Greek Life

Welcome to the Greek Life Office website. Through exploring its content, we hope you will come to appreciate the uniqueness of Greek life at Cornell. Our fraternities and sororities, like those at other institutions, emphasize leadership development, community service, and relationship building. However, a number of distinguishing features set Greek life at Cornell apart. Some of these features are listed below:

• Called “social groups” until 2007, fraternities and sororities emerged from literary and secret societies at Cornell. Learn more about the history of Greek life at Cornell.  

• Cornell’s fraternities and sororities are “local.” That is, they are not affiliated with national Greek organizations. 

• Each group has a nickname, which may or may not be associated with its Greek letters. The members of Mu Lambda Sigma are called “the Milts,” reflecting the group’s roots in the Miltonian Literary Society, for example.   

• Students cannot join a fraternity or sorority unless they have completed 4 blocks at Cornell and have a GPA of 2.0 or higher. Thus, first-year students are unable to join until the spring semester.  

• Students become members of the Greek community through a process called “pledging”. This process is different for each group but always occurs over block break at the end of block 5. 

The Greek Life Office provides support and guidance to members of Greek social groups through intentional interaction and opportunities for personal and group growth and development.