Draft 2

Kohlman Minter

Maddie Kahl

ENC2135-142

6 February 2018

Greek Life at FSU

Greek life at Universities in America is a very polarizing subject. Most people either agree and like it or they disagree with it and would prefer to see it gone. There is a significant of research about whether or not these organizations help the academic development of the students involved or harm their academic development. In the news, it seems like every single headline that has to do with Greek Life is something irresponsible or illegal that a fraternity or sorority did. However, there are other aspects of Greek life that often goes unreported. For example, how they raise a lot of money for philanthropies or participate in community service. At Florida State University, Greek life has a huge presence on the University’s campus, and is a highly debated subject. This is definitely a community worth taking a closer look at. Does Greek life help students in life, or does it harm them?

There has been recent studies on this exact question. Micheal S. Hevel is a researcher at the University of Arkansas. His research mainly focuses on higher education and he has 22 publications. He teamed up with Daniel A. Bureau, the vice president of student affairs at University of Memphis, and together they wrote a research driven practice on fraternity and sorority life and its influence on students during college compared to students not affiliated with Greek Life using research done by the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS). Two important findings by the became very apparent in their research. The first, and possibly biggest thing they found in their research is that fraternity and sorority life have no significant impact on their educational outcomes. Hevel says, “On all educational outcomes explored by the WNS except leadership, fraternity/sorority membership had no direct effect,” (Hevel 29). This is important because there is a stereotype that fraternity and sorority member do worse in academics than students not affiliated with Greek life. However, this also shows that proponents of Greek life who say that fraternity or sorority membership actually influences the student in a positive way academically. The WNS tested students on critical thinking, moral reasoning, inclination to acquire life-long learning, intercultural competence, and psychological well-being. In all of these categories they found that there was not a positive or negative influence on any of these categories when sorority or fraternity membership was involved. They also found that early membership in a sorority or fraternity will have gains in leadership in the early parts of their career as a student; however, later on in college by their fourth year the leadership opportunities dwindle. This shows that early on Fraternity and Sorority members are given a lot of leadership opportunities. In my experience with Fraternity life there are so many leadership opportunities offered through the fraternity. You have the ability to run for over 10 different executive positions and many other chair positions and committees. However, the further on you get through college the harder classes get and the more internship and job opportunities start to arise, so people tend to get more focused on those.

Another study that was done by Wesley Routon, an assistant professor of economics at Georgia Gwinnett college, and Jay Walker, an assistant economics professor at Niagara University, is called Going Greek: Academics, Personal Change, and Life After College. In this they found Greek members have been shown to be more involved on campus and for fraternity members they have higher post-graduation income than non-affiliated students. They say that Greek life does not have a big effect on GPA, however, Greek membership correlates to a higher retention rate and a shorter time to graduation. The evidence shows that being a part of Greek life can open a lot of doors that help in the future. Routon says, “According to the North American Interfraternity Conference (2015) reports that half of the top ten of Fortune 500 CEOs are—and 44 percent of American Presidents, 31 per-cent of Supreme Court Justices, and 39 senators and 106 Congressmen in the 113 Congress have been—Greeks,” (Routon 61). I am not saying Greek Life causes people to be successful, but there is a correlation that can be seen when 106 of the 113 representatives in the United States congress participated in Greek Life.

The faculty at Emory University in Atlanta, GA wrote an article called, Greek Life on Campus: An Asset and a Challenge. It was written by Ajay Nair, PhD, who is the senior vice president and dean of Emory University. He also edits the Insight into Diversity editorial board. Victoria L. Chan-Frazier, a co-writer, is the assistant director of student conduct at Emory University. In the article they talked about how Greek Life can be a problem; however, it is also a big asset to the community and the students. Nair says, “Even with the many challenges still facing Greek life, students continue to rush for many reasons, including legacy and a desire for a shared experience with their peers,” (Nair 12). He is not wrong. Friendships are kindled through experiences shared between people. This is people make great friendships. These friendships often turn into networking later in life, and can lead to jobs and strong business relationships. Even though he supports Greek Life, he does recognize that it needs to be changed. Greek Life is often rooted in long tradition, and with time change comes. Greek Life is no different. They need to adapt to the new standards that are considered accepted and unacceptable. Greek Life is trying to do this. For example, Sigma Phi Epsilon voted to extend membership to any transgender man. In some states, mandatory hazing awareness programs are being implemented everywhere. Sigma Alpha Epsilon went into Title IX training nationwide to try and influence Fraternity culture in a more positive way. This does show that Greek Life is trying to adapt with the times.

Another way Greek Life is trying to change for the better is by learning how to address some of the issues that have risen due to outdated traditions or ignorance. One of the ways they do this is through speakers that come and teach. Mike Avalon a public speaker who addresses Greek life problems all across the country. He addresses major issues in the Greek community by addressing Greek culture as a whole. He tries to change the culture at schools. He has headlined over 350 presentations on over 125 college campuses addressing Greek culture. He addresses issues like alcohol abuse and sexual assault in Greek communities. Mike Avalon think that Greek Life is a very good institution that molds successful people so it is worth saving. He says, “Fraternities and sororities have always been a major contributor to the lives of highly successful people. There are issues on college campuses that need to be resolved, and we can use their leadership to do that. What we need to do is fix what is broken, and those issues are both real and perceived. In my talks, I address both,” (Presswire). In my experience Greek Life is trying to educate itself on how to be better at FSU as well. An example of this is now Alpha Tau Omega at FSU has a Title IX chair that educates the whole fraternity every single chapter about things like being respectful. One of the most debated aspects of college is Greek Life. People generally either like it and wish to see it continue, or don’t agree with it and wish to see it done away with. Through research done by the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education and Wesley Routon show that Greek Life does not harm students academically and can lead to higher starting salaries on average compared to non-affiliated students. At Florida State University I have had a very positive experience and have made many new friends. I have also volunteered more than I thought I would and have networked for jobs. Greek organizations even recognize that there are certain behaviors that are better left in the past and is restructuring how they do things. Greek Life, in my opinion, is an aspect of college worth saving because I believe it helps people and improves their future.