How Has the Relationship Between Host Institutions and Fraternal Organizations Changed?
Even in the 19th century, colleges and universities began to recognize that fraternity/sorority life was becoming a viable choice for students to make. The American College & University: A History, by Frederick Rudolph, says that as early as the 1840s, institutions of higher learning were beginning to realize that “the fraternities, then, were schools of success, institutions that prepared young men to take their place among men.”Today, many chapters of fraternities and sororities are celebrating 100, 125 and even 150 year anniversaries – a testament to the enduring ideals of fraternal life on college and university campuses. As the fraternal movement evolved, fraternal organizations worked to form partnerships with their host institutions. As far back as 1879, William Raimond Baird was contending, in the Manual of American College Fraternities, “We claim for the fraternities that they fill a necessary and important place in college life, and supply a lacking element in the student’s c
