<p>I think that Midwestmomofboys is suggesting reading the Amherst paper as a way of getting the sense of overall campus culture --that is, the reasons for the decision and the reaction to it might be more important than whether one prefers a campus with or without fraternities. I haven’t read the Amherst paper – but I certainly would agree with the idea that reading The Columbia Daily Spectator and the Bwog would be a good way of getting a better sense of student life and opinions at Columbia/Barnard. (An added, sad note: as of the end of this year, The Spectator is ceasing its publication of a daily print paper – I do think that the daily print version was a big part of my daughter’s life at Barnard – it was distributed free to all students so of course everyone read it each day. Its demise is just one more sad chapter in the overall demise of print journalism- but I think that overall, far fewer students will be reading it regularly when it isn’t available to them on campus newsracks).</p>
<p>I’d add that I think that fraternities have a very different potential impact in a small college-town setting than in an urban setting. Columbia has fraternities & sororities (and Barnard women can join the sororities, plus there are one or two co-ed fraternities) – but there’s very little pressure to get involved with them because there is plenty of other things to do for entertainment and socializing in NYC. Whereas the fraternities typically become much more dominant on a campus where there are not a lot of other social and entertainment outlets for students. </p>