| Full-time undergraduate program |
With just over 2,000 students, if you make an effort,m you can meet a
lot of people and see them all the time. This is good, as far as never
eating lunch alone, and always seeing a familiar face. Its bad as in
people gossip a lot and spread rumors constantly and are kind of high-
school clique-ish. I had friends in many groups, but this is rare.
Usually people stay in their groups they form freshman year, and they
don't change. Greek life traditionally has been huge on campus, because
there is not much to do in Granville. Fraternities lost their right to
live in their houses in the early nineties. Sororities never could
because of an old law still on the books about more than 3 women living
in a house together-gotta love midwest conservatism. Fraternities and
sororities have been under increasing pressure to cut down on hazing,
illegal drug activities, and bad behavior, to the point that there have
been many on probation, kicked off temporarily or permanently. However,
because many trustees and big donor alumni were Greek, they will never
disappear. There are generally 5 fraternities and 5-6 sororities. They
are all terribly sterotyped. About half of women-60% are Greek, and I
think 1/3 of men are Greek, probably because the hazing for men is
brutal. Hazing for women can be too. Some fraternities are known to be
bad, with associations with hate groups, rumors of rapes encouraged by
chapter during rush, and violent behavior, such as breaking into cars,
turning over benches on campus, breaking into buildings on campus-or
other alcohol induced behavior. Some sororities supposedly encourage
women to be objectified, with bad hazing procedures, and mandatory games
involving male rushees. All have stories of alcohol poisoning.Some
Greeks are great-and it can be a great social support system. However,
its also a members only club, adn Greek people dont date non-Greek
people, and many dont maintain tons of non-Greek friends. Many aren't
even friends with people outside their own fraternity or sorority. The
best parties on campus are usually Greek. Some are good students and
involved on campus. Some do great community service. There are fun
events like powder puff football, Greek week with games and
competitions, and formals and theme parties. There are also black
sororities and fraternities, who have always great reputations but their
academic standards and community service standards are so high that many
students dont join. They have some small events too. Some students of
color or international students or other minorities join fraternities
and sororities. However, the racial division on campus, forces them
almost to choose between Greek life and hanging out with other
minorities. Self-segregation as well as segregation socially by other
students is a problem for minorities. Interracial dating is rare-if
existent at all. Dating at all on campus is strange. Most students have
either been dating since forever, or just randomly hook up with people
on weekends. The problem with Greek life is mostly labelling and bad
behavior. If you choose not to be Greek, social options are limited.
However, people find their own groups, ie the theater group,the
Christian group, the swim team, etc. Some sports are big on campus,
like swimmning, lacrosse, squash and club hockey. There are 200+ student
organizations to choose from,everything from student government to tons
of volunteer organizations, to club sports liek Ultimate Frisbee,
religious groups, and honoraries. which are really great. There is a lot
of drinking on campus, alcohol free events are difficult to find, as are
events where people are not alcoholics-they're not called that when
they're 20, but when theyre in the real world. All campus events
include homecoming, parents' weekend, two drag shows, international
fair, international fashion show, Gap Pride week, Greek Week, 1 major
music concert and various other bands and groups all year round, outside
campus picnics, various charity and volunteer events, various awareness
events-such as free AIDS testing, fundraisers for charities, exam week
midnight breakfasts, various comedians,poetry readings, kareoke,
speakers on campus all the time, dance department recitals, campus film
festival,campus theater. There is a campus bar and coffee house. Brand
new student union with great stuff, and fast food and snacks. Gym with
club sports. Town has 2 bars, Brews and the Villa. No underage drinking
but favs for 21 and up. Local grub can be found at both bars, Elm's
pizza, Subway,Aladdin's Breakfast eatery, a coffee shop, Blackstone's
deli, the Granville or Buxton inn for upscale food, and Victoria's Ice
Cream Parlor. There are other fast food and small places between
Granville and Columbus or Granville and Heath, a bigger town. There are
no movie theaters nearby. The student union shows movies now and then.
Students with wheels head to Heath for the nearest bad mall or dining.
They go to Easton for upscale shopping, movies, or eating. Few students
venture to Columbus a lot, even though it is an hour-electing to stay on
campus and do the same thing every weekend. Students who like dancing
at clubs, go downtown to Columbus. Students who like concerts go to
Polaris, or the arenas downtown. Professional Hockey is downtown. Some
students tailgate at OSU games with high school friends. About 45% of
students are from Ohio. Some of them go home on weekends frequently or
once in awhile.
|
Denison University Admission & Application Surveys
