Greek Life at Harvard?

<p>How big is Greek life at harvard? (if there's any?)</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finals_club%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finals_club&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>That's a good primer on what goes on at Harvard. Who says elitism is dead?</p>

<p>technically, harvard is not allowed to have a greek system. however, i know that there are three sororities on campus: Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and another i forgot the name of. and you can always go off campus to pledge at another of the boston colleges.</p>

<p>although, harvard has no official greek system, it has final clubs which are a more elitist form of a frat or a sorority. cambridgeguy's link gives the basic gist.</p>

<p>Harvard does in fact have Greek life on campus. There are chapters of the Sigma Chi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternities on campus. Sigma Chi has a house on Mass Ave. in which some of the members live throughout the year. The three sororities on campus are Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Delta Gamma, none of which have a house. While a relatively small amount of students join the Greek groups on campus, the groups themselves are very active in campus social life. While none are officially recognized by Harvard, they are nationally affiliated with their respective national headquarters.
<a href="http://www.krimsonkappas.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.krimsonkappas.com&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.crimsontheta.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.crimsontheta.com&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/greek_recruitment%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.geocities.com/greek_recruitment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The Greek system's popularity has indeed been increasing on campus, particularly among the sororities, and there have even been some rumors of bringing a fourth sorority to Harvard at some point in the near future in an effort to keep up with rising interest.</p>

<p>I was wondering, what is the reason for Harvard to not recognize these frats and sororities? </p>

<p>Is it because of initiation? or is there another reason?</p>

<p>The administration has a great fear of bad PR...for them, final clubs, frats, et al are not inclusive enough for their standards. </p>

<p>When Sam Alito's confirmation hearings caused Ted Kennedy to publicly and frantically disavow his own membership with the Owl Club (when media allegations of elitism and sexism came up), you can understand why the administration is so concerned. </p>

<p>The whole thing is slightly over blown as many schools have frats and they are male only. </p>

<p>So, hazing worries is part of it but certainly not the main reason. (Regardless, those who know Harvard know its initiations are umm...rather tame) Someone correct me if I'm wrong.</p>

<p>yeah, avantgarde is right. for less exclusive clubs, like the phoenix, the owl, or others, the initiation isn't too crazy. but for the secretive clubs, like the porcellian or the AD, anything could happen.</p>

<p>There are so few members in The Porcellian that it's almost insignificant...</p>

<p>Plus, if you want an active and fun social life, it's probably the last final club you want to be in. Unless your goal is to rule the world along with your Yale counterpart Skull and Bones...(and screw it up badly...)</p>

<p>yeah, windcloud. i know someone who got punched for PC this year. and i think there are like 20 or so members. they are pretty intense. the person i know got into the PC and chose the Fox instead.</p>