There’s a very large music and arts scene that strongly contributes to the culture of the city.
The southern sorority/fraternity kids who are more conservative just go to school there and move away when they graduate, only coming back for game days. The folks who stay there after graduation or the people who choose to move there tend to be the more creative types. Some call them “townies” lol
Source: I went to college there
Are sorority/frat kids necessarily more Conservative/Republican than their college peers? Basing off stereotypes of privilidged white kids who came from money and just came to college to party, it would make sense. The reality though is that at least these days, those people make a up a minority of frats and sororities, with many being oriented around community service and even activism traditionally associated with D-leaning politics.
At UGA they are way more conservative. They serve as insular, exclusive, wealthy and largely white institutions. Most of the greek kids I knew in college were more conservative — if they were political at all. Many come from prominent families in small towns in rural GA, or from very wealthy ATL suburbs. Many hosted charity events, and actually did a lot of good, but I’m not sure either political party has a monopoly on philanthropy.
Of course, I was in college 10-15 years ago. It may be different, but back then sororities and fraternities were conservative bastions, and it was only a question of how conservative.
Yes, agree. Greek life in the South remains very insulated and "White" in a way that really just isn't the case in other parts of the country. The reputation of Alabama or Ole Miss* sorority rush precedes it for a reason, after all. Fraternities in other parts of the country are diverse and progressive in a way that hasn't caught on in the SEC and quite possibly never will (save Vandy, LOL.)
*People outside the South are very surprised to learn that there was period of several years in the late 2000s/early 2010s when Ole Miss sorority bid day had to pushed back to October as to be after the university's withdrawal date. Girls would literally want to drop-out/transfer after not getting into the right house. Nothing like this happens anywhere else in the country.
Even at Vandy, polls of the student body when I was there showed students in Greek life (especially men) well to the right of the campus as a whole.
