Illinois Institute of Technology - Student Life

Student Life

See also: Illinois Institute of Technology student groups

There are numerous student organizations available on campus, including religious groups, academic groups, and student activity groups.

Three of IIT's major student organizations serve the entire student body: the Student Government Association (SGA), the Student Union Board (UB), and TechNews. SGA is the governing student body of IIT and acts as a liaison between the university administration and the student body, serves as a forum to express student opinion, and provides certain services to student organizations such as official recognition and distribution of funds. UB serves as the main event programming group and plans over 180 on and off-campus events for students per year. Since 2005, UB has been particularly active and has increased the frequency of student activities, and is responsible for the emergence of the school spirit and booster group Scarlet Fever; UB it has been active since its founding on November 23, 1938. TechNews is the campus paper and serves as a news outlet for campus interests and as another outlet for student opinion in both a weekly paper edition and online format; it has existed since at least the 1930s.

IIT hosts a campus radio station, WIIT, with an antenna located atop Main Building and a radio studio in the McCormick Tribune Campus Center. In September 2007, IIT opened a nine-hole disc golf course which weaves around the academic buildings on the Main Campus and is the first disc golf course to appear within the Chicago city limits.

In anticipation of the opening of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center, the on-campus pub and bowling alley known as "The Bog" ceased operations in 2003. However, in response to students, faculty, and staff who missed the former campus hangout, the Bog reopened in February 2007 and is now open every Thursday and Friday night offering bowling, billiards, table tennis, and video games. The Bog is also home to the campus bar, which serves beer and wine, and hosts weekly events such as comedians, live bands, or karaoke nights on its stage.

On the sixth floor of Main Building is the IIT Model Railroad Club. Founded in 1948, the club builds and runs an H0 scale model railway layout that occupies much of the floor.

In the fall of 2007, the third generation of a cappella groups was formed, The TechTonics, a coed group of students. Within a year the organization expanded and now includes an all-male group, the Crown Joules, and an all-female group, the X-Chromotones. IIT A Cappella performs a variety of shows on campus as well as off campus and in the midwest. They perform shows at the end of each semester which showcase everything they have learned.

The Illinois Institute of Technology Main Campus has an established Greek System, which consists of 7 fraternities and 3 sororities. Fraternities Sigma Phi Epsilon, Pi Kappa Phi, Delta Tau Delta, Alpha Sigma Phi, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Triangle fraternity and sororities Kappa Phi Delta, and Alpha Sigma Alpha have chapter houses. The Zeta Pi Omega sorority does not.