This story is part of our Orientation 2012 special issue. Check out our complete guide to life at Columbia here.
With the number of students going Greek at an all-time high, there are plans to bring two new sororities and one new fraternity to Columbia.
The Panhellenic Association has selected four sorority finalists—Alpha Omicron Pi, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Zeta Tau Alpha—from which it will invite two to establish chapters on campus. The first new sorority will form in spring 2013.
The Panhellenic Association identified a need for more sororities after a multi-year review process. While the Office of Residential Programs has not released exact data, the association said in a statement that “over several years the community witnessed an increase in participants in Formal Recruitment and larger chapter sizes.” There are currently four sororities at Columbia.
A new fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, will be also coming to campus this fall, at least temporarily. The InterFraternity Council gave its official approval in May for Sigma Alpha Epsilon to form a colony at Columbia, and it could become a fully-fledged chapter with approval from Columbia and from the fraternity’s national organization.
