I had always assumed that Wesleyan didn’t have Greek life because it doesn’t really fit in with the whole activist culture, but I recently learned that that’s not the case. I’ve been trying to avoid schools that have Greek life, so this is a little dismaying. What exactly is Greek life like at Wes? Does it have any actual effect on the social scene? Are there really “frat boys” at Wes?
- Greek life (meaning residential fraternities) constitutes only about 1% of the student body. Wes is nothing like any Greek-heavy schools and as noted below, is moving towards being Greek-free at the rate its going now
- Said Greek life is being co-educated as mandated by Wes - currently all three frats with housing (Beta, Psi U, DKE) are all in some sort of hot water and are pretty much off limits for students. This is perceived as actually having a negative effect on the social scene because they would frequently host large parties with bands, and those social spaces are now gone.
- Greek life therefore is going to be negligible on campus this year and Wes will probably be like its New England LAC brethren soon (aka frat-free like Amherst, Bowdoin, etc).
- “Frat boys” exist at Wes, and they, for the most part, are genuinely nice people participating in volunteer activities and contibuting positively to campus. Additionally, varsity athletes constitute almost 20% of the student body (actually a smaller % than most NESCAC schools).
- Only a small subset of the school is “activist” and certainly a smaller % than, say, in the 80’s and 90’s. Wes is a wonderful melting pot of cultures, whether they be techie, lax bro, hipster, activist, middle-of-the-road centrist, etc. Hence why you can have a 7-1 football team and win PETA best vegan food all on the same campus