Whitman College Top Questions

Major activities on campus include intramural sports, Debate, Greek life, and theater. Our Debate team is one of the best in the country, as is our cycling team. We don't have a football team (that alone tells you we are nerds...) Our Greek life is very different from that of other schools, in that their main focus isn't on drinking but on community service and group activities. Some members in Greek life don't drink at all, though in general they do drink more than the average student. There are hundreds of clubs on campus and you can make your own at any time. The amount of activities on and off campus can be overwhelming sometimes, and most of them don't include drinking. You can see a play or go to a sports game or see a speaker or go to a club meeting or to an event in the interest house community or to any number of events created by the student activities club like music concerts (classical or a band) or movies. You can also find parties or friends to drink with if you want, and you can go wine tasting (Walla Walla has wineries everywhere!). It can be very difficult to balance time between working, events, clubs, class, and school work. Consequently, the dating scene is pretty dead and students either have sex pretty liberally or not at all, but the few who do date are in very serious relationships.

Whitman students love to get involved. IM sports are a major part of campus life, as are theater productions, guest lecturers, concerts, community service projects, and a variety of interest groups. Although Whitties work hard during the week, they have lots of fun on the weekends. Some students drink, some don't...this doesn't make much of a difference. As someone who didn't drink until I was of age, I can honestly say that not drinking at parties didn't make them any less fun. There are always non-party options as well and one is hard pressed to do everything they want to in a given evening. Whitties make friends all over the place: in their freshmen sections, in class, on IM sports teams, in the Greek system, and just hanging out. We tend to have large social networks, and because Whitman is fairly small (1,450 students) it isn't long before everyone knows (or at least recognizes) everyone.