Greek Life in the Ivy League

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

I'm a bit puzzled as to why Harvard wouldn't recognize APO. My understanding is that Harvard will not recognize single-sex organizations aside from singing groups and sports teams - hence the NPC sororities there are not recognized - but APO is coed.

Because APO, like most national organizations, Greek or not, doesn't guarantee local autonomy of the chapter:

Local autonomy of the organization. The criterion for local autonomy shall be whether the College organization makes all policy decisions without obligation to any parent organization, national chapter, or charter.

From the Harvard club recognition process

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

To weigh in on the Ivy+ side, MIT has six NPC chapters, 25+ NIC chapters, at least 3 NPHC chapters, a handful of local orgs, and (as naraht pointed out) a chapter of APO.

When my dad was at MIT in the 50s, they pledged before classes began and immediately moved into the house. Otherwise, there was nowhere else to live unless you rented a room in someone's house.

[alum]

That's how it was in the 90's for my brother. Members from various MIT fraternities hosted functions in the Boston area during his rising freshman summer. He accepted a bid in July or August and never spent a night in a dorm.

That has changed somewhat. I believe all MIT freshmen must live in the dorms.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by alum

That's how it was in the 90's for my brother. Members from various MIT fraternities hosted functions in the Boston area during his rising freshman summer. He accepted a bid in July or August and never spent a night in a dorm.

That has changed somewhat. I believe all MIT freshmen must live in the dorms.

There was a hazing or drinking issue some years back which I think is what put the kibosh on the "moving right into the house" concept.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by exlurker

As I understand it -- and as last year's dates for formal indicate -- NPC formal recruitment is now held in second semester. That may have been a change from previous years.

I haven't been able to locate Columbia's dates for formal in 2010, and I've searched moderately hard a couple of times so I could report to irishpipes. I'm thinking either 1) I'm searching too sloppily and stupidly; or B) "they" haven't updated the relevant parts of their site quite yet.

The smart money is on 1) above.

Thanks for the update! I helped out with recruitment in 2003 and 2004; at that time it was first semester, and freshmen were allowed to rush. I know there was some chatter about deferring recruitment at that time, but wasn't sure if it had changed. I am not an active Columbia alumna (it was grad school, after all). So like I said, my information may be outdated to some extent.

I wouldn't be surprised if "they" don't update their Greek Life website as much as say an Auburn or Ole Miss. I think a lot more of the information is through word of mouth and information posted on campus boards, etc. So, you are probably searching just fine.

Originally Posted by 33girl

There was a hazing or drinking issue some years back which I think is what put the kibosh on the "moving right into the house" concept.

Yeah, there was a freshman who died of alcohol poisoning, which got people all heated up about moving right into the house. During a risk management session in college, they made us listen to the 911 call that the guys made when it became evident that he wasn't waking up. Gross.

[AGDee]

Taking copious notes since my daughter is really hoping to go to Columbia or Cornell (her first choice is Columbia, her more realistic option is Cornell). She considers Michigan her safety school (and my only current hope for her to be an Alpha Gam). Yes, she's a maniac.

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Because APO, like most national organizations, Greek or not, doesn't guarantee local autonomy of the chapter:

I see. Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

When my dad was at MIT in the 50s, they pledged before classes began and immediately moved into the house. Otherwise, there was nowhere else to live unless you rented a room in someone's house.

Originally Posted by alum

That's how it was in the 90's for my brother. Members from various MIT fraternities hosted functions in the Boston area during his rising freshman summer. He accepted a bid in July or August and never spent a night in a dorm.

That has changed somewhat. I believe all MIT freshmen must live in the dorms.

I was at MIT in the 1990s. At the time, freshmen came to campus about a week and a half before classes started, and were assigned temporary rooms in the dorm system. Rush (not recruitment ) took place right away. Men who wanted to join fraternities would participate in fraternity rush, and the moment a man signed a bid, he moved straight from his temp room into his new fraternity's house. Same thing with men and women who were interested in independent living groups. (There were six ILGs when I was there - five coed and one all-women.) Women interested in joining an NPC sorority would go through sorority rush.

At the same time, we also had dorm rush. Freshmen would visit each dorm, take tours, and try to get a feel for each dorm's distinctive personality. People participating in fraternity or ILG rush were told to go through dorm rush in case they didn't get a bid. Freshmen who didn't want to go greek pretty much had to go through dorm rush. Same thing for women rushing NPC sororities - only one chapter had a house when I was a freshman, and that house wasn't big enough for the whole chapter, so almost all freshmen in sororities lived in the dorm system.

There was a summer rush program as alum described, however, bids could not formally be offered or accepted until fall rush. (ETA: It wasn't confined to the Boston area. Also, sororities could do summer rush (strict silence didn't begin until freshmen started arriving on campus), and we could pair up with fraternities. I attended more than one summer rush party in NYC as an active AEPhi.)

In the fall of 1997, Scott Krueger, a FIJI pledge, died of alcohol poisoning, allegedly as a result of a pledging activity. (This incident is what 33girl is talking about.) As a result, some VERY strict alcohol rules were put into place. A new dorm was built, and now all freshmen must live on campus. NPC recruitment was deferred to the start of the spring semester for a few years, but now it's back to the start of the fall semester. IFC recruitment was moved from August to September. So freshmen can join GLOs, but they have to wait until the start of their sophomore year to move into the house.

[Boodleboy322]

Yale has a really small Greek Life that is almost non-existent. There are probably about 8 fraternities on Campus and about 3 sororities.

There are 5 Secret Societies at Yale that include Scroll and Key, Book and Snake, Wolf's Head, The Order of the File and Claw and of course Skull and Bones Society.

Regards,

Boodleboy322

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I don't know that much about Yale's Greek Life.