This quantitative study was used to determine the perceptions that may have caused a decline in membership in fraternities and sororities and to examine active organization involvement between affiliated and unaffiliated students at a single higher education institution in northeast Texas. Eight perceptions were given regarding fraternity and sorority life and why students chose to remain unaffiliated with fraternities or sororities. The instrument used was a modified version of the Extracurricular Involvement Inventory, created by Winston and Massaro (1987) and was administered to participants online via Survey Monkey. There were 206 participants total: 55.3% were female, and 44.7% were male. Regarding ethnicities, 47.0% were African American, 37.5% were Caucasian, and 15.5% were Hispanic/Latino. Out of the participants, 20.9% were in their freshman or sophomore year, 23.8% were juniors, 33.5% were seniors, and 21.8% were graduate students. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 32, with a mean of 22.89 (SD = 2.81). The research questions were analyzed using two techniques: logistic regression for the first question and multiple regression for the second question. Findings for the first research question indicated that lack of values, lack of diversity, poor academic attitudes, and a requirement of too much time were primary reasons unaffiliated students chose not to join a fraternity or sorority. Findings for the second question indicated that Greek-affiliated students averaged higher involvement intensity scores when compared to unaffiliated students. Practical implications and future research are discussed.

The quantitative study identified predictor variables of online sports problem gambling, as measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) among fraternity students at major college universities. The data were composed of 125 college fraternity students from ages 18 to 25 years of age. The average SOGS score was 1.776 with a standard deviation of 1.93. A SOGS score of 5 or greater indicates a probable problem gambler. The study used the Blaszczynski and Nower (2002) pathways model to determine how fraternity students could become problem gamblers. A stepwise regression model was run in SPSS using multiple independent variables taken from the survey to determine which of the independent variables were significantly correlated with the dependent variable, SOGS score. The study found 5 independent variables to be statistically significant: family history of gambling, competitive wagering, tobacco use, placing a wager with a friend, and wagering with funds acquired by illicit means. These 5 variables hold an R-squared (adjusted) of .26, which means that about 26% of the variability in the SOGS scores can be accounted for by these 5 variables. The study results supported the hypothesis that a complex set of social, biological, and psychological factors may contribute to determine how fraternity students could become problem gamblers. This study identified multiple individuals and parties who would benefit from further research about the ill-effects of online sports gambling among fraternity students.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 1992. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-128).

This study proposes that members of Greek social organizations have higher rates of binge drinking as compared to other college students due to their greater acceptance of norms and motives that support binge drinking. The College Alcohol Study, a survey conducted by the Harvard School of Public Heath, was administered to 10, 904 university students. The survey measured various aspects of students' experiences at their respective universities including experiences with and perceptions of alcohol use. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine normative and motivational predictors of binge drinking for Greek and non-Greek students. The results show that Greek members binge drink at higher levels than do other students. The results also indicate that social norm and motive variables, which were thought to be predictive of binge drinking practices for all students, are better predictors of binge drinking for non-Greek members. Implications of theses findings, discussion of results, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research are presented.

A commitment to advancing civic engagement has been evident throughout the history of the U.S. higher education system. Civic engagement is a part of the mission of fraternity and sorority organizations. Because of this commitment to civic engagement, the purpose of this study is to understand what is happening in the development of civic engagement of fraternity and sorority alumni, specifically the role fraternity and sorority life plays in this development. The research questions that guide this study include: 1) How do fraternity and sorority alumni exercise civic engagement upon graduating from their undergraduate college experiences?; 2) How do fraternity and sorority alumni make meaning of the impact past Greek participation play in their current commitment to civic engagement?; 3) What impact do environments along the academic pathway (e.g., high school, college, postcollege) have on the longitudinal process of meaning making around commitments to civic engagement for fraternity and sorority alumni? Levering key perspectives from Astin’s (1984) Person-Environmental Theory, Baxter Magolda’s Self-Authorship Theory (1999), and Musil’s Spiral Model (2009), the literature review synthesizes research on civic engagement inputs and outcomes into a new conceptual model for understanding the complex process of longitudinal civic engagement commitments via iterative precollege, college, and postcollege experiences. The design of this study comes a from a constructive-development pedagogy lens, that used focus groups to collect data from the narratives of 25 alumni members of fraternity and sorority organizations from a single institution site broken down by Council membership of the National Panhellenic Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, and the Inter-Fraternity Council. The themes from the results included that most participants took part in a variety of civic engagement experiences prior to college; their commitment to civic engagement grew due to the influence of other chapter members and other student organizations during college; membership commitment due to the foundational leverage of internal commitment to civic engagement; and current environments and previous lived experiences had an impact on participants’ current civic engagement commitment and identity. Additional research should be conducted to determine if this research could be replicated at other higher education institutions and fraternity and sorority communities to better understand the long-term impact of these experiences on alumni’s civic engagement identity.

