Catholic Founded/Based Colleges and Universities
 

This may not be the appropriate forum for this Question, but I'm hoping that it is...so here it goes!

I live in an area where there are an abundance of Catholic founded colleges and universities. None of these institutions support Greek Letter Organizations. Many even state on their websites under "campus organizations" that they do not support Greek organizations because of the exclusivity of the nature of the groups. I was wondering if this is consistent with all Catholic Institutions or if it is just the geographical area. Does anyone here attend a Catholic founded university that is in a GLO? I know that other denominational based universities support GLO's such as Methodist (That's the only one that I know of actually). Does anyone have any insight into this topic?

I know of several Baptist schools that have greek life.

Just a sidenote :)

Loyola University in New Orleans is a Catholic university, but it also has social GLOs. In fact, I'm pretty sure there is a Gamma Phi on the boards from Loyola and I'm friends with an alum of that chapter. So, I guess it's not all of the Catholic institutions, but I can't speak for the rest of them :)

I live in a city where there are several Catholic founded universites, mine being one of them. We have both men and womens social sorority and fraternities. Another catholic univ here also has GLOs. So its not just a Catholic thing. :) I am proud to say that St. Mary's supports Greek Life to the fullest!

I went to Avila University-- Catholic based and supportive of the then Greek system.

Rockhurst College, also in KC, Catholic based, and they have a good Greek system.


-wendi

Well I don't know how supportive the administrations of greek but around NYC I know St. John's and St. Francis have Greek Life (though probably not too big but that's more of a NYC/Commuter student thing i guess) Also I know Villanova has pretty big Greek Life.

Creighton and Marquette are the first two that come to my mind, and both have Greek life. Gamma Phi is currently active at Creighton. Right now Marquette has 4 NPC sororities: Alpha Phi, Alpha Xi Delta, Alpha Chi Omega, and Pi Beta Phi. Kappa Beta Gamma was also founded here, so I wouldn't say that it's a standard policy. If you do a search on this you can find some old threads on it - some schools, such as Creighton, have guaranteed bid placement.

Re: Catholic Founded/Based Colleges and Universities
 

PLEASE STATE YOUR AREA, AND THE EXACT INSTITUTIONS FOR WHICH YOU REFER!!!

It is difficult to answer your question correctly while playing guessing games.

Kentucky schools
 

Georgetown College in Georgetown, KY (just outside Lexington) is a Christian school with greek life.

As for Catholic schools, Spalding University in Louisville does not have greek life. Bellarmine University (also Louisville) does have greek life. They have a Phi Mu chapter, which I believe is the only sorority. They also have a chapter of Alpha Delta Gamma. Historically the co-ed business fraternities have been strong and basically run like our socially based GLOs, with extreme competition to get into the "right" one (they have Delta Sigma Pi and Phi Beta Lambda.) Things may have changed in recent years, but it would not surprise me if this is still true there!

I am an alum of a Catholic founded University -- Siena Heights University, in Adrian, MI-- and we have 2 sororities and 2 fraternities...Phi Sigma Sigma (of course!) and Alpha Sigma Tau, Pi Lambda Phi, and Psi Upsilon.

So it's not a Catholic thing!

Amanda

Re: Catholic Founded/Based Colleges and Universities
 

I am an alum of Georgetown University (not to be confused with Georgetown College, which was already mentioned -- hey y'all!) and they did not support Greek life for the same reasons that you have mentioned.

Alpha Phi Omega, Delta Sigma Pi, and Delta Phi Epsilon Professional Foreign Service Fraternity and Sorority are all strong there, perhaps because of the absence of the traditional system.

The following BGLO's and LGLO's have had members from Georgetown joining city-wide or core chapters at other schools: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi (no members since the late 90's), Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma (first and only members pledged in 1977), Zeta Phi Beta (first member pledged in '03), Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Lambda Pi Chi, and Malika Kambe Umfazi.

Alpha Epsilon Pi is, to my knowledge, the first general fraternity established at Georgetown. They were established a few years ago, and are not recognized by the university, but of course are recognized by their national organization.

Yep, there is a Gamma Phi from Loyola New Orleans here. In fact, our former president is a Greek. There's a pretty active Greek life, even though we're kind of small. Just depends on the school, looks like.

Duquesne University, a Catholic university in Pittsburgh, has a greek system.

I did most of my undergraduate work at St. Norbert College in DePere, WI and they definitely have Greek Life (I think they are up to 5 sororities and 7 fraternities). I'm also currently doing graduate work through Franscican University of Steuvenville, OH - VERY Catholic school - and they have a small greek life. I would have to agree that it is definitely NOT a Catholic thing - as there are public schools/non-religious private schools that have completely abolished Greek Life.

