimes older, and some have graduate students that serve as house directors – it really depends on their interest an abilities to meet the expectations that we’re asking for.”

Curry, 34, was a police officer and part-time graduate student at Tulane when he accepted the house director job. He then left the police to focus full-time on school and his 50-or-so new housemates. (He is now an analyst for the federal government.)

ZBT asks house directors for a minimum commitment of one academic year, Bolotin said, and then depending on their performance, they may have the ability to remain in that role. “There are some house directors that may be there for several years.”

To apply, please email Laurence Bolotin at lbolotin@zbtnational.org.