qialah

Can someone tell me about the Greek scene at Willamette?

I see it's about 1/3 of boys and 1/4 of girls who join. How party-centric are they? Do they have their own houses, and if so are they near the other dorms?

D is interested in Willamette, but it seems like it's an awfully small school to need sororities and fraternities.

historymom

I'm not sure what you mean by "need sororities and fraternities;" can you explain please?

I can tell you that we visited twice once in my daughter's Junior year and again at an accepted student's even last year and at neither time did it seem that the greek scene was particularly relvent to the social life at WU.

qialah

To my way of thinking, the Greek system is a great way to make a big university smaller i.e., offer more intimate housing, create a close knit community within a larger more impersonal one.

It's one thing if 30% of 20,000 kids are off doing the Greek scene. It's another of 30% of 2000 kids are.

historymom

I disagree with the notion that they or any campus "needs" a Greek system in order to to foster a sense of community. I believe it is more that they "offer" a Greek system to diversify housing and recreational opportunities. In the same way they offer a GLBTA club, themed housing, and a variety of music ensembles, offering sororities and fraternities provide additional opportunities for a given student to find his or her niche.

In researching WU the thing that came up again and again across sources was the close community feel on the campus. As I said before when D did her overnight as well as on our original visit to campus the overwhelming feeling was that this is a campus where students are involved, active and intellectual. On neither occasion did the Greek system get more than a passing mention. It is definitely not a huge part of campus life.