Greek life[edit]
See also: List of fraternities and sororities at University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is home to an active Greek community. Approximately 14 percent of undergraduate students are in fraternities or sororities.[102] With more than 65 national chapters, the university's Greek community is one of the nation's largest.[102] These chapters are under the authority of one of the school's six Greek council communities, Interfraternity Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Texas Asian Pan-Hellenic Council, Latino Pan-Hellenic Council, Multicultural Greek Council and University Panhellenic Council.[103] Other registered student organizations also name themselves with Greek letters and are called affiliates. They are not a part of one of the six councils but have all of the same privileges and responsibilities of any other organization.[104] According to the Office of the Dean of Students' mission statement, Greek life promotes cultural appreciation, scholarship, leadership, and service.[105] Most Greek houses are west of the Drag in the West Campus neighborhood.
Media[edit]
See also: Texas Student Media
Students express their opinions in and out of class through periodicals including Study Breaks Magazine, Longhorn Life, The Daily Texan (the most award-winning daily college newspaper in the United States),[106] and the Texas Travesty. Over the airwaves students' voices are heard through K29HW-D and KVRX.
The Computer Writing and Research Lab of the university's Department of Rhetoric and Writing also hosts the Blogora, a blog for "connecting rhetoric, rhetorical methods and theories, and rhetoricians with public life" by the Rhetoric Society of America.[107]
The university has a yearbook. In the 1980s it annually sold 14,000 copies. In 1997 it sold 1,700, an all-time low. Kathy Lawrence, the media adviser at UT Austin, said that yearbook sales declined once the school switched from in-person registration to telephone-based registration. During in-person registrations, the university often asked students to buy student yearbooks. Lawrence said that other factors leading to a decline in yearbook sales at UT Austin included increasing student numbers and declining participation in campus life. As of 2008, about 2,500 copies sell annually. To salvage the yearbook, Lawrence introduced personalized pages. When Lawrence concluded that social networking sites lead to a decline in yearbook sales, Sarah Viren of the Houston Chronicle said that Lawrence "eventually opted to hold off on the personalized pages."[108]
Traditions[edit]
The Texas longhorn is the university's mascot.
Traditions at the University of Texas are perpetuated through several school symbols and mediums. At athletic events, students frequently sing "Texas Fight", the university's fight song while displaying the Hook 'em Horns hand gesture—the gesture mimicking the horns of the school's mascot, Bevo the Texas longhorn.
Athletics[edit]
Main article: Texas Longhorns
