Female / Male Numbers in Greek System

[exlurker]

Numbers of Female and Male Greeks: West Chester U (PA) is an example of disparity in a growing Greek system, but certainly not the only example:

http://www.wcuquad.com/6002057/news/....2ZV4KJZ3.dpbs

Interestingly enough, at West Chester, reportedly, the number of NPC women (~1,200) is about double that of the IFC men (~600). That appears to be a slightly more prominent example of the Greek female / male numbers discrepancy we’re seeing at a lot of schools.

I know that at present, in general, more women than men are enrolled as undergrads, right? Still, Greek systems in a lot of places seem to have tilted to a greater female preponderance than just the enrollment numbers would suggest.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that."

So: Where are the guys at? Any ideas why?

Just asking.

[33girl]

All the SSHEPA schools have more women than men. It's been that way for a long long long time and I doubt if it will ever change.

On greakrenk, people were actually saying "we have to have an equal number of fraternities and sororities." They don't get it. But what's happening at WCU is so bizarre to me I don't even know where to start. Happily bizarre, but still bizarre.

[KDCat]

At Washington University, the ladies have their stuff together. They are organized, responsible, and fun groups. They are not a risk management problem. The men have more problems and some of them are down right sketchy. They are a huge risk management problem.

I will be very, very blunt: I would be perfectly happy if my daughter wanted to join a sorority. I have serious questions about whether I want my sons to joint a GLO. I'm not sure what the guys are learning. Many male GLOs have a lot of risk management issues on many campuses.

[33girl]

^^But is there parity overall?

As much as our national HQs would love to believe that sororities can survive and thrive without fraternities, from my experience it just doesn't work that way. It seems that the competitiveness and cattiness among sororities gets worse. The other thing that happens is the sororities start having mixers with athletic teams and other groups that have zero in the way of risk management policies.

[EagleChick19]

I'm actually the adviser for the AST chapter at West Chester University.

I've seen this first hand....a lot of guys don't want to go Greek. They end up sports (either intramural or school based.)

Originally Posted by exlurker

Numbers of Female and Male Greeks: West Chester U (PA) is an example of disparity in a growing Greek system, but certainly not the only example:

http://www.wcuquad.com/6002057/news/....2ZV4KJZ3.dpbs

Interestingly enough, at West Chester, reportedly, the number of NPC women (~1,200) is about double that of the IFC men (~600). That appears to be a slightly more prominent example of the Greek female / male numbers discrepancy we’re seeing at a lot of schools.

I know that at present, in general, more women than men are enrolled as undergrads, right? Still, Greek systems in a lot of places seem to have tilted to a greater female preponderance than just the enrollment numbers would suggest.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that."

So: Where are the guys at? Any ideas why?

Just asking.

[AnchorAlumna]

Statistics from the University of Alabama's Greek Affairs' Spring 2014 grade report:
Alabama Panhellenic Association: 5,110 members
InterFraternity Council: 2,742
NPHC: 148
United Greek Council (3 Latino/local fraternities and sororities): 167

I don't have exact figures, but it seems like when I was in school 14890 years ago, I ran across the figures and was shocked that there were so many fewer fraternity members.

Especially considering that a fraternal political party controlled all the elections. If the sororities ever colluded to put up and vote for their own candidates, if would wipe that silly group off the face of the earth in a couple of elections.

[AOIILisa]

Originally Posted by EagleChick19

I'm actually the adviser for the AST chapter at West Chester University.

I've seen this first hand....a lot of guys don't want to go Greek. They end up sports (either intramural or school based.)

I'm an adviser at St. Joseph's University and the same situation exists there. Panhel is actively trying to get more guys to join fraternities, asking the sororities to talk up Greek life to their guy friends, etc. I chalked up the lack of interest in Greek life to St. Joe's being a Jesuit school and generally not being that into it as a big state school would be, but maybe there's more to it than that.

Does Penn State have less fraternity guys than sorority women?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I think that most schools aren't that skewed, and it seems like the ones that are skewed are the same ones that had really explosive growth in NPC recruitment in the last, say, ten years. I wonder if they were fairly even for a long time, and then NPC grew while IFC did not.

[thetalady]

I think that men just don't have the desire to form "packs" like the women do, as evidenced by their ability to go to the bathroom alone

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AOIILisa

I'm an adviser at St. Joseph's University and the same situation exists there. Panhel is actively trying to get more guys to join fraternities, asking the sororities to talk up Greek life to their guy friends, etc. I chalked up the lack of interest in Greek life to St. Joe's being a Jesuit school and generally not being that into it as a big state school would be, but maybe there's more to it than that.

Does Penn State have less fraternity guys than sorority women?

Penn State has around 50 IFC fraternities and 20 NPC sororities. The fraternities would have to try really hard to be super small.

[AOIILisa]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Penn State has around 50 IFC fraternities and 20 NPC sororities. The fraternities would have to try really hard to be super small.

Wow!