"Best" Colleges and their Greek Systems

[Low C Sharp]

Dartmouth and Cornell, the most Greek-friendly Ivies, have strong old locals that stand arm-in-arm with the national houses to a degree that I think is quite unusual. Both schools, especially Dartmouth, have a long and proud tradition of national Greek houses defying racial and religious restrictions as early as the mid-1950s, and of abandoning their national organization when it ordered them to depledge a diverse member. Some of these houses have since rejoined the nationals, and others remain local.
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[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Dartmouth and Cornell, the most Greek-friendly Ivies, have strong old locals that stand arm-in-arm with the national houses to a degree that I think is quite unusual. Both schools, especially Dartmouth, have a long and proud tradition of national Greek houses defying racial and religious restrictions as early as the mid-1950s, and of abandoning their national organization when it ordered them to depledge a diverse member. Some of these houses have since rejoined the nationals, and others remain local.

That's not just Cornell and Dartmouth--Brown was very vocal (both students and administrators) in addressing the discriminatory clauses that several of the fraternities had. Many had shed them in the postwar era, but there were still a few.

[Drolefille]

Is this still the case at some of the schools we're talking about here?

[Low C Sharp]

You can be in a GLO and a secret society (at Yale), a final club (at Harvard)*, or an eating club (at Princeton). This is also true, I'm told, of the secret societies at Penn and UVA. In fact, one often leads to the other. Both Presidents Bush were in DKE and in Skull & Bones (a secret society founded 1832) at Yale. Teddy Roosevelt was in DKE, the Hasty Pudding Club (founded 1770) and the Porcellian final club (founded 1791). But no, no double GLOs.

*In practice, I'm not sure if this is true nowadays of IFC chapters and the male final clubs at Harvard; it is definitely true of the NPC/NPHC chapters and female final clubs there. In fact, there has been substantial membership overlap between Theta and the "top" female final club. It may just be that male final club members today feel no need for IFC membership. I'm pretty sure that NPHC membership and a male final club are compatible.

An interesting side note: historically, the final club system was extremely discriminatory with regard to prep-school lineage and social standing, but surprisingly open-minded with regard to race. Even in Edwardian times, the handful of black students at the top prep schools could make it into a final club at Harvard. I don't know if this was true at Yale as well; my guess is yes. Princeton did not admit its first black undergraduate until 1946, so it's a moot question there.
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[KSUViolet06]

Our only chapter at any of those listed is Delta Chi at UVA.

[Miriverite]

A little off subject but was just reading an article about billionaire David Koch who is the second richest man (to Mayor Bloomburg) in NYC and learned that he is a product of MIT. He was a basketball star and a member of a fraternity. Does anyone know which one?

I did a lookup on the alumni site for you - he was a brother of Beta Theta Pi.

[Drolefille]

Ha. I get it!

[modorney]

Actually, the second "letter" should be m (times) r squared, not the square root of minus 1.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by modorney

Actually, the second "letter" should be m (times) r squared, not the square root of minus 1.

Ok that one I don't get. You trying to get a capital I?

[Miriverite]

Originally Posted by modorney

Actually, the second "letter" should be m (times) r squared, not the square root of minus 1.

Situational, depending on the shape of the object =)

[modorney]

Yep!

[Football Fan]

In the list above Tri Delta is represented with active chapters at 14 universities and has two inactive chapters at Princeton and Washington Univ. at St. Louis.

Kudos to all the NPC chapters who have lasted at these universities through world wars, depression, recessions, anti Greek sentiment and ever higher private university tuition costs.

[Low C Sharp]

My niece just pledged Theta at an Ivy League school in the top 10! I'm very happy for her.
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[Pinky657]

Wake Forest is very highly ranked (ranked 25th nationally) and has a HUGE Greek Life! there are 7 NPC sororities (Alpha Delta Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Zeta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Mu) and about half of the school goes greek!

[Football Fan]

The new rankings come out in September. It will be interesting to see what will happen with some of the flagship universities that are suffering from huge budget deficits.