NORMAL - Some Illinois State University fraternity members say the state shouldn't butt in when it come to whether privately owned fraternity and sorority houses can allow smoking indoors.

Earlier this week, Illinois Department of Public Health officials said they're considering whether the statewide smoking ban that takes effect Jan. 1 for public places could include those Greek organization buildings, even if not they are not campus-owned.

Current law bans smoking in all college residence halls or university-owned fraternity and sorority houses. But it is the privately owned ones in question.

"I think the department of health has more important concerns it should be dealing with," said Jonathan Shepler, ISU's Interfraternity Council president. ISU has chapters for more than 30 fraternities and sororities, he said.

"How would they even monitor this? This is private property," said the senior from Countryside, who is a member of ISU's Farmhouse fraternity.

Shepler said he's not sure what action, if any, the ISU council will take regarding the proposal. A petition is one possibility, he said.

Leaders of the Pan-Hellenic Council, the sister group for ISU sororities, were unavailable to comment Tuesday.

The question arises because university residence halls are considered public places, and thus would fall under the places requiring the smoking ban. University-owned fraternity houses and sorority houses are considered residence halls.

Other ISU fraternity members say the law shouldn't apply to the group houses because they remain independent even though they are affiliated with the university.

"We're self-regulated, with our own laws and regulations," said Tim Panatera, an ISU junior and vice president of that campus' Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter.

In that ISU fraternity, located in a residential neighborhood near the campus' Tri-Towers complex, the chapter allows smoking in certain rooms, he said.

Most fraternities and sororities already choose to make the sites nonsmoking, he said. But Panatera and Shepler both said the decision should be the homeowner's, not the state's.

At nearby Illinois Wesleyan University, how the ban plays out won't matter: At that private campus, all fraternity and sorority houses are university-owned buildings.

"We've been a smoke-free campus for several years," said Sherry Wallace, IWU spokeswoman. "So that wouldn't affect us."

Eureka College in Woodford County also has several fraternities and sororities. Most of those homes are university-owned residence halls. Two are independent, owned by fraternity alumni organizations, said Ken Baxter, Eureka dean of students.

But, the smoking ban possibility is a moot point at Eureka because even the privately owned fraternities must abide by residence hall restrictions, he said, which already call for no smoking indoors.

A decision on whether the privately owned fraternity and sorority houses will be included in the ban could be made in the coming weeks.