That’s the number. Roughly 1500 are in.
The biggest step I’ve seen is UH acknowledging Greek. From my undergrad days it seemed more open and connected to campus, for a bit after COVID (MS/PhD now) some said it felt closed off and pocketed. IMO if the connectedness comes back, that might make strides. I could be wrong though.
Also do national offices support the orgs on campus or fund them somehow? Greek students, their involvement and post graduation success helps the Uni a lot.
A lot of donors I know in athletics are former members of Greek life. Couldn’t hurt to invest a little more into it.
This list of the BEST Greek systems is a better one.
Predictably, Illinois, Bama, and USC are all near the top.
You have to be an member of a frat.
Greek Life was poppin back in 2014-2018 when I was a student
Seems that it’s gone downhill ever sense from what I’ve been told
I think this list isn’t really reflective of the overall opinion of UH Greek life, because most people are comparing our campus life to SEC schools
UH will most likely never have that type of Greek Life.
Real Estate to support UH Greek life is too expensive, compared to less urban campuses. Plus, McGregor from what I know doesn’t even want fraternities in their neighborhoods (where they used to be)
What UH could do is turn this area into a Greek Life type of row, but again, very costly
It felt as if everyone knew someone in Greek Life at the time. Then again, I’m only recalling it from my undergraduate days (2018-2020). It was the tail end of the Herman buzz and Applewhite era, and even with probably less students in CFSL, it was definitely more present while the school wasn’t really pumping it per se.
Now, the school DOES pump it somewhat, but from what I hear from the undergrads, it’s a pocket, much like other orgs and fairly large groups on campus, instead of something trying to show presence. Not that this is bad, but it would probably help if what I’m hearing is accurate. I think this is a huge result of COVID though that hasn’t really let up.
If any current students in Greek are reading this, or recent alumni, feel free to send me a DM. I’m on a faculty committee that is trying to work on spirit stuff through campus. While we can’t get you funding, I can probably see what can be done to tie Greek more into general campus life
If I’m not mistaken within the last 8-10 years 4 of the largest and most active frats have been suspended or kicked off campus for a period of a few years. Kappa Alpha , Sigma Nu , Sigma Chi and the Pikes . Some may be reinstated but not sure.
Yes I was in Greek life 2012-2016 and was peak…
Tom Herman
new football Stadium
Kelvin Sampson (he came to our fraternity house and talked at a meeting to rally support for games)
All the new buildings (UC, CW, CV)
Unfortunately, we got kicked off campus as did many of our members. The head of CFSL, Jason Bergeron, was a big fun sucker and was tough to work with. Had us doing diversity trainings and a bunch of bullshit.
I have heard rumors of Frontier Fiesta into the Spring game which would be a huge step for Greek life and spirit.
I volunteered with my undergrad chapter in 2023, during my last year of grad school, having come from a Big 12 school, where I’m currently on my 160 man chapter’s alumni board.
I met with the CFSL director to try and figure out what Greek life looked like here before volunteering during my first year of grad school. Campus is at 3% Greek life participation, which was a precipitous drop after covid. For example, SigEp in 2019 had 100 members and was largest on campus. In 2023 they were just about the largest with only 40 members.
The director reflected how their goal was to get to a Big 12 average Greek life participation rate. Across the big 12, that usually means 10-20%. (TCU being an extreme outlier at like 55%). Their long term, 5-10 year goal was to get to 10% of campus. The university has provided funding for an additional staff member in their office, but I’m not sure how university investment (other than making the Greek dorms cheaper?) would benefit other than trying to push them as a vehicle for ticket sales or participation in Fiesta (which is already what happens). And it seemed their conversation with Renu was “show me results and we can show more funding.”
Compared to my undergrad experience, there’s obvious need for tie in of Greek life to be a valued partner in higher education, but that starts at a chapter level. (Most HQ’s don’t have money to just throw at a chapter, in fact, it’s the opposite, HQ’s rely on the chapter’s dues to operate). Maybe for UH that’s athletics. Maybe it’s for Greek life to lead more organizations like Frontiersman, as Greek life alumni are typically more invested in the undergrad spirit experience.
Two sticking points for me were just how many students worked jobs, and/or live an hour away. That definitely makes it hard, but since UH does have “the most beds of any campus in Texas” it’s not hard to imagine chapters in the short term could benefit from focusing recruitment on members more exclusively for on-campus people could strengthen Greek life in number, but make it poorer for not including those all over Houston. If these students have so little time between work and class, the value of Greek life has to actually make sense fiscally and make sense with the time on your schedule.
It’s also on the undergrads to sell the experience like the benefits of an alumni network. For my undergrad chapter that means actually showing how the undergrads were connected to alumni for jobs.
With COVID, men and women participation rates plummeted in student organizations, and depression and mental health are still a pervasive issue, with fewer students having a sense of belonging. It’s imperative the chapters provide a sense of belonging beyond just a party spot. I’ve seen the pan-UH GroupMe that just has 1,000 kids texting what warehouse to party in. First of all, Houston is wildin’. Second of all, even if partying were the only benefit of Greek life, this dulls the value someone could find in paying dues for an organization versus paying at the door, reiterating they need to find the benefits of belonging and alumni networks outside of partying, as college kids have never had an issue figuring out how to party.
