UH Greek Life

Football
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Location, location, location.

Up until 10-20 years ago UH was a meh campus surrounded by massive parking lots located in a neighborhood ravaged by poverty, slum lords, and abandonment.

It’s a shame the campus wasn’t built in midtown where HCC is or across Hermann Park from Rice. But there’s a reason the land we now own was cheap and available 100 years ago.

But the campus is changing. The rail has brought connectivity to the city, and the neighborhood is filling in. Give it time.

As for alums sending kids elsewhere I think that’s a sign the university is, well, working. It helps people move up in the world. My Dad went to UH. I didn’t for undergrad because I wanted to go somewhere away. But I was always a Coog fan and knew I wanted to do grad school at UH.

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268

Oh buddy, do I have some news for you about what used to be at that site

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Can confirm. Current 2nd semester junior.

I know 3 finance majors who have a summer internship with Goldman Sachs in New York lined up. Two in IB and one in quant.

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When I was a senior in HS, ‘83, my best friend had a good friend in Sigma Chi at UH. I remember the frat and sorority houses were separate and on campus if I remember correctly, unlike where they are located now. That was a fun party!

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Were you in a frat at Hobart?

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Oh don’t worry.

I know.

I went off to college myself. I didn’t follow my Dad to Lamar where he got his Bachelor’s, though to be honest, he also never seemed to advocate for that school himself. He was ECSTATIC when I went to his law school (UH).

It’s just strange to me that people still use the “too many first generation student” excuse for everything wrong with UH.

Not saying that is correct, but let’s just assume that it is, for sake of argument.

If that is correct, then why haven’t the past generations of UH students sent their own kids to UH the way that aTm (especially) and other schools do?

Why do aTm parents seem to do a so much better job than UH parents of getting their kids to follow in their footsteps?

Why hasn’t UH advanced/evolved to the level of a multi-generational university…after all these many generations?

Why do we not appeal more to 2nd plus generation college students?

I think we are owed an explanation as to why we remain mostly a school for first generation college students, and have never become appealing to other groups.

At what point will we become multigenerational….which presumably will fix all these shortcomings? Just curious.

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No but I lived with Delta Chis my last two years.

Greek life wasn’t huge there especially because the William Smith charter doesn’t allow for sororities. The biggest perk for going Greek was being able to get out of dorms which were required first two years. The houses were great. Former Victorian mansions lakeside built in 1860s by rich Manhattanites escaping the city for summer.

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That’s awesome

Big shoutout to Robert Dozortsev and Chase Randolph

They really turned Bauer around

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OK, I’ll explain why, although in a simplistic way.

A typical UH grad of 40 years ago worked his or her way through UH, endured a university administration that couldn’t adequately support or service an expanding, first generation undergraduate student body, devoted too much time trying to find a decent (or any) parking space, was never personally invited to join any student meaningful organization, and was relieved to have finally graduated. In that alum’s mind, his or her children would have to experience the same type of no-fun college existence as he or she had encountered at UH.

A typical A&M grad of 40 years ago immersed himself in the multitude of Aggy customs and traditions, which made him feel that he had things in common with all other Aggies, and he may have even joined the corps, which had certain aspects of fraternalism. He felt like he belonged and was personally valued because he had chosen to become a distinct species, a Texas Aggy, and not just a college student. And he wants his child to experience that sense of belonging and being special.

I’m not suggesting that we become Aggies. However, I am suggesting that some social outreach can increase undergraduate student retention and prolonged engagement with UH. Can sororities and fraternities become UH’s “ambassadors” to UH students who would otherwise likely have a socially sterile college experience? If the answer is yes, then UH needs to integrate Greeks into as many visible aspects of on-campus activities as possible instead of treating them as unvaccinated dogs.

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I was a first year grad student when Goldman came to the CS Department to recruit. Some 15-20 UH students became interns there/early careerers there that summer.

My cousin ('19er) and myself ('20er) were having a conversation. He didn’t want to talk much of UH, but brought it up once we sat down at dinner and was like “The world is really coming for the Coogs right now!”

