When I was in college, frats would mandate a high girl to guy ratio to make sure parties didn’t become “sausage fests.” If you were a bunch of dudes who weren’t in the frat, you were not getting in. Period.
Now some fraternities are forcing students to download Tinder or Bumble if they want to party. If you don’t download the app, you’re not getting into the house. Doesn’t matter if you have a girlfriend. No app. No entry.
That’s because the two competing dating apps are now sponsoring fraternities, and subsequently, their partiers. A house will enter into an exclusive contract with one of the two dating apps, becoming either a “Tinder House” or “Bumble House.”
The Houston Chronicle recently broke the news, specifically detailing how these sponsorships were playing out at UT Austin. While it’s unclear how ubiquitous dating app-sponsored houses are across the United States, as both Tinder and Bumble refused to share details, the Chronicle reported, “Students who have been to parties at Oklahoma University, Tulane University and Northwestern University confirmed the events were sponsored by the apps.” Seemingly, Tinder and Bumble are hitting up colleges with a notoriously large and active Greek life.
Small liberal arts colleges are safe… for now.
One student, who spoke to the Chronicle anonymously out of fear of jeopardizing his frat’s relationship with the dating app, described the partnership as “mutually beneficial.”
“It allows us to attract more people because of the cooler things we’re able to do.”
He said that the frat is given a certain amount of money, which allows them to hold more events, and they can even earn additional money based on the number of students who download the app. He declined to specify the dollar amount.
“It’s pretty helpful,” the member said. “It allows us to do better things, it allows us to attract more people because of the cooler things we’re able to do.”
Honestly, it’s a pretty genius way to market to the demographic of 18-24 year-olds, which represent half of Tinder’s userbase, but making the app mandatory to get into college-sanctioned parties feels a little Big Brother… especially if Big Brother altered its mission to facilitate casual sex among horny and intoxicated college students.
Whatever happens next, one thing is clear. Dating apps are taking over the world and their starting with our country’s drunkest: fraternity brothers.
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