The Great Resignation has brought a renewed national focus on job quit rates throughout the United States (Gittleman, 2022; Serenko, 2023). Researchers have explored why non-faculty higher education professionals leave the field of student affairs, but few recent studies have considered departure among functional area-specific professionals, with the exception of residence life and housing. Further, while there are studies on burnout, the field lacks research about how the day-to-day reality of fraternity/sorority advising (FSL work) impacts the quitting behaviors of fraternity/sorority advising professionals (FSAs). This general qualitative study was rooted in the sensitizing concepts (Charmaz, 2003) of the weight of the work of FSAs, the complexity of the fraternity and sorority advising job, and the burn-through that exists in fraternity/sorority advising. Participants included nine former campus-based FSAs who left the field from January 2018-December 2023. Data were collected through participant interest forms and semi-structured Zoom interviews to answer the following research questions: 1. How do former campus-based fraternity/sorority advisors describe their former FSA positions and work experiences? 2. What aspects of the fraternity/sorority advising position led to former campus-based FSAs' decisions to quit their campus-based role? Thematic analysis and inductive coding methods were used to analyze the data. Findings included four major themes related to the experiences of former FSAs: unrealistic expectations, challenges that are specific to working in fraternity and sorority life, the impact of the campus environment, and lasting personal effects of the FSA experience. This study offers implications and recommendations for policy and practice, specifically around the areas of training and onboarding, employee well-being, and the resources that are necessary to support the work of FSAs. Further research should explore how various stakeholders define the value of fraternities and sororities and the prevalence and lasting impact of the student affairs practice of burning through and exhausting student affairs professionals for the sake of the college or university. / Doctor of Philosophy / The Great Resignation has brought a renewed national focus on job quit rates throughout the United States (Gittleman, 2022; Serenko, 2023). In higher education, there is research on why non-faculty higher education professionals leave the field of student affairs, but few studies have focused on functional area-specific student affairs professionals, except in residence life and housing. Further, while there are studies on burnout in student affairs, there is limited research on the day-to-day reality of fraternity/sorority advising work (FSL work) and how this reality impacts the quitting behaviors of fraternity/sorority advising professionals (FSAs). The purpose of this study was to explore how the complex nature of FSL work influenced the quitting behaviors of formerly campus-based fraternity/sorority professionals. Nine participants participated in a Zoom interview where they each shared details about their experiences as former FSAs, their ultimate decisions to leave campus-based work, and how their experiences and decisions to quit impacted their lives. Findings from this study include four major themes related to the experiences of former FSAs: unrealistic expectations, challenges that are specific to working in fraternity and sorority life, the impact of the campus environment, and lasting personal effects of the FSA experience. This study offers implications and recommendations for policy, practice and further research that apply not only to fraternity and sorority advising, but also more broadly to student affairs.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Judith Hughey / Social organizations known as fraternities exist on many college campuses in the United States. Many of these organizations have a residential home either on the campus or off campus for the students known as a fraternity home. One of the values that many fraternities seek to ad-here to is found in the area of leadership (Long, 2012). Leadership has been studied for decades as has the social organizations known as fraternities. The outcomes of both of these areas of studies presented spirited and often complex discussion on how to define a) leadership and b) what is the role of the fraternity on the college campus. This qualitative study of 12 students focused on fraternity members who lived in a residential setting of a fraternity home. The purpose of this study was to understand what factors of the fraternity home experience have on one’s leadership identity and to explain how these factors can help guide college professionals in fostering in positive college student development. The researcher used two primary methods of data collection (a) focus groups and (b) in-depth individual semi-structured interviews. A case study research design was utilized to help understand the experiences that take place in the lives of the participants. The analysis of the data in this study helps explain how a college student living in a fraternity home takes on a leadership identity. Furthermore, this study pointed to six themes that emerged to help inform how a residential living setting of a fraternity home shapes the leadership identity of the students. Multiple support systems allow for students to have values tested and reinforced though a fraternity home experience. Diversity of other viewpoints are present in a fraternity and allow for students to see differing perspectives. Older fraternity brothers have a positive influence on younger members in terms of self-confidence, mentoring, and other areas. Positional leadership roles of the fraternity allow students to engage with managing conflict and interacting with adult advisors and mentors. Brotherhood events provide students the opportunity develop relationships and interpersonal skills. Formal chapter meetings allow a venue for students to engage with each other in a manner that produces improved communication skills and critical thinking. Student affairs professionals and leadership educators working with students including but not limited to Greek organizations can take the findings of the study to assist them in their work. A leadership identity is being formed through a fraternity home setting as evidence of this study. Leadership educators can use this study to help their thoughts on how college students, especially fraternity members, view and exercise leadership. This study also presented areas for future research based on the information that was gained from the participants. Colleges continue to need contemporary studies to help them in working enhance the academic and social experience. The information provided in this study can be a catalyst for helping the understanding of leadership and for student development.

