<p>So y’all know that I am one of the residents “greeks” on this forum. Very excited to read this blog today! Not only have we been named the Nation’s Largest Greek community but formal recruitment is yet again ready to break an all time record for most girls going through recruitment. As of today 1,516 girls had registered for formal recruitment and we still have over a month before the start on August 11th.
Here is a link to the blog article for those that are interested, [NEW</a> #1, ALABAMA TAKES OVER AS NATION?S LARGEST GREEK COMMUNITY » Phired Up Recruitment Blog](<a href=“http://www.phiredup.com/index.php?option=com_wordpress&p=1972]NEW”>http://www.phiredup.com/index.php?option=com_wordpress&p=1972)
NEW #1, ALABAMA TAKES OVER AS NATIONS LARGEST GREEK COMMUNITY » Phired Up Recruitment Blog
[Start</a> Page](<a href=“http://www.phiredup.com%5DStart”>http://www.phiredup.com)
I love this quote concerning Greek growth on campus :
Its happened fast but it didnt happen overnight. Weve been preparing for growth. The University of Alabama is very pro-Greek. We believe in the fraternal movement all the way up the chain of command. We also have amazing Greek alumni and strong vendor partnerships. For example, Pennington and Company has led nearly every chapter fundraising campaign in the last decade. They were an important part of helping us craft our current policies. More recently Laurus group has done a few, too. We count on our business partners, alumni volunteers, undergraduates, headquarters, and university staff all working together. Its working.</p>
<p>Bama: We gotta jump in and highlight something were really proud of. An honorary member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, Dr. Robert Witt [former University President and now UA System Chancellor], is a recent recipient of the NIC Laurel Wreath Award, and UAs interim President, Dr. Judy Bonner, a member of the Beta Psi Chapter at UA, was instrumental in Delta Gammas recent colonization. We are so blessed to have an administration that is so supportive of Greek life. Thats critical! So much of our success would be impossible to re-create without the support we see from the upper administration.</p>
<p>Phired Up: How big do you think the Greek Community can get?
Bama: Were a growing institution. The goal is for UA to reach 35,000 students by 2020. Our projection is that fraternities and sororities will grow at least as fast as student enrollment. The Greek Community brings a lot of value to our students, alumni, community, and the culture of The University of Alabama experience. Given that, there are no plans of slowing down anytime soon.</p>
<p>Illinois has more fraternities and sororities but they tend to have fewer members than UA. There are 25 sororities but only 18 of them are large (180 members, 60-70 pledges) and the other seven might average 30-40 members. There are 45 fraternities, with the largest having maybe 175 members. All together around 7,100 students in the Greek system.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter a bit to me if Alabama is the largest Greek community in the country. My D has no interest in going Greek, but even if she did it wouldn’t matter to me. UIUC is our state flagship, and I didn’t care that they used to be the largest Greek community. What struck me more about the article is the cooperative relationship between the University and the Greek community, the preparation for growth, the support for new colonization when growth of the university calls for it, etc. That’s way more important than size.</p>
<p>I could be wrong about this, but I think Bama is the exception nowadays rather than the rule. Southern schools held onto the Greek thing longer than most, but it’s losing its influence a bit even in the South now. When I was at LSU in the 80’s, the Greek system was huge, and Greeks dominated campus life. Greeks dressed up for football games, and were easily distinguishable from the rest of the student body. It’s not that way anymore. The Greek system is much smaller, especially on the male side. People don’t define themselves mainly by their fraternity or sorority any longer. There are less divisions between students. That’s one reason LSU has the BEST student section in America, bar none. Everybody’s wearing the same color and moving/cheering/cursing/vomiting in unison. It really is impressive, and very, very different from my time there. </p>
<p>That said, I have nothing against Greeks. Except for the ones that are causing the Euro to go belly up.</p>
<p>Slippy, The growth among sororities in the south is alive and well. The problem at Ole Miss, Arkansas, and maybe LSU is that the alumnas have taught the potential new members to believe that only certain old established houses are good enough to pledge. This has kept other GLOs from colonizing on those campuses until recently. The result is pledge classes with 100-125 members each. This year Arkansas is adding 2 houses at once to alleviate the large pledge classes.
Ole Miss is the kiss of death to new houses for this reason. I hear they are open to expansion but no GLO wants to take a chance colonizing and failing. They only have 9 sororities compared to Bama’s 17. Alabama has been able to break out at least to some degree from the old school of only pledging certain houses. The influx of oos girls has really helped balance all the houses’ membership.
Kentucky has added 2 new sororities in the last 5 years as have several other SEC schools.
In the past 4 years Alpha Phi has colonized at Alabama, Ky, FSU, Clemson, and will colonize at LSU next year.
So I agree that Greek life doesn’t appeal to all, but at some southern universities, sorority membership is growing at a rate equal to or higher than enrollment.</p>
<p>I would agree with catfan. When a chapter colonizes on a campus each university has their own set of criteria and “expectations” for that sorority. Alabama has been very easy to work with. They have run into a little snag in that with the 4 new houses and renovations planned for other sorority houses any chapter that wants to colonize will have to do some major renovations if they move into an existing house that is being vacated. I happened to be on a house tour with a prospective sorority considering colonization at Alabama. They were concerned about the “house” situation. Also the University has asked any chapter considering colonization to commit to being on campus for at least 5 years. Colonization is EXPENSIVE and can be cost prohibitive. Building a new house is a HUGE expense. My DD is VP Property for her sorority that just happens to be building one of those great new sorority houses. It has been a wonderful learning experience for her going through this process and an eye opening one as well. The cost to build this new residence tops 10 million dollars! As an Alpha Phi alum we are asked to support the colonization of our sorority. I am truly excited to see our presence on so many new campuses including LSU. I am lucky enough to be able to go and help with this colonization and I am VERY excited!
As far as the popularity of “going Greek”, I have been asked to write A LOT (significantly more than the past two years) of recs for young women who are choosing to Go GREEK and many major southern universities as well as many smaller ones. It’s not always the right choice for everyone but I agree that at some southern universities sorority membership is growing. I believe that I saw a number not long ago (I believe quoting from 2010) that said that about 43% of incoming freshmen girls at Alabama joined a sorority…that’s almost half. The boys joining a fraternity number was lower…around 32%.
Tent talk can be damaging to the healthy life of a sorority. We tell girls to go in with an open mind and to maximize their options but there are still that come in with the mind set that catfan is talking about in regards to LSU. With close to 270 members in each house at Alabama I am confident that any PNM can find a group of girls to bond with
So it’s my opinion that Greek Life is alive and well in the South. Remember there are lots of organizations on every campus to get involved in. At Alabama that numbers over 450!!! Trust me when I say there is something for everyone…you just have to go to Get On Board Day which will occur this year on Thursday August 30 in the Ferguson Plaza. I hear that they are planning a festival type theme and everyone involved is very excited for a great turnout.</p>