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UH feeds a lot of grads in the O&G and Petrochemical fields in Houston . Many Engineering and Construction companies in Houston hire them as well. As a Grad myself I always hired the qualified UH Engineer . Sometimes the competition for UH was so fierce I got a budget to sponsor EAA (Eng Alum Assoc) Tailgate at our Pavillion at the ROB, to recruit students in attendance. We also gave money to the Cullen College $40,000/year (1980s Dollars) for five years in a row.
I know all this because I was there.
Go Coogs !

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From my experience UH alumni and students have a hardworking reputation, ALL the engineering and Construction companies in Houston are full of them. I worked for a commercial contractor a few years back and it was fun to say that guy was KSU, she’s MSU, he’s OU but the reality was 1/3 of the office was Cougars. We even had a project engineer who was a full-time student we had to let him leave early on Tuesday and Thursday to take classes. The company was founded by Aggies and our colors were maroon and gray, but they had a reputation at A&M of making their people work too hard so they just hired more Cougars.

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At least from my experience, the sad reality is UH has been very proud of its diversity for many years and traditionally traditional fraternities and sororities are not very diverse therefore they are seen more as a hindrance then something to embrace and get behind. At best they are see as equal to any other student organization, at worst shoved off to the side in that cage that is Bayou Oaks so they can be monitored. It has been 20 years since I have graduated and things may have changed, but I can not see any administration actually encouraging the student body to join fraternities.

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We didn’t start out that way, though…UH was such a traditional college, in its early days, that OUR main student event, Frontier Fiesta, was dubbed the Greatest College Show on Earth.

Go back and look at UH photos from the 1940s and 1950s. UH was EASILY more of a coed Traditional University than ALL MALE Texas A&M

It wasn’t until we became a public school, and probably under the agreement of the state, that we became a commuter feeder school serving the needs of transfer, commuter, and international students.

We became a Degree Factory and neglected the "quality’ of student we accepted…hence 50+ years of almost nothing but LOW ROI students.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M, Texas, Texas Tech litetally accept majority of HIGH ROI Student’s and for those that weren’t…they have Freshman Orientation to ENSURE you will be a HIGH ROI student while attending.

Want a real life example.
Adam Clanton, on 790 AM, has a step daughter that is a freshman at UT. He admitted that before attending UT, she could CARE LESS about football, despite her step dad being a sports personality.

Well, she is now the most PASSIONATE Texas Longhorn fan and lives and dies supporting her college.

Its the CULTURE created by HIGH ROI students and alums.

Our low Greek % is a testament we don’t give a crap about attracting HIGH ROI students hence, our alums send their children to other Universities.

If you dont fully understand the networking, career, and marriage benefits of a HIGH ROI college environment by now…you never will

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Have a look at Georgia Tech campus and it’s Greek housing. This sounds a lot like what you are describing.

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Sounds like you should have gone to UT, you talk about it so much. Or ATM.

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No…i interviewed the dean of my program at UT and went on a campus tour but ultimately selected UH over UT.

I also lived on campus and was in the Greek system while at UH so my mission has been to grow our High ROI students and Traditional Univetsity reputation literally since the first day I set foot on campus. Im glad Renu Khator also shares that vision despite the political bullying she encounters from people like our current Mayor

It is REALLY SAD and DISGUSTING that people like you want us to remain a commuter community college with NO Culture…NO Traditions…and NO family like Connections to our students or alums. If you think those elements are bad then you’re missing the boat on the full college chapter of people’s lives

People like YOU are our biggest road blocks.

I went to THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON not Houston Community College!

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there’s room at UH for everybody, even frats, just don’t be shoving it down our throats, free-will is THE American way

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The neighborhood surrounding the UH campus is definitely gentrifying. What I fear is that the incoming or established residents are not growing towards the vision of the universities (UH and TSU) campus culture.

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My fraternity was founded at Cornell in 1906.