My son absolutely loved Lehigh when he visited. However, several months later he saw that it was ranked very high on Princeton’s Party School list. The three schools higher were huge public schools I believe. I know the college experience is what you make of it, but if partying is what unifies students the most, that is not great. My son is very social, but if the only thing to do on a Friday or Saturday night is attend a frat party, I could see that getting very old for him. It might feel like four years of Ground Hog Day. We live on the west coast and the chance of trying out another part of the country is very appealing, but a very conservative “good ole boys” culture would make it less so. If any students could give me perspective whether I’m over reacting, should ignore the Princeton Reiview, or am somewhat right in my thinking I would greatly appreciate it. THANK YOU>
My D2 is at Lehigh. She is a good student, but also social and likes to have fun. It is true that there is a good amount of partying at Lehigh. However there are other things to do. She gets a significant amount of homework. She utilizes the fitness facilities, is active in three clubs, has visited NYC and Philadelphia with her friends, has also attended football games and, I think, a few other sporting events. This semester she joined a Sorority. There are also things to do in Allentown and Bethlehem which I think have a combined population of about 200,000.
Small, elite schools outside of major metro areas in the northeastern US are commonly characterized by a “work hard, play hard” culture that includes a party scene. This is not something unique to Lehigh; for example, if you take another look at the current Princeton Review party school list, you will see that two of Lehigh’s peer schools in the Patriot League, Bucknell and Colgate, are also highly ranked.
Note that partying is optional. There are plenty of non-partiers at these schools, and they simply socialize with other like-minded individuals. The administration at Lehigh, and probably at other schools, makes a deliberate effort to schedule alternative social events that are entertaining without intoxication.
If you want a small elite northeastern school with less partying, look at urban schools, schools with religious affiliations, liberal arts colleges that have banned frats, and former women’s colleges that have gone coed.
The other thing about Lehigh is that as small elite colleges go, they are one of the larger ones and about to begin growing again. Having a slightly larger student body means that they can offer more clubs and activities on campus. You can, very roughly, think of Lehigh as a 2000 student LAC with a 1200 student engineering school and a 900 student business school and a 400 student college of education attached. They have also announced that they are adding a college of Health in the next year or two.
They have enough scale to have more activities available than a smaller school, but are not so large that you are lost.
It’s a reasonable concern. A number of small liberal arts colleges in the northeast have eliminated fraternities, sororities, secret societies, etc. due to concerns about excessive partying and other issues. I think Williams was the first; they phased out frats around 1970, as they went coed. At the time, this was a radical and controversial move, but today it’s not unusual for LACs to do this. It’s not an easy change; many LACs have frats that have been established for 100+ years.
In contrast, there doesn’t seem to be much movement in that direction at Patriot or Ivy League schools. Their greater size probably has something to do with this: they are typically big enough that partiers and non-partiers can each do their own thing, without getting in each other’s way.
The current Lehigh administration appears to be taking a hard line on excessive behavior, as per this other recent College Confidential thread:
It may not be a coincidence that the current president of Lehigh went to Williams in the 1970s, shortly after the frats were abolished there. In other words, he personally opted for a non-Greek undergraduate environment.
I think @Corbett is right about the new President of Lehigh, to a degree. I have the impression that he supports Greek Life, but wants to make sure that students are safe. In the long run that will be better for the University and everyone involved.