school daze

Columbia Apparently Not Being Overtaken by Fraternity Fever After All

When the New York Post reported over the weekend that the number of Columbia students belonging to Greek organizations had ballooned to 30 percent of the student population this year, we were pleasantly amazed. Could it be that undergrads are finally winning the “war on fun” in Morningside Heights? We pictured keg stands atop Butler Library and swarms of frat boys streaking down 114th Street. (With the coyotes!) To our dismay, however, it appears that the numbers were a bit off. The Post claims they got their figures from an article published on March 1 in the Columbia Spectator, which states that there was a 30 percent increase in women who rushed sororities — the members of which still make up a small fraction of the overall student body.

This year, 254 women from Columbia College, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of General Studies and Barnard registered for Panhellenic Recruitment—an increase of more than 30 percent over last year’s 195 women.”


The actual number is closer to 12 percent, according to Cristina Stevenson, the director of communications for student affairs at Columbia. “We haven’t seen a significant change from last year,” she said of student participation in Greek life, but added that there’s been a steady increase in the past few years. Apparently our visions of underwear-filled trees along College Walk were too good to be true.

Columbia Apparently Not Being Overtaken by Fraternity Fever After All