Rebecca Shapiro Thesis (11 May 2011).pdf - Brandeis Institutional ...

during the 1920's, they represented ten percent of the college populations. 97As collegesbecame more desirable the numbers of college student overall jumped from 150,000students in 1910 to over one million by 1930. 98 Colleges struggled to house the influx ofstudents on their campuses. The fraternities saw this as an opportunity to build housesand attract more students to their organizations. During this time, 740,000 people hadbeen initiated into one of the seventy-seven Greek organizations then in existence. Muchto the dismay of Rabbis and communal leaders, Jewish involvement in Greek lifeparalleled gentile involvement. Jewish students flocked to the fraternities and sororitiesin lieu of on campus Jewish organizations. According to the 1927 survey published bythe American Jewish Year Book, eighty percent of Jewish students affiliated with aJewish fraternity or sorority. 99Greek life became the way that students chose to affiliate.Affiliation with a Jewish organization of any sort, however, was problematicgiven the antisemitism that pervaded American society, and as a result, college campusesduring the 1920s. Much of this hostility on the college campuses stemmed from thealleged "Jewish invasion." Jewish students were attending prestigious universities inrecord high numbers. At Hunter College, eighty to ninety percent of the students wereJewish; at Columbia it was 40 percent; at Harvard it was around 22 percent. 100 Thisresulted in new criteria for college admission. As a result, Columbia University's Jewishenrollment fell by half in less than two years and Harvard's fell to less than ten percent.The Jewish Greek organizations were substantially affected because the decrease inadmissions of Jewish students resulted in fewer candidates.97 Sanua, 9698 Sanua, 9599 Sanua, 97100 Sanua, 11825