tsdad -- one of the biggest misconceptions is that only Orthodox Jews can be observant and active. The terms Orthodox and Observant are not synonomous.
However, I will note that there was a recent study I read about that said that Reform students are less likely to participate in on-campus Jewish activities because often those activities involve things that the students have not been exposed to growing up (not meaning to sound critical of Reform Judaism - this is something I read --
http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?new...ease%5fdate=1). On the other hand I also just read an article that Hillel in general is looking into changing their approach to address the needs of "Millenia" students -ie the current generation of Jewish students. (
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/ne...keyword=hillel)
Bottomline - each student has to decide for his/herself what makes for the type of vibrant Jewish community they want -- Some will find what they want at a school that offers few if any on campus services but offers a lot of other programming.