Cornell Halts Frat Parties: Greek Life at Top X & Non-Southern Schools

I read the article linked below which talks about some recent incidents at some of Cornell’s frat parties and then details some less savory details of fraternity history at the campus.

Anyone should be able to read this link, regardless of their subscription status or the number of NY Times articles they have read this month:

From my limited experience, Greek life is much more prevalent in the south (much higher rates of participation and more widespread across universities…few 4-year institutions don’t have Greek life). Thus, when I see Greek life mentioned on CC, it’s often in reference to the south/SEC. I will say that the types of issues described about Cornell would not surprise me if written about Greek life at some southern schools. My question is, how typical is it of schools outside the south? And how typical is it of Greek life at other Top X colleges? And to be fair to the south, any institutions with a strong Greek life that do not have some of the issues raised in this article?

Greek culture varies greatly from school to school but I’d bet that if you google the name of almost any college you would find similar issues. It’s very disturbing.

11 Likes

Here is a local non-paywall news page on the subject:

1 Like

I think that anybody who thinks that this sort of thing only happens at schools in the southern US is being naive. Just because students go to an Ivy League college doesn’t meant that heavy drinking and drug use aren’t happening.

19 Likes

I think that there is an undercurrent from various threads that Greek life in the south is perceived as different from elsewhere in the U.S. My question was posed to see if anyone can explain those regional differences, should they exist.

Additionally, many well-reputed southern schools, well-beyond the football powerhouses, have extremely large percentages of students who participate in Greek life. A few examples of percentages that participate in sororities (source):

  • Washington & Lee (VA): 71%
  • U. of the South/Sewanee (TN): 69%
  • Wake Forest (NC): 61%
  • Samford (AL): 59%
  • Texas Christian (TX): 57%
  • Tulane (LA): 52%
  • Birmingham-Southern (AL): 50%
  • Davidson (NC): 49%
  • Millsaps (MS): 47%

To provide some context, these are some of the non-southern schools that have higher percentages of sorority participants.

  • DePauw (IN): 59%
  • Augustana (IL): 55%
  • Centre (KY): 50%
  • Sacred Heart (CT): 45%
  • Syracuse (NY): 45%
  • Denison (OH): 44%
  • Creighton (NE): 43%
  • Bucknell (PA ): 42%

Would Wofford (SC) with 41% in sororities be similar in Greek-feel as Drake (IA) with its 41%? Or Syracuse at 45% with U. of Alabama at 43%?

And if Greek culture is so dominant at a university, how does that affect the rest of the university and the prevailing types of social life? Certainly a huge state school like Alabama will have students with other options/interests, but what is it like at a smaller school, even a mid-size like Bucknell or a small one like DePauw?

This is an interesting question. From my experience at UCLA, a relatively small percentage of people are officially part of Greek Life, although many, many others’ social lives revolve around frat parties and other events.

Some of the smaller (or southern) school have a high Greek participation, but not all the Greek houses are the national ones you think of (like in Animal House). Some are ‘local’ and are more like social groups at other schools. Some have specific themes, like music, religion, public service. In the south, there are a lot of the traditionally black sororities and fraternities. Some are for living situations (dorms or eating clubs).

In some of the more rural colleges, the Greek system is formed because there is little to do in the area so the greeks provide the social structure. They host parties on campus, they organize homecoming activities, do fundraising or support community groups.

A student doesn’t have to join a Greek house, but I think those who want to be campus leaders have an easier time doing so by being a member of the Greek system. Lots of votes for student council, support for forming clubs or running them, etc.

3 Likes

Good for Cornell for investigating what appears to be an epidemic of drugging drinks at off-campus parties. I’ve always hammered into my daughter’s minds that they should not accept a “Red Solo Cup” drink at ANY party - unless they are able to supervise the drink being poured.

The bad sides of Greek life always seem to be highlighted in the media (which it should be), but rarely is it balanced with the good that many Greek organizations do (raising thousands for charitable organizations, participating in community service, neighborhood clean ups, etc.) Thus, the general narrative is that they are all like Animal House.

Drugging and sexual assaults can and do happen at non-Greek house parties, dorms (a male student was recently sexually assaulted by another male in his dorm room at one of our state u’s) and outside campus buildings. They also happen in communities - several years ago, there were cases of women being roofied at a high-end roof-top bar in my city.

As momofboiler said, Greek life culture varies campus to campus, but I never understood a student deciding not to choose a college based on the percentage of students in Greek life. There are countless non-Greek clubs on every college campus that a student can be involved and be social in, and not feel like it’s Greek life or bust - they just need to make the effort.

Going through recruitment at southern universities is intense but again, it’s a choice, not a mandatory requirement for a successful college experience.

2 Likes

Davidson does not have sororities, and the system is by lottery.

I always thought it was more that rush was different in the south but that greek life is pretty much the same at most big schools.

2 Likes

There is a difference also between Frats and Sororities. The Rush at Sororities can be very competitive and disappointing(especially in the south), and does take place over a week, but once you get your bid, the sisterhood and love can be amazing. Also for Sororities there tends to be a lot more rules than for Fraternities. Sometimes they are too strict.
For Frats, its a slower process it seems. and its about being invited to hang and less formal. Also once you get invited, there is “initiation” where the new recruits have to do tasks, and some come close to hazing. Also the Frats are the ones that are having the parties. Its a bro atmosphere. there are some Frats that are not “animal house”. I think for Frats its about the same across the US versus the greek life for Sororities. I think what happened at Cornell happens in many colleges, where guys have parties and alcohol, and there are many girls that go to get plastered.
and Yes, back in the 80’s I was a little sister at a Frat and learned a mean game of beer pong :).

