How would college campuses be different if there were no sororities nor fraternities? Throughout their lifespan, the media has constantly been negatively portraying fraternities and sororities, from movies like House Bunny, 22 Jump Street, and Legally Blonde. Greek life has been portrayed to the public audience as a group of misfits. The negative portrayal of Greek life exists also at Mississippi State, often in the form of a clear divide between Greek students and their non-affiliated classmates. It seems that most people are either Greek and support the Greek lifestyle or are not affiliated and do not support the lifestyle at all. These organizations have changed since their creation, causing some fraternities and sororities to be suspended …show more content…
It would be interesting to see if these organizations have turned into something they were never intended to become. There have been various studies on the differences and outcomes of affiliated versus non affiliated college students. The majority of the studies focus on the drinking habits of greek students. They include how often they are consuming alcohol, how much gets consumed, and how easily accessible it can be. Many studies research the dangerous hazing ceremonies that occur within these exclusive groups. Other studies look into how common unprotected sex can be, and how common sexual assault and rape occur. Overall, most studies seems to focus on the greater alcohol consumption between populations, the unruly hazing, and unsafe sexual actions. One area of interest for researchers is the comparing of drinking habits in the population between Greek college students and non affiliated students. In 2001 three researchers from the University of Missouri, Ashley M. Asel, Tricia A. Seifert, and Ernest T. Pascarella, studied the short and long term effects of fraternity and sorority membership on heavy drinking. They found, “[f]irst year Greek students binge drinking one or more times in a two-week period were 1.8 times more than unaffiliated …show more content…
In 2005, Timothy Bleecker and Sarah Murnen looked at the sexual outcomes of fraternity members versus college students who are not affiliated. They found, “Greek members reported more sexual partners in the past year and past 3 month than non-Greek members.” Bleecker and Murnen reported that “14% of students had engaged in unprotected sex and 19% of students had engaged in oral sex while intoxicated, thus highlighting the frequency with which students engage in risky sexual behaviors while using substances.” They say that the main reason for the increased risk of STD and HIV infections among college students is how willing they are and uneducated about the consequences to engage in risky sexual behavior. An additional researcher Michelle Finke followed a fraternity and observed their culture. Finke found “the impact of alcohol use on coercive sexual activities was recently studied in college undergraduates. Alcohol use was found to have a positive association with a woman's being a victim of certain types of sexual coercive strategies” (23). Another study in 2013, Peggy Reeves Sandy studied rape that goes on in fraternity and the rape culture that surrounds them. She found that one in five women have been sexually assaulted in college. She states, “women in sororities are 74% more likely to experience rape than other college women.” Rape and STD’s are more common
While reading Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities, I learned more about the inner workings of Greek Life. I learned that the odds of me finding a sorority are so slim due to my independent and different personality. While I am not good at sticking up for myself, something this book has made me feel is crucial to blend in and conform to an ideal to fit into a sorority, I am too opinionated. There are not many sororities (at least shown in Pledged) that welcome girls who are different, preferring to stay similar. For example, each pledge class would soon like identical within a few months of pledging. Another thing I learned about is the careful planning and manipulation that occurs throughout sororities,
Since 1843 there has over 200 cited college hazing deaths. Fraternities are responsible for the overwhelming majority of those deaths. That is not to say that sororities
Every year students at an accredited university have a decision to join groups/activities. In many cases a lot of students choose to join either a fraternity or a
Greek organizations, such as, fraternities and sororities have been a part of the college experience for centuries. We pride ourselves in brotherly and sisterly love, academic success, and helping others. There are countless stereotypes and myths that surround the “Greek life” name. Just some myths include: all Greeks haze their members, they only care about physical looks not personalities, and they go to college just to party and get drunk. Kappa Delta Sorority upholds none of these stereotypes. We have a strong no haze policy. Hazing is defined as an activity or situation that can cause emotional, mental, or physical discomfort. If a member is caught hazing or if a new member is caught allowing herself to be hazed, there will be major consequences, such as, national probation or deferral of initiation. Kappa Delta also does not look at physical appearance as the only quality for possible new members. We look at personality and qualifications that can benefit our sorority; instead of having a group of women that are pretty and popular, we like to have women with strong morals, work ethic, and have the willingness to love each and every member of Kappa Delta. Kappa Delta Sorority is like no other fraternity or sorority on campus; we do not waste our time with partying and drinking. We pride ourselves in our historical background, philanthropies, and our values. I know Kappa Delta is the best sorority not only on MTSU campus but in the whole country.