Oh, and fewer parents, orgs, and students than ever want to deal with your hazing BS (pledge suits, forced alcohol consumption, physical challenges, acts of subservience). It’s not the military, and no it’s not training for how internships will treat you. Cut it out.
TL;DR: if you want UH’s money for Greek life, get Greek life numbers up. To get Greek life’s numbers up, chapters need to focus on intentional recruiting of dues-paying members who find value in the organizations. To do help the undergrads, some of y’all may need to help volunteer, mentor, and support these undergrads in leading their organizations.
There are kids that come from money at UH, but they aren’t really into Greek Life culture in the way that SEC schools are
During my undergrad, almost every rich kid I met was of Indian/Arabian descent , and they weren’t really the types to care about IFC Greek Life which historically cateres to white people
Not trying to take it there, but I’m just being honest
Haha, pre-covid we had the parties chat which had 5k students just shooting the stuff at all hours. Everyone from every pocket of campus was in there, and it’s how I met a few friends and recruited the first set of people to CV3. In terms of actual parties, invites were handed out like candy. No wristbands, no evite links, it was show up, show your ID, pay the fee, and you’re in. You never knew if it was an actual house, a warehouse, somewhere in the city.
Speaking of COVID, CV3 actually went through an opposite effect. In Fall 2021, membership went from about 300 to 700, and it’s stayed at that number since (some leadership at the time put it through roadblocks but the current and preceding president have helped right the ship). I don’t know what the future of the org holds, as I’m not really involved with it anymore.
Back to the topic, and @ACC’s post, the big drop is not surprising. Remove one year of school and you get a drop. A lot of the alums I know that were in CFSL talked about their network as well.
Finally, and this is probably an unpopular hot take, but no org on campus is really better than the other, there’s no popular crowd as there are perceived in historically traditional universities (high school never ends). Just focus on being a unified campus and it’ll go back to pre-COVID days.
Please recall that I pledged in 1966 right after the earth cooled. I was surprised over the number of out of state actives we had, particularly from the NE. Even though we were a commuter school Guy Lewis’ teams drew a lot of attention up north. Those guys had more familiarity with fraternities than I did.
During Orientation the IFC could put on an event that showcased the fraternities. Or it could happen early each semester. Those incoming students most likely to live on campus should be targeted. We paired them up with local guys so that they could quickly get familiar with the town.
Now as far as financial support from the school, I never saw it…don’t expect it. But if the long range goal is to create a more traditional experience then you must develop some time of Greek System.
Lastly no one has mentioned the scholastic benefits. I was a first generation college student. No one in my family could explain what a semester hour was. My fraternity brothers really got me through college in many different ways.
I know this might sound crazy…but potential NIL money going to the UH Greek system, instead of athletes, who might bail on us after 1 year will have far greater returns for the University of Houston.
As I’ve been stating, we are in a crisis mode right now- we HAVE to become a Traditional University.
3% is not acceptable. Our leaders spent MILLIONS to get us into a Power Conference…they did that so we could become a Traditional University…just like every single school in the 4 Power Conferences.
If you DO NOT want to be a Traditional Campus, then send your hate to Renu Khator and Tilman Fertitta because THAT is the vision they want to create for the University of Houston.
Honestly, Tilman probably didn’t send his children to the University of Houston because we are MISSING that Traditional University feel.
I am a proponent for a strong Greek system at UH. UH, along with many other schools, has its challenges for sure when it comes to fraternities and sororities. However, Greek participation is cyclical. For example, interest in fraternities plummeted during Vietnam period. It feels like fraternities are currently in another downward cycle. This generation reportedly puts less emphasis on alcohol consumption. Nationals have become more strict against hazing, alcohol, sexual misconduct, etc. This has brought the fraternities closer to their original purpose, but may make them less attractive to those only interested in the social aspect. My daughter is active in a sorority at a school with no houses. She’s having a great experience. The lack of housing does pose a challenge, but it’s not the only way to have a successful Greek community. Many of my friends today are fraternity brothers or members of other Greek organizations. It creates a unique bond with individuals and the school.
Greek life during my undergraduate years was on and off as most students partied on Washington St or in Midtown.
This was during the Keenum and Sumlin seasons when students wanted to meet up after the games.
This pretty much filled the social scene as you didn’t have to join Greek life to meet people or make new friends.
Was in Greek Life during the Tom Herman years, was a great asset to the football program and the social scene - made my years at UH that much better, would recommend to any new student
I am an old fart, out of touch and out of town. Who would be the person to formulate a plan? If you brought back the houses that are gone,Phi Kappa Theta, Sigma Chi, Pike and others it would be a major start. Each of their alumni groups have to have someone that could spearhead the effort. Is there anyone in the administration that would be interested?
They didn’t force Greeks into the apartments. Once the sororities were there, the fraternities wanted to be there too.
UH 80s-90s, my recollection is that UH has never been overly friendly to a bigger Greek system. I don’t think that has changed. More of a cold-war relationship.
Walking down the fraternity tents in their tailgate area on game day, seemed to be pretty robust to me.
One of the fraternities has 110 members.
Phi Kap willingly went to the apartments
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