Sarah

Re: Re: Catholic Founded/Based Colleges and Universities
 

I live in the Northeast PA area, and attend Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, which is adament about not supporting greek life because of the reason that I have stated. The institutions surrounding me don't support greek orgs. , such as Kings College, College Miseracordia, The University of Scranton (which is a Jesuit University), Johnson College, Bible Baptist College, Penn State Branch Campuses (which is a state university obviously, but don't have greek systems because only the main campus does), Marywood University, Lackawanna County Community College. Not ALL of these are Catholic based but the majority are, and it seems as though its consistent that they don't support greek orgs. due to many reasons, which I dont agree with.
Thank you for all of your messages, I wasn't sure if it was a universal thing!! I'm glad that its not!! Now all I have to do is TRANSFER ;)

St. Louis University is Jesuit and they have a greek system. I did not attend the school, so I'm not sure about the sentiments on campus.

Greek Life at Saint Louis U. is pretty strong, with 12 fraternities and 5 sororities.

I'm from New Orleans and there are sororities and fraternities at Loyola. Also, my cousin attend Regis in Colorado, it is a Catholic University run by the Jesuit Order of Priests and they do not have Greek Life there. My cousin said that there are some groups that meet, but they are more like social/religious groups there.

I am Catholic by the way and the majority of my family is Greek. Also, most of my sorority sisters are Catholic. I did have a friend from high school tell me it was against the Catholic Religion to be in a sorority. I don't think I'm breaking any rules by being an AOII. If anything, it has made me become a better person and much more charitable person.

I don't know about Catholic Universities, but I do know that The University of the South or "Suwannee" as it's commonly referred to has greek life. The school is affiliated with the Episcopal Church.

BYU does not support greek life, and it's not catholic but very religious. I don't attend there, but their in our conference.

Re: Re: Re: Catholic Founded/Based Colleges and Universities
 

I know that area...my brother went to UofS.
Doesn't Kings College have frats? Not recognized by the school.I distinctly remember a friend who said he was a Kappa Sig there...but i could just be making that up in my head.

OK, I'm sorry but why are we talking about schools that aren't Catholic in here? There's a big difference between Marquette and BYU. :rolleyes:

Re: Re: Re: Catholic Founded/Based Colleges and Universities
 

I'm not sure why, but none of the schools in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton have Greek Life. Once you get out of that area, and over to like Bucknell, Lycoming, Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, Susquehanna, then the schools have Greek Systems. Once you get south of there, to like ESU, Lehigh, Lafayette, etc., you get Greek Systems again. I don't know what the reason is, but it's always been that way.

OMG KATH YOU ARE SUCH A BIATCH!!!1!! :rolleyes: :mad: :eek:

I WISH THE KAPPA SIGS WOULD THROW YOU IN THE LAKE. :(

Me too! ;)

THEEETA, THEEETA.

And to put this a little more on-topic, I think private schools are a little more likely to not have Greek Life because it's easier for them not to. It obviously doesn't hurt some schools - look at Notre Dame.

I attended a Catholic founded university that has 3 fraternities and 3 sororities now. It used to be more positive toward greek life until they hired the jackass of a president they have now, who is verrrry anti-Greek and actually was hired partially for that reason.

"and that school would be" Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN which is 2 hours from where I grew up and went to high school(that school is Catholic High School) in Little Rock, AR.
Which is 15 minutes from where I went to grade school (do you need to know that one too?)

And that school would be?

Xavier University in New Orleans, the only predominately Black college in the US, has NPHC sororities and fraternities. Xavier University in Cincinnati, a Jesuit school, also has NPHC sororities and at least one fraternity. at XU/Cincy, i don't know about non-NPHC orgs on campus:)

Jesuit Colleges and Universities
 

I decided that I would make a listing of Jesuit Colleges and Universities to see which ones have a traditional greek system or not. Since most BGLOs and LGLOs can function through metropolitan chapters, I won't note them. If there is an "unrecognized" chapter of a national GLO on a campus that does NOT have a recognized system, I will note it.


