Tau House

Tau House is a pretty nice place to live. The location is awesome (Corner of Piedmont and Channing and only three blocks from campus), the food is above average and the cooks are friendly. The house is also immaculate. It gets cleaned everyday and the work of the maid shows! The rooms are pretty spacious and there is a generous common area and tv room that you can use. There is also reasonably priced parking available in the back of the house. Overall I think that Tau House is good enough that I am currently living here for my second year. more

I lived in the only single room Tau House provided as an international student. The room was gloomy and outrageously overpriced. Staff is nice, but management ist not. Complaints and needs are ignored most of the time. I struggled months to get a decent internet connection. Food is good, but most of the time the same. Dining room hours are not at all adapted to student's need and really unflexible. The surroundings are sometimes horribly loud due to the fact that Tau House is surrounded by fraternities. It's near the campus, but far from downtown and BART. Pros: near campus, clean Cons: unflexible, gloomy, overpriced more

I created an account on this website to insist that no poor soul ever make the same choice that I did...living in Tau House. The building itself isn't bad, and the food is actually pretty good - but the house manager is a money-laundering, abusive, bitchy, horrible person. DONT LIVE IN TAU HOUSE. I REPEAT, DO NOT LIVE IN TAU HOUSE. She makes up rules as she goes, and charges residents hundreds of dollars for minor issues. DO NOT LIVE IN TAU HOUSE UNDER DIANE'S REIGN. Pros: NOTHING Cons: DIANE more

As a resident of Tau House for the current school year, I have had to get used to the Paradox of Tau. \r \r When I first visited Tau, I was blown away by how clean and organized it appeared in relation to the other residences that I saw. This was the main reason I decided to pay substantially more than the other options to spend the year at Tau. And for the most part, it lived up to my expectations. Maids clean common areas on a daily basis and the views from the third floor deck are simply stellar. In addition, the food is fairly decent, at least as good as one could reasonably expect when moving away to college. The kitchen staff is also very accommodating to dietary needs.\r \r However, the paradox comes in with the lack of attention to resident needs. Perhaps because of the stellar job they do with certain aspects of the house, the staff seems to believe that students could not possibly have any problems and thus makes themselves very inaccessible. The house director is a live in but I rarely see her around the house. Problems with certain house amenities, such as the printer, heating, and laundry machines, sometimes go unaddressed for a long period of time. A lot of the responsibility of running the house seems to be bestowed upon the RA even though the house director is on site. In addition, arbitrariness is the norm at Tau. Although there are very specific times posted for the opening and closing of some amenities at the house (patios, decks, the dining room, etc), they are rarely adhered to and in reality it is a matter of luck whether certain things will be available. \r \r All and all, I would probably still choose Tau if I were making the decision over again. It is a very close and supportive environment, especially for freshmen who may not have received University Housing. That said, prospective residents should be aware that the lofty expectations they have during first impressions may not be quite as accurate as they hope. more

As a former resident assistant at Tau House (8/05-11/06) I can say that Tau House management is unorganized, unrepsonsive to parent/student/staff concerns, and often abusive to staff and students. These issues are ongoing since its manager has held her position for some time, and since the, essentially, incompotent and ineffective house director is in no hurry to resign herself. The house director is live-in, but rarely seen - save for occasions when she chooses to pick fights with staff and students whenever she is up to a good power trip. The manager is almost never seen by students, and generally unconcerned with student problems. She listens only to the false claims of the house director. \r \r Management often concoted reasons to remove students or fire staff members - often they were based on blatantly false conceptions of what went on at Tau House, usually they were tanamount to lies (I was not fired.). The reason for this is simple: it makes them feel like they are effective at what they do only when they are repremanding students and staff. The problem being that they are rarely available or seen in the house - putting them at a serious disadvantage with regard to knowing ""just what is going on"" in Tau House.\r \r Feel free to email me, I can probably get you in contact with numerous staff members and students who share this sentiment - nearly ALL in fact, who resided in Tau House during my stay, and many more who stayed before I did.\r \r I highly recommend that anyone considering this place, find an immediate alternative. Again, I was not fired, and these are not simply the complaints of a disgruntled employee - PLEASE, do not be fooled by what Tau House management represents to you, and reconsider this residence.\r \r rcoleman@berkeley.edu Pros: amazing staff; relatively safe/clean environment; oppurtunity to make great friends. Cons: management pits itself against staff and students. Management makes staying not worth the pros. more