The UA system board of trustees approved a Stage I resolution to build new housing for the sororities Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Delta Delta and Delta Gamma, Thursday.

As the separate resolutions for the houses stipulate, the houses will be built behind the President’s Mansion in the new Magnolia Development.

Gentry McCreary, director of greek affairs, said sororities were able to apply for the new housing, and the four chosen were selected based off of need and merit.

He said topics such as grade point average, community service and number of members played into the selection process for the bid for housing.

He said the growth in enrollment at the University has led to a growth in members of the sororities on campus. Their houses, he said, have in some cases become too small to accommodate the growing pool of their respective memberships.

“It speaks directly to the growth in the UA community,” he said.

McCreary said the greek community has more than doubled in size since 2003 when it was about 3,000 members strong.

Nicole Bohannon, a member of Alpha Gamma Delta and a junior majoring in political science, said the sorority had to compete with other sororities’ applications to win the bid for a lot.

“The application was pretty extensive,” she said. “Our sorority was given points based on a variety of topics … With growing chapter numbers and a growing rush, it’s important that we can accommodate more people coming into the sorority.”

Bohannon said the influx of members into sororities has become a common issue on Sorority Row.

“It’s definitely a widespread issue, but it’s the best problem we ever had,” she said.

She said the construction of new housing for the four sororities is a great opportunity to incorporate new sororities onto campus to lighten the influx of members into sororities already with housing on campus.

McCreary said other sororities will have the chance to move into the houses the selected sororities leave on Sorority Row.

Bohannon said Alpha Gamma Delta will be able to incorporate new elements into the new house.

“We will have the ability to incorporate bedrooms for the first time,” she said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to utilize bedroom space. There was a time when every girl had to live in the sorority house at one point during her college career.”

All the sorority houses are expected to be opened by fall 2012.