University of Kentucky student life

The University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky offers a variety of campus living and recreational options for students.

Greek-letter organizations

There are more than fifty active fraternities and sororities at the University of Kentucky. The social fraternities and sororities have chapter houses.

Sororities

In the fall of 2023, 27 percent of the University of Kentucky's undergraduate women belong to a social sorority. Following are the social sororities at the University of Kentucky.

Name	Chapter name	Chapter charter date and range	Status	Ref.
Alpha Chi Omega	Delta Omega	1966–1976, 2015	Active
Alpha Delta Pi	Beta Psi	1941	Active
Alpha Delta Theta	Beta	1922–1937	Inactive
Alpha Gamma Delta	Epsilon	1908	Active
Alpha Kappa Alpha	Iota Sigma	1975	Active
Alpha Omicron Pi	Kappa Omega	1982–2019	Inactive
Alpha Phi	Iota Nu	2009	Active
Alpha Xi Delta	Xi	1908–2004	Inactive
Beta Sigma Omicron	Alpha Gamma	1926–1932	Inactive
Ceres	Nu	1997–20xx ?	Inactive
Chi Omega	Lambda Alpha	1914	Active
Delta Delta Delta	Delta Rho	1923	Active
Delta Gamma	Delta Beta	1962	Active
Delta Phi Lamba			Active
Delta Phi Mu (local)		2008–201x ?	Inactive
Delta Sigma Theta	Mu Epsilon	1975	Active
Delta Zeta	Alpha Zeta	1923–1942, 1945	Active
Gamma Phi Beta	Gamma Omicron	1966–1982, 2019	Active
Kappa Alpha Theta	Gamma Iota	1945	Active
Kappa Beta Gamma	Alpha Nu	2017	Active
Kappa Delta	Epsilon Omega	1910	Active
Kappa Kappa Gamma	Beta Chi	1910	Active
Phi Sigma Rho	Epsilon	1999	Active
Phi Sigma Sigma	Beta Mu	1952–1957	Inactive
Pi Beta Phi	Kentucky Beta	1962	Active
Phi Mu	Rho Iota	2011	Active
Sigma Gamma Rho	Mu Omicron	1992	Active
Sigma Kappa	Theta Rho	1989–2010	Inactive
Sigma Lambda Gamma	Omicron Zeta	2018	Active
Sigma Phi Lambda	Alpha Tau	2018–2022	Inactive
Tau Beta Sigma	Eta Zeta	1984	Active
Theta Nu Xi	Alpha Omicron	2016	Active
Zeta Phi Beta	Iota Mu	1983	Active
Zeta Tau Alpha	Alpha Chi	1924–1992	Inactive

Fraternities

In the fall of 2023, eighteen percent of the University of Kentucky's undergraduate male students belong to a social fraternity. Following are the social fraternities at the University of Kentucky.

Name	Chapter name	Chapter charter date and range	Status	Ref.
Alpha Epsilon Pi	Lambda Kappa	1972–1978	Inactive
Alpha Gamma Rho	Omicron	1920	Active
Alpha Lambda Tau	Sigma	1932–1935	Inactive
Alpha Phi Alpha		1965	Active
Alpha Phi Omega	Alpha Zeta	1933	Active
Alpha Sigma Phi		1917–1960, 2017	Active
Alpha Tau Omega		1909–2018	Inactive
Beta Sigma Rho		1949–1952	Inactive
Beta Theta Pi		1990–199x ?, 2013	Active
Beta Upsilon Chi		2014	Active
Chi Psi		2016	Active
Delta Chi		1914–1954, 1978–1981	Inactive
Delta Sigma Phi		1994	Active
Delta Tau Delta		1924	Active
FarmHouse		1951–2021	Inactive
Iota Phi Theta		2007	Active
Kappa Alpha Order		1893	Active
Kappa Alpha Psi		1981	Active
Kappa Sigma		1901	Active
Lambda Chi Alpha		1930–2010	Inactive
Omega Psi Phi		1980	Active
Omicron Alpha Tau		1916–1918	Inactive
Phi Beta Sigma		1990	Active
Phi Delta Theta		1901–1972, 1979–1994, 2004–2011, 2018	Active
Phi Gamma Delta		1958–1983, 1994	Active
Phi Kappa Psi		1988–2016, 2025	Active
Phi Kappa Tau		1920–1990, 1996	Active
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia		1922	Active
Phi Sigma Kappa		1926	Active
Pi Kappa Alpha		1901–2014, 2018	Active
Pi Kappa Phi		1996–200x ?; 2010–2014, 2024	Active
Pi Lambda Phi		1949	Inactive
Sigma Alpha Epsilon		1900–2020, 202x ?	Active
Sigma Alpha Mu		1915–1924	Inactive
Sigma Chi		1893	Active
Sigma Lambda Beta	Chi Epsilon	2016	Active
Sigma Nu		1902–1965, 1967–2012, 2016	Active
Sigma Phi Epsilon		1933–1989, 1994–2009, 2015	Active
Sigma Pi		1973–2011, 2917	Active
Tau Kappa Epsilon		1951–199x ?	Inactive
Theta Chi		1968–1990, 2011	Active
Triangle		1920–1983, 2005	Active
Zeta Beta Tau		1942–1973	Inactive