This study examined the academic achievement of national social fraternity pledges compared to non-fraternity students at the University of Texas at Arlington. It was done to determine whether significant differences existed between the grade point averages of pledges of social fraternities and those of students who did not pledge a social fraternity, and to determine whether significant differences existed among fraternities when compared with each other with respect to academic achievement. This study was meant to provide a research design that could be used by other colleges and universities with fraternities to conduct the same comparison of academic performance. In the fall semester of 1989, 164 pledges were selected as the population for the study to be matched with non-fraternity students based on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, age, sex, classification, academic major, and number of hours attempted. A T-test of like groups was performed on the entire population with no significant difference found at the .05 level between all the fraternity pledges and all the matched pairs. A T-test of like groups was performed on the pledges from each separate organization and there was a significant difference among three of the fraternities. Two of the fraternities had significantly higher grade point averages than those of their matched pairs, and one group of matched pairs had a significantly higher grade point average than the fraternity. Of the 17 fraternities, 12 had higher grade point averages than their matched pairs and five of the matched pairs had higher grade point averages than the fraternities. The results of this study show that objective data can be collected to address the issue of academic excellence comparing fraternity and non-fraternity populations. It is recommended that further study be conducted in this area to establish longitudinal data, with specific examination of the scholarship programs of the individual groups that showed significant differences in academic performance.

In this thesis I explore the possibility for a renewed communitarianism. Rather than present this as a rival to liberalism, however, I present it as a supplement. I start from the viewpoint that there are two basic facts with normative consequences the reconciliation of which is the central task of moral and political philosophy. One fact is the fact of individuality, which I believe produces a normative requirement that all and only obligations that respect a certain kind of individual autonomy are legitimate. This fact is well explained by liberalism, and so I am to that extent a liberal. Where I differ from contemporary liberalism, and where I think there is room for a renewed communitarianism, is in explaining the limits of autonomy. There are, I contend, a wide array of basic and legitimate obligations that cannot be adequately explained (i.e. the legitimacy of which cannot be explained) by autonomy alone. The role for communitarianism, then, is to explain the nature of a second legitimating principle and how these two principles – respect for autonomy and respect for (what I call) fraternity – can work together to explain when various maxims and policies are legitimate or illegitimate. In the first part I explain the importance of communitarianism. In the second, I try and determine the nature of the principle that should be seen as representing the normative requirements of the fact of sociality: the second inescapable fact of moral and political philosophy, that while we are individuals we are never alone. I will ultimately argue for a version of solidarity based on the role ethical obligations play in incorporating the interests of others in one‟s own set of interests. In the final part I explain how the ethical obligation at the heart of solidarity should work and then how to reconcile the normative requirements of the fact of sociality with autonomy.

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore the issues of race and mattering in relation to African American participation within historically White fraternities. Participant perspectives were obtained through six interviews with African American males at four collegial institutions within the Southeastