Columbia University Sees Spike in Fraternity and Sorority Members Updated March 22, 2010 1:12pm

Columbia students lounge on a bed in a dormitory room. (Flickr/Tim Willis)

By Ben Fractenberg

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — It looks like a lot more Ivy Leaguers are about to start donning togas.

Columbia University nearly doubled the amount of fraternity and sorority members on campus from 550 in 2007 to over 1,000 this year, according to The New York Post. Thirty percent of the student body now belongs to a Greek organization.

"We've had parties where we had to stop letting people in because of occupancy rules. Sometimes it spills out into the streets," Patrick Foley, a 21-year-old senior and member of Kappa Delta Rho, told the Post.

Students say the increase is due to better relations between Greek members and school officials, who have changed their party policy, which has jokingly been referred to by students as “the War on Fun,” according to the Post.

Columbia now allows students to register parties five days in advance instead of 10, and lets fraternities and sororities monitor their own bashes instead of having to pay teacher chaperones.

Most parties take place at Greek houses on 114th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.

"Every weekend, something is going on at 'Frat Row,' " David Zhu, a 21-year-old junior and member of Beta Theta Pi, told The Post.