Greek Life is one of the many aspects one can partake in during their college experience. From philanthropic efforts to finding those lifelong connections, the choice to get involved in Greek Life sounds appealing. However, Greek Life also has a reputation regarding partying, hazing, and the unfortunate events that may result from the irresponsible behavior.
West Virginia University has consistently been ranked as a top party school. While Greek Life makes up about 8 percent of undergraduate students, one could wonder if the presence of Greek Life is responsible for party reputations at universities.
Cross-referencing universities that are notorious for partying with their Greek Life presence may give an insight on its impact.
Tulane University
According to 2019 Top Party School List, the champion of the party schools is Tulane University. Tulane’s undergraduate enrollment sits around 8,610 and their Greek community makes up a whopping 41 percent of the student population.
According to a student review, “…Greeks usually dictate the party scene at a school because they set the parties and thus have all the power, here bars dominate and thus frat parties are total freshmen-fests.”
Similar to West Virginia University, Tulane has enacted deferred recruitment, “The Tulane University Fraternity/Sorority Community participates in deferred recruitment, meaning entering first-time first semester freshmen may not join fraternities and sororities. Deferred recruitment allows students the opportunity to adjust to academic life at Tulane before taking on the additional time commitment of a Greek organization.”
Additionally, Tulane University administrators warns students about unrecognized organizations that are operating underground.
Notice any similarities to WVU?
Check out Sadie Janes post on My Reputation, for a deep dive into the response to a culture change at WVU and the fraternities that dissociated from WVU.
In an attempt to push for a culture change on campus, Tulane’s administration created new policies to punish the behaviors that have lead to its negative party reputation. The policies include harsher punishments for violations, keeping first-year students from attending wet Greek events during the first four weeks of classes, and preserving a dry campus during high priority times.
Howard University
Howard University is a private, historically black university, in Washington DC. Reviewing the 2019 Top Party School List, Howard sits at the number five spot.
Howard’s undergraduate enrollment is 6,354 (comparable to Tulane) and Greek Life involvement is roughly four percent of the student body. Although the campus hosts Council of Fraternal Organizations (CFO) and National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), Howard does not have a strong Greek presence as Tulane University and even WVU.
Yet, all three universities made it in the top five spots for the 2019 Top Party School List.
While this only skims the surface of the relationship between party school reputations and Greek Life, I do not believe the correlation is strong enough to solely blame fraternities and sororities for universities being labelled as “party schools”. College students, involved in Greek Life or not, can have a desire to party.
My Reputation 