I have 2 daughters in sororities (north and south) and one son in a fraternity. Back in my day, I rushed, and then pledged for like a month, busy work, chores, callouts, a bit of hazing. My son was definitely hazed, but not my daughters. There were more tasks and busy work with the northern one, for the southern one it was a week of rush and then big little dates, mixers, but nothing negative. My 3 daughters always brought their own drinks to parties and/or pregamed. If they went to bars they’d never put their drinks down.

1 Like

Regarding Animal House, wasn’t it loosely based on some of one of the writer’s experiences at the non-southern Dartmouth College, which has a high fraternity and sorority participation rate?

Note that the Presley / Meilman / Leichliter study on college drinking suggests that it is heavier in the northeast and north central regions than in the south or west regions. Fraternities and sororities were also associated with more drinking.

1 Like

Speaking of my experience in our chapter at the University of Wisconsin, we never had hard drugs (and certainly no roofies…) or assaults. We were a fairly small group (about 20 members), and we all had jobs to do at parties – door, treasurer/cash box, mingle, give directions, security. So during the larger parties we threw, we weren’t getting hammered.

Aside from the good times and camaraderie, the things I remember most from my time were my jobs (at different times…) of Alumni Relations VP – I produced a monthly newsletter sent to alumni of our chapter – and Recruitment Chair, and the charities we helped.

I also took part in the Mr. Alpha Chi male pageant, which included a “strut” on a “cat-walk” and a performance (Keeper of the Stars), but we won’t get into that too much. hehe. I did score a cool t-shirt.

I’m horrified by some of the crimes that apparently take place at some fraternities, but I’m glad to say we ran our events pretty safely. Nobody ever got hurt; the worst thing I remember happening was when someone puked in the kitchen sink. That was nasty.

I could see that, as in the south/west the climate is such that outdoor activities are easier to do in the dead of winter. What else in upstate NY is there to do when it gets cold

I can speak as a Wofford alumni, and as a parent of a son there. Wofford Greek Life is as important or as non-important as the individual makes it.

It can be a nice landing spot for the night or it can be your routine, but the objective of college is growth and community connection. For some individuals that can happen organically without participation in Greek Life, and for others it is fueled by inclusion in a fraternity or sorority. Neither way is bad.

One final point, is that the participants in Greek Life at Wofford, just as at a lot of other institutions, seem to maintain higher GPAs on campus and the greater involvement in leadership.

I believe that! I went to college in upstate NY, in one of the snowiest cities in the U.S. Drinking was prevalent among both the students and the “townies” - a way to cope with the less than favorable weather that descended in October and lingered through April. There were many legal bars in regular houses in regular neighborhoods, so one didn’t have to walk too far in the cold to get a drink.

Also interesting to note regarding the notion that most hard-core drinking events only happen at Greek houses, at my younger daughter’s university, there many non-Greek groups who have formed fraternity-like clubs (some are co-ed and some even have “houses”), and they are also known to have pretty wild parties. She has attended parties at the German club, an engineering club and a skiing/snowboarding club.

1 Like

This is correct in my experience as well, sororities are different than fraternities. I do think that the Greek scene is also large in much of the midwest, think Miami of Ohio or a lot of the other public universities.

I was in a sorority at W&L in the 90s, it was kind of a nonfactor in my life outside of having a lot of friends also in the sorority. All of the regular parties were open to all students so it didn’t matter if you were Greek or not. I did however meet my husband over a game of beer pong at a frat party…

4 Likes

Yes, my sibling went to Colby and always said the sports teams acted just like the frats at W&L. No idea if that’s the case anymore.

1 Like

That info is wildly incorrect on Davidson, so that makes me question the validity of any of it.

Davidson was all male until the last century and only has three sororities which are new in the last 15 yrs. They are a Latina sorority (Lambda Pi Chi) , and two Black sororities (Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta). Davidson does, however, have eating houses that women may join, but these are not the same at all as sororities.

Long tradition of Frats at Davidson. I married into Davidson.

All of this is on Davidson’s website. Fraternity & Sorority Life (Patterson Court Council) | Davidson

Some big Southern schools have a big frat and sorority scene, but plenty don’t. I live in a college town in the South dominated by a major university and while the frats and the sororities are pretty visible they only attract about 20% of students. It’s really no big deal at all to not join a frat or sorority and you are more unusual if you do join.

My kid goes to a very small school in the South with no Greek presence at all (definitely what she wanted) and we toured several others with no Greek presence or minimal Greek presence (one had like 4 frats, but no frat houses and they just met in the Student Union to do service projects).

I think Frats do have a rep for drinking and drugs and it’s not undeserved in some cases. There were a bunch of arrests made around a drug ring centered on frats a couple of years ago.

We’re not fans of frats and sororities in our family, but we have friends who were in them (and there definitely were drugs involved back in the 80s, too).

2 Likes