Honor and recognition societies

Name	Chapter name	Chapter charter date and range	Status	Ref.
Alpha Alpha Alpha			Active
Alpha Psi Omega	Alpha Zeta Epsilon		Inactive
Kappa Kappa Psi	Eta Zeta	April 16, 1977	Active
Omicron Delta Kappa	University of Kentucky	1925	Active

Professional fraternities and sororities

Name	Chapter name	Chapter charter date and range	Status	Ref.
Block and Bridle		1923	Active
Delta Sigma Delta	Alpha Xi	2008	Active
Kappa Psi	Upsilon	1909	Active
Lambda Kappa Sigma	Alpha Nu	1958	Active
Phi Alpha Delta			Active
Phi Delta Epsilon	Kappa Psi	1978	Active
Sigma Alpha	Beta Omicron	2013	Active
Sigma Alpha Iota	Delta Omega	1967	Active

Hazing incidents

After Thomas “Lofton” Hazelwood, an 18-year-old freshman at UK was killed in a hazing incident in October 2021, a report commissioned by the university pointed to an active tradition of hazing at the school, and a “deeply ingrained culture of alcohol” in Hazelwood's fraternity. Some fraternities forced members to eat and drink, others instituted personal servitude. Lofton's Law, making hazing a felony/misdemeanor in Kentucky, was passed in 2023.

Religion and life-philosophy

Following are some of the religious organizations at the University of Kentucky.

Christian Student Fellowship building

Christianity

• Baptist Campus Ministries
• Catholic Newman Center
• Christian Student Fellowship
• Cru
• Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS)
• Orthodox Christian Fellowship
• Reformed University Fellowship
• Wesley Foundation
• Young Life

Islam

• Muslim Student Association

Judaism

• Chabad on Campus
• Hillel Foundation

Secular humanism and nontheism

• Secular Student Alliance

Campus recreation

The university has several campus recreational facilities. The Johnson Center features basketball courts, group fitness studios, racquetball courts, rock climbing walls, a running track, and weight lifting facilities. The Lancaster Aquatic Center, located next to the Johnson Center, opened in 1989. The Alumni Gym Fitness Center opened in 2018 and is a renovation of the historic Alumni Gymnasium, which was home to UK men's basketball from 1924 to 1950.

North Campus residence halls, with downtown Lexington in the background.

Residence halls

In the fall of 2023, 34 percent of the students at the University of Kentucky lived in college-owned or affiliated housing, while 66 percent of student lived off campus. Following are residence halls at the University of Kentucky.

Name	Location	Opened date	Notes	Ref.
Baldwin Hall	Central Campus	2005
Ball Hall	Central Campus	2014	Known as Woodland Glen II before 2020–21
Blazer Hall	North Campus	2014
Boyd Hall	North Campus	2016
Chellgren Hall	Central Campus	2015
Donovan Hall	Central Campus	2013
Haggin Hall	Central Campus	2014
Holmes Hall	North Campus	2016
Ingels Hall	Central Campus	2005
Jewell Hall	North Campus	2014
Lyman T. Johnson Hall	Central Campus	2013
Lewis Hall	Central Campus	2017
Pigman Hall	Central Campus	2015
Roselle Hall	North Campus	2005
Smith Hall	Central Campus	2005
University Flats	Central Campus	2017
Wildcat Coal Lodge	North Campus	2012	Houses the men's basketball team
Woodland Glen IV	Central Campus	2015
Woodland Glen V	Central Campus	2015	Interprofessional Healthcare Residential College Community

Campus safety

The university has had issues with safety on campus. In a survey of 1,000 female university students, conducted in the spring of 2004, 36.5% reported having been victims of rape, stalking, or physical assault while on campus. While campus law enforcement statistics do not match the survey results, campus officials have taken steps to increase safety.

In response to the survey, university president Lee T. Todd, Jr. launched an initiative in September 2005 titled the Campus Safety Imperative, which included a quadrupling of annual expenditures on safety. Todd specifically linked campus safety to the goal of becoming a top-20 public research institution, stating that "We will never make gains toward becoming a top-twenty public research institution if our students are unsafe or if they lack a sense of physical security. It is part of our fundamental mission, then, to create a campus that provides a safe place to live, to work, and to learn."