University of Virginia Greek life

University of Virginia Greek life encompasses the collegiate Greek organizations on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Greek life at the university began in the 1850s with the establishment of a number of fraternities, and the system has since expanded to include sororities, professional organizations, service fraternities, honor fraternities, and cultural organizations. The Greek system has been significant to the history of the University of Virginia, and the history of the university's Greek system includes the founding of Kappa Sigma and Pi Kappa Alpha, two national fraternities.

Roughly 30% of the student body belongs to a social fraternity or sorority, with additional students involved in professional, service, and honor fraternities. Many of the university's fraternities and sororities are residential, meaning they own or rent a house for their members to use; many of these houses are located on Rugby Road and the surrounding streets, just north of the university. Additionally, three social fraternities hold reserved rooms on the Lawn and the Range: Kappa Sigma in Room 46 East Lawn, Trigon Engineering Society in Room 17 West Lawn, and Pi Kappa Alpha in Room 47 West Range. Reflecting UVA's tradition of student self-governance, the system is currently governed by four Greek Councils consisting of student leaders; however, it is also overseen by the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life in the university's Office of the Dean of Students.

Greek life at UVA began a few decades after the school's establishment in 1819. Before this time social life at the university was fixed around debating societies; the now-defunct Patrick Henry Society, for instance, initially had a membership nearly equal to the size of the student body. In the 1850s the first fraternities began to appear and assumed a significant role in the student body's social landscape. In the following decades, the university became the birthplace of two national fraternities and saw many more fraternity chapters chartered. The twentieth century saw the system expand even more to include professional fraternities, social sororities, local fraternities, and black fraternities and sororities. Moving into the 2000s, several new social Greek organizations were founded, and multicultural organizations began to rise to prominence.

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