Greek life expansion spreads at US colleges as Cornell allegations draw scrutiny

Last year, at least 10 schools invited fraternities onto campus

A September lawsuit alleges that seven members of Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity gang-raped an undergraduate woman over the course of several hours, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The complaint includes a screenshot of a group chat fraternity brothers allegedly used to invite others to join them in the assault. The allegations come as fraternity membership in the United States has rebounded to 6.38 percent of men in 2024 — up from a 2020 low — and as at least 10 schools have added or expanded Greek chapters in the last year. Other recent fraternity-related incidents include a cocaine ring investigation at Penn State and hazing allegations at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Fraternity membership has climbed this decade after years of campus backlash and administrative crackdowns and as students have flocked to schools with big sports and robust social scenes, according to an interfraternity association cited by the Journal. Following a decline for several years to a low in 2020, the percentage of men who join fraternities has climbed, hitting 6.38% in 2024, the most recent year available. Preliminary data indicates the growth has accelerated in the last two years, the association said.

The post-pandemic shift brought a generation of disconnected men to campus seeking community, and a surge of students heading South to large public universities helped boost fraternity membership, the Journal reported. Last year, at least 10 schools — including those seeking to boost male enrollment — invited fraternities onto campus.

During the 1960s and 1970s, fraternities fell out of favor as members came to be seen as square, boring traditionalists. The 1978 movie “Animal House” helped resuscitate their popularity but emphasized a hedonistic culture that turned toxic. Insurance companies determined fraternities had become such a risk they were ranked “just behind hazardous waste disposal companies and asbestos contractors,” according to the lawsuit filed against the Cornell fraternity brothers.

At Penn State, authorities allege that a cocaine ring was run out of a fraternity, using pledges to cut and deliver the drugs. At the University of Wisconsin Madison, authorities are investigating hazing allegations after dozens of pledges were found shirtless and covered in condiments in the basement of an off-campus house; the fraternity had been kicked off campus in 2015.

At Cornell this week, more students are questioning whether frats are the right vehicle to build community. Leaders from fraternities and sororities have signed onto a task force to assess possible changes to Greek life. The city of Ithaca, where Cornell resides, has proposed a moratorium on student-event permits.

Cornell senior Adriana Vink is calling for the abolition of fraternities on campus. “There were almost 60 fraternity brethren who saw disgusting messages about the gang rape of Jane Doe, and almost none of them did anything,” Vink told the Journal. Vink said she had attended a few fraternity parties as a first-year student because so much of the school’s social life centers on them. “I think a lot of students see Greek life as the only way that social life can be constructed on campus,” she said. “But at the end of the day, it’s nowhere near the only way that we can engage with and meet each other.”

In 2020, after the killing of George Floyd generated widespread campus calls for social justice, another movement to abolish Greek life sprang up. At Stanford University, an open letter that drew more than 600 signatures accused chapters of perpetuating “white supremacy in addition to furthering a culture of misogyny, ableism, classism, homophobia, heteronormativity, and elitism on campus,” the Journal reported.

At Southern Methodist University in Dallas, nearly half of undergraduates are members of 28 fraternities or sororities — including three the school added this year. A 29th is scheduled to join in 2028, said K.C. Mmeje, senior vice president of student affairs. The reason: unmet demand. “You think about this generation and where they were during Covid and the impact that that had on their social formation,” Mmeje said. “By the time they arrive on campus, they are really looking towards deep, meaningful peer relationships.”

At Shenandoah University, administrators a few years ago began asking students about ways to improve recruitment and retention at the 150-year-old private school in northern Virginia. One idea: bring in fraternities. Some faculty worried Greek life would fuel a party culture and cliques, but a campuswide survey revealed strong support, so the school began interviewing Greek organizations. Last year, the first sorority and fraternity opened on campus, and more are expected, said Yolanda Barbier Gibson, vice president for student affairs, enrollment management, and athletics. “Some people felt they were missing out because their friends or siblings went to schools that had” fraternities, Gibson said, according to the Journal. Students who transferred to other schools had cited a lack of Greek life as a reason for leaving.

At Molloy University on Long Island, New York, prospective students for years had asked whether the school had Greek life, and those questions multiplied after Covid-19, said Janine Biscari, vice president for student affairs. In 2023, she began interviewing Greek organizations. This fall, a fraternity and sorority opened chapters at Molloy — the first in the school’s history — with about 60 women and 15 men joining in the first year. At least two more are expected to join over the next year, she said. Part of the allure is the connection to the organization’s national alumni network. “There has been a shift in student needs and student interest,” Biscari told the Journal. “It’s a very different generation than 10 years ago and this sense of community is a big piece of what students are looking for out of college.”

The story was reported by Douglas Belkin from The Wall Street Journal’s Chicago bureau and appeared in the October 3, 2026, print edition as “Colleges Are Embracing Greek Life.”