In a recent poll of 38 students at Lehigh, 75 percent of survey respondents said they were looking for a long-term relationship rather than a short-term hook-up. However, 82 percent of those same respondents said that the dating culture at Lehigh leans toward casual dating and hook-ups. That means that even though three-fourths of students would rather find a longer-term partner, they believe their environment doesn’t foster such relationships.
“I think that Lehigh has plenty of monogamous couples, but our large Greek population and party culture fosters more of a hook-up scene,” an anonymous survey respondent said.
With the party culture leading students toward more casual interactions, those looking for relationships are finding new ways to meet others at Lehigh. For example, Lehigh Matches, a Facebook page run by five anonymous students ranging from sophomores to seniors, was revived in early February, just in time for Valentine’s Day. The page began posting in January 2014, and after several months of hiatus, returned to Facebook in September to alert the community of its return for the 2014-2015 school year.
The site uses anonymous surveys and message boards to allow students to request to be matched. The team behind Lehigh Matches then reaches out to students and asks if they would like to reveal their identity to their potential match. If both parties agree, they are set up.
“We’d like to think of Lehigh Matches as a school-wide collaboration for the purposes of promoting love and friendship on campus,” said a representative of Lehigh Matches who chose to stay anonymous for matching purposes. “We genuinely want people across campus to meet each other for friendships or for love.”
An estimated 100 students have directly submitted themselves for matching since the site’s relaunch in February. The participation is difficult to count, however, due to the nature of the program’s anonymity.
After a match is made, the page usually leaves the rest to the individuals, letting them decide where they want to take the relationship. The intent of this page is to promote unity across the Lehigh campus in the form of new friendships or relationships, but of course it all depends on the people involved.
“Lehigh Matches can be for whatever you want it to be but we highly encourage and promote friendships and deeper connections,” said a Lehigh Matches representative. “While we have matched people looking for hook-ups, we stress that all relationships should be founded in mutual respect.”
Even with the assumptions that Lehigh doesn’t foster a large dating community, almost 70 percent of survey respondents have been in at least one long-term relationship at Lehigh. The survey also showed that 40 percent of that same 70 percent have hooked up with six or more people while at Lehigh.
“I think the assumption of Lehigh having a hook-up culture isn’t just a thing Lehigh struggles with,” Liz Jordan, ’16, said. “I think that college students in general are assumed to not want to settle down and to just have fun.”
Abby Farrell, ’15, agreed with Jordan and said it doesn’t surprise her that this is an assumption most people have about Lehigh. Farrell said she doesn’t believe Lehigh solely fosters an environment where hooking up is the norm. She said that she and most of her friends are in monogamous long-term relationships.
Lauren Fried, ’16, said she thinks Lehigh does tend toward a hook-up culture, but thinks that Greek life is more of an inhibitor than a promoter.
“When all of your friends know all the guys in a house, it kind of deters you from going home with someone because everyone will know who the guy is,” Fried said. “Greek life removes some of the anonymity that would exist if it were just one big school partying at random.”
More often than not, most students said they assume that anyone they meet at a party is only looking for something short term, even when their personal preference is different.
“If you’re hanging out at parties, chances are you aren’t going to have a deep conversation with someone who you’ll want to date,” said Liz Hutnikoff, ’15. “That’s something you need to look for elsewhere. I have friends in Greek life in relationships and ones who are not. It seems to be a choice that’s completely up to you.”
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