History of North American College Fraternities and Sororities - Changes in The 20th Century

Changes in The 20th Century

As fraternities grew, new issues appeared. Ideas over who should be a member (often tied to racial or cultural background) differed between chapters that now spread throughout the United States and Canada. The undergraduate membership continued to grow but alumni membership had grown even more. Alumnae of women's fraternities who had fought hard to help establish the idea of coeducation now questioned whether the new generation of women really understood the value of the sorority.

There were always those against the fraternity and sorority system but it was not until the early twentieth century that a real impact was made on chapters at some campuses. In some cases, the development of fraternity and sorority housing is all that saved Greek life as some universities had far outgrown their student housing capacities. Some campuses such as Williams College, Colby College, and Middlebury College would ban Greek letter organizations and many others would form commissions to study their merits. Detractors argued that the groups hurt intellectual development, affronted religion with secret oaths, and fostered inappropriate behavior. The validity of these claims varied between campuses and organizations and, in many cases, the criticisms would remain but without any significant action for decades.

There was a peak in membership in the 1950s with students and universities adjusting to post-war conditions, followed by a sharp drop in the 1960s and 1970s, when fraternity life and ideas were in contrast to the counterculture movement. The 1980s and 1990s had brought about a resurgence in fraternity life, but again saw a decline since the turn of the century.