private schools

can private schools not allow greek life? if not what is there to do?

[PsychTau]

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer.

However, I work at a private school. To my knowledge, a private school can not allow greek life by either refusing to recognize the organization, or by refusing to recognize ANY organization that is designed to be a single sex organization, or by refusing to recognize ANY organization who's primary purpose (or "category") is purely social in nature (i.e. not a service org or an academic honor org). On a private campus, if you aren't a recognized organization, you might not be able to use campus facilities, sponsor events, advertise, or even wear letters on campus (some private schools have "attire guidelines").

Those are my guesses based on my work at a private school. However, each school chooses to recognize or not recognize National GLOs based on different reasons. We can't even BEGIN to speculate why your school doesn't. They may be perfectly happy with "coed service orgs" that are not nationally based and that just might have a Greek letter name. People define "Greeks" differently.

PsychTau

[moe.ron]

That's correct. Private school can pretty much choose what kind of organization they allow on campus.

[AlphaXiLuckyMe]

A lot of private schools do have very strong greek life. Although they typically only have a handful of chapters because the campuses are significantly smaller than large universities. My private undergrad college had a very large greek life with more than 30% of women belonging to a sorority.

[xxc0lie1xx]

i go to a private school where greek live rules the campus... Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fl. Because of the 9-1 guy to girl ratio, there are 9 fraternities and only 2 sororities (plus a colony), but it works. I guess were really lucky because our school really helps us out with whatever we need, but im sure there are some private schools that dont allow it.

[Tom Earp]

It would depend on the School as seen above.

William-Jewell in Mo. has a large Greek Population and Centel Methodist in Mo. just opened up to National Greeks after many Years.

carnations College,in Ga. while had nothing but Locals, decided to go with Nationals.

A lot would depend on the Adm. Status and feelings. Some beleive Greeks are evil, others find that there is a defenite need for Greek Type of Organizatins.

There is also a fine line when it comes to whether Said College gets any Federal or State funding and what the agreements are.

[ASTDD2002]

I'm a member of a sorority at a private school. We have aproximately 1500 students on campus, 18% of which are Greek. We have 7 fraternities and 4 sororities, of which 4 organizations are local organizations.

[Kevin]

Private schools can do whatever the heck they want so long as they are not discriminating against you on the basis of race, color, creed, etc.

Membership to an organization though? Sure!

Many private universities have removed Greek organizations by threatening expulsion of anyone that continues to operate such an organization.

[NebraskaDelt]

Private schools (those which receive absolutely no money from any government entity or foundation) can discriminate in anything that they do. A good example is Bob Jones University, a highly religious private institution.
Although they have gotten rid of their racial discrimination, which lasted from 1927 to the 80's, due to tax status reasons [see 461 U.S. 574 (1983)], they still discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, and religion. [see their nondiscrimination policy at: http://www.bju.edu/admissions/nondiscrim.html
Basically, private schools can do what they want to do.

Similarily, churches can discriminate their hiring practices to those who are church members without getting in trouble.