The large number of sororities and fraternities around campus create a large party environment. Frat parties can get extremely rowdy and a number of them have to be shut down by local police. Obviously, the police being involved to shut something down is never a good thing and is clearly a sign of negativity for the overall atmosphere of any campus. Plus, the constant partying that goes on weekend after weekend really cuts down on the amount of time students spend studying. The excessive partying also takes away the significance of the education that is provided by universities, which is seen as a huge negative impact for universities and students. This argument is completely disputable! As stated earlier, Greek students have higher graduation rates and higher accumulative grade point averages than students who are not a part of Greek organizations. If Greek students can throw parties and continue to achieve admirable grade point averages, why can’t non-Greek students? I was unaware that every time I have a good time at a university, it would be taking away the significance of my education, that notion is honestly illogical and shouldn’t even be considered as problem caused by Greek organizations. This issue seems to be a non-Greek student problem that is being pushed onto Greek organizations. Maybe if they were all Greek students they could continue to party while maintaining a decent grade point
I came to college with a negative look on sororities. All my knowledge of greek life came from the media. Sororities are portrayed in a dismissive
In "Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture" Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade analyze the social perspective of the gendered relations in male fraternities that add to the high rate of violence against women on many college campuses. They list a host of factors that distinguish higher-risk from lower-risk atmospheres discussing the rates of rape in colleges and state how "1 out of 4 college women say they were raped or experienced an attempted rape" (217). Additionally, "1 out of 12 college men say they forced a woman to have sexual intercourse against her will" (Boswell, Spade 217). In other words Boswell and Spade indicated that the rates were high when it came down to women getting raped in colleges by men who also attended those colleges. In addition, Boswell and Spade specify in how most people are aware of rape but know very little about rape culture (Boswell, Spade 217).
Kimbrough, Walter M. Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities. Cranbury: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003. Print.
On college campuses, the consumption of alcohol amongst undergraduate college students continues to be a maladaptive college health behavior. The recreational use of alcohol effects the student population and the health of the students who excessively drink alcohol. The issue caused many research studies to focus on the effect of alcohol consumption based on being an athlete and non-athlete. This study is important because it provides college campuses with a perspective on alcohol consumption behavior between athletes and non-athletes. Additionally, students who consume alcohol can affect school environment. For example, previous research has suggested athletes are more likely to consume more alcohol than non-athletes. According to past research a reason is athletes may deal with more pressure preparing for a game and handling school work than non-athletes. Nonetheless, athletes face more peer pressure from team members, coaches, and family members; therefore, consuming alcohol would be a method of relieving stress. The purpose of the study is to identify a behavioral link of alcohol consumption between athletes and non-athletes.
Wolaver, Amy M. “Effects of heavy drinking in college on study effort, grade point average, and major choice.” Contemporary Economic Policy Oct 2002: 20. : 415. Expanded Academic ASAP. Cullom-Davis Library. 18 Feb 2005 .
Thousands of college students are injured every year from alcohol related incidents. Binge drinking is a dangerous, common activity done by college students and regularly. Binge drinking is the act of consuming excessive amounts of alcohol in a small period of time (google’s dictionary). More than half of students report binge drinking as a response to the stress of classes. Some students are more susceptible than others to have issues with drinking. A study found that negative incidents related to drinking are at the height of happening in a student's first semester of their freshman year. Fraternities are another vulnerable group that takes part binge drinking and hold true to having the most reported alcohol problems than all other college students. 70 percent of all fraternity brothers take part in binge drinking
These are alarming statistics, especially since we know that rape is widely underreported, suggesting the percentages of rape might be even higher. College students drink more alcohol than the normal public (as cited in Gunby, Carline, Beynon, 2012, p. 88). This is troubling for women because alcohol is known to increase the risk of victimization. In most alcohol-involved rape situations, women voluntarily drank large amounts of alcohol before being raped. It is more common for college women to be raped after being incapacitated by alcohol than it is for them to be raped by force (as cited in Messman-Moore, Ward, DeNard, 2013, p. 50).
Park, A., Sher, K., & Krull, J. (2009, July 6). Risky drinking in college changes as fraternity/sorority affiliation changes: A person–environment perspective. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2706006/
“Every college has its own horror stories, most not as deadly as the one at LSU,” says Dr Henry Wechsler, a Harvard University professor and author of a 1995 study of binge drinking. “This is not a single occurrence. Something like this will happen again.” According to Harvard studies show that 44% of students and 86% of fraternity residents are binge drinkers, drinking four to five drink in a row. Wechsler attributes this to both heavy drinkers being attracted to frats and the Greek system turning some students into binge drinkers.
With 123 organizations and over 9 million members in total, Greek Letter Organizations is the largest network of people in the Nation. This network include most Presidents and Vice Presidents of America, 76% of Congressmen and Senators, and”40 of the 47 [members] of the United States Supreme Court Justices since 1910”. In many of your campuses your students leaders are normally consist of Greek Members, who also serve in many of leadership positions in their organization as well. Men ad Woman who wear Greek Letters complete the most service hours, over 10 million, each year in the world. Even with some of these amazing facts, many here are contemplating the actually significant of Greek Life on your own campus or have already kicked the Greek System off of your campus. Why does this seem like the oncoming norm? Why do many people seem to hold a negative judgment over an applicant who was President of their organization? It is due to the high increase of reported hazing cases on college campuses throughout the United States. Hazing has slowly become a serious part of Colleges and is normally linked to Greek Life Organizations. It is time for college personal to united and takes a stand against hazing together because it is now a national issue and it is putting many of our students in harm’s way. The main reason why hazing it becoming so prevalent is due to the fact that there are different levels of hazing from college to college so many personal are educated that some acts are okay to do and they accept that on a campus they work at. Another area that must be addressed is that schools aren’t being proactive to stop hazing. Many wait until a student is severely injured to address concerns that could be happening.