Boston College
Canisius College, YES
College of the Holy Cross
Creighton University, YES
Fairfield University
Fordham University, NO
Georgetown University, NO but has a chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi
Gonzaga University
John Carroll University, YES
Le Moyne College
Loyola College in Maryland
Loyola Marymount University, YES
Loyola University Chicago, YES
Loyola University New Orleans, YES
Marquette University, YES
Regis University, NO
Rockhurst University, YES
Saint Joseph's University, YES
Saint Louis University, YES
Saint Peter's College
Santa Clara University, YES
Seattle University , NO
Spring Hill College
University of Detroit Mercy, YES
University of San Francisco
University of Scranton, NO
Wheeling Jesuit University
Xavier University

Of course this is incomplete, I will edit the post as we get more info. And FYI, I only included Jesuit Universities because 1) the ones that ban them seem to say that frats/sorors are against the Jesuit mission, and 2) because I went to one and worked for one!

By bringing up BYU i was just trying to make the point that it's not jsut a catholic issue, others brought up methodist schools and episcopalian. What is your problem?

I didn't just mean you. Catholic schools are a lot different than a Methodist school, or BYU, or Wheaton, or Bob Jones.

Also, Sensuret, Detroit-Mercy and John Carroll both have "traditional" Greek systems, there are currently active Gamma Phi chapters at both of them.

Thanks! I changed it.

I'm not trying to start trouble, but can you explain the difference? We don't have a catholic university in my area.

Senusret, I believe there are people from Santa Clara here on GC. I am about to head off to work so I can't search now. If you don't find it I will do a quick look when I get home.

The University has SAE, Sigma CHi, Pika, and Sigma Pi mentioned, I am sure there are more.

I want to say Theta is putting a colony in there, but I could be wrong. One of my sisters went to University of San Francisco, but if there was greek life she never mentioned it.

The majority of Jesuit universities are nowhere near as strict with their students as something like BYU or Wheaton. For example, if I wanted to go dancing, it wouldn't violate the school's honor code. We do have an honor code but it's nothing extreme like theirs. I basically go to the equivalent of a non-religious private school, but I'm required to take some theology and philosophy in addition to my regular coursework, and one of our "dorms" is for priests. I like my Jesuit university 10000x more than I liked my UW school, and I wouldn't trade it for anything other than a better Jesuit university. There are a lot of great websites out there explaining the principles of a Jesuit education.

Re: Catholic Founded/Based Colleges and Universities
 

OK, now you'll get some real answers. There are 171 Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. Of these, there are 28 Jesuit institutions of higher learning. About half of the Jesuit universities do not have Greek systems, and most of these simply prohibit fraternal organizations. Most of the Jesuit colleges and universities that prohibit Greeks are either in the Northeast, or the West Coast. Some of these institutions have policies that state that fraternal organizations are inconsistent with Catholic teachings. Some do not. Fraternal organizations are not deemed inconsistent with Catholicism, or there would be no Catholic colleges and universities with Greek systems. In addition to many Jesuit institutions prohibiting Greeks, the University of Notre Dame also prohibits Greeks.

If we want to broaden this thread to Catholicism, I can get one of my brothers, who is a Priest, to join in the discussion. I'm Jewish, so I'm not exactly an authority on this.

With regard to the schools in your area:

King's College had a chapter of Pi Lambda Phi from 1984 until 1988, according to Baird's. I don't know if this chapter existed [i/sub rosa[/i]. You would have to contact the administration to find out their policy.

The College Misericordia is not listed Baird's, so you would have to contact them regarding their policies.

University of Scranton is Jesuit and, according to Baird's, has never had recognized social fraternal organizations.

Johnson Technical Institute is not listed in any of my sources. Is it a an accredited 4 year school? If not, then of course there are no Greeks.

The Baptist Bible College is not Catholic, and not listed in any of my sources. Is it a 4 year school, and if so, how many full time undergraduate students are there?

Your Penn State branch may not have a Greek system, but several do.

Marywood University, according to Baird's, has no Greek system. You would have to contact that school to find out their policies.

Lackawanna County Community College does not have a Greek system because it is a community college.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Re: Jesuit Colleges and Universities
 

We always heard really good things about the Georgetown chapter and when I met a couple of the brothers from there, I was impressed.

-Rudey
--Funny that at a prestigious Jesuit university it's the Jewish house to be the first "general" fraternity.

Senusret I,
Rockhurst and Loyola-Chicago are yeses. We have chapters at both of them. :)

russellwarshay,
The only Penn State branches I know of that have Greek systems with national groups are Behrend (which really isn't a branch, but a college) and Altoona - what other ones do?

Wrong thread. Read its title.

I don't remember, but we had this discussion at a Phi Kappa Psi Executive Council meeting a few years ago. The current edition of Baird's is too out of date to address the current state of the Penn State system. My point was that the number is greater than zero.