Colby CollegeGreek Life Summary

Written by Danny Garin

Danny Garin

Hometown

Washington, DC

Major

Government and Economics

View all previous student authors

Don’t come to Colby looking to pledge or hook up with a frat boy. Fraternities and sororities were abolished in 1984 because they were associated with excessive drinking, segregation, hazing, and sexual assault. They made certain groups of people very uncomfortable while they existed, especially women and minorities. Currently, there has been heated debate about establishing multicultural housing. Many people think that establishing this will take Colby back to the days of exclusion and separatism. Others say that problems of discrimination were not felled by the banning of Greek life, and multicultural housing is intended to remedy problems of discrimination.

Most students seem to think the abolishment of Greek life was a positive development. It simply wasn’t working with the small size and isolated atmosphere of the College. The party scene has survived the abolition pretty much intact, especially in the dorms that used to be frat houses—in fact, they are still referred to as the frat row dorms, despite the administration’s insistence on calling it Roberts Row. The frat row Olympics in the fall reclaim the fraternity traditions in an inclusive and goodheartedly competitive way.