The typical American college campus is often characterized by fraternities and sororities hosting fundraisers and throwing parties in their large, shared houses.
On Boston University’s far-from-typical campus, things are a little different, students and officials said.
The website collegeprowler.com, which posts student reviews on various aspects of college life, gave BU a C grade for its Greek life, citing that while BU Greek life exists, it does not play a predominant role in overall campus life. As recruitment continues on for both fraternities and sororities, and as fraternities hand out bids this week, however, Coordinator of Programs for Greek life Su Bartlett said Greek life plays a bigger role on BU’s campus than most people think.’
‘One of the greatest aspects of Greek life at BU is that it helps make a university as large at BU smaller,’ Bartlett said. ‘Greek organizations are founded with the purpose of bringing people together based upon similar values so it helps give people a home away from home.’
About 100 men and 400 women go through recruitment, with women pledging spring semester only, Bartlett said. Despite collegeprowler.com’s assessment, popularity is growing as fraternity population increased by about 150 members last spring, Bartlett said. In total, BU has about 1,200 students in Greek life, or about 7 percent of the total undergraduate population.
BU has a total of eight fraternities within the Inter-Fraternity Council, nine sororities within Panhellenic Council, and four fraternities and two sororities within the Multicultural Council.
‘BU’s Greek community is similar to other urban campuses in that it is not a residential Greek System,’ Bartlett said. ‘This creates a unique atmosphere because they really do rely on being close to each other based on common values and interests.’
Much of BU Greek life revolves around the tradition of supporting local and national philanthropies, Bartlett said. The fraternities and sororities advocate community service and host a ‘Day of Service’ every fall, where they work together alongside other BU students to help various charities, including the American Cancer Society and the September 11th Fund.
‘We have a very strong Greek community here at BU, which is growing very fast,’ she said. ‘I am very excited about our community.’
Some BU students said they agree with the collegeprowler.com’s review.
‘It’s not a typical Greek life here,’ College of Arts and Sciences freshman Rachel Kessler said. ‘I think it’s too exclusive and that you should spend time with people from various organizations, not just a sorority or fraternity.’
However, others said they find BU Greek life refreshing compared to other schools.
Though College of Communication freshman Megan Riesz said she does not intend to join a sorority, she thinks the system is great.
‘BU has the perfect kind of Greek life,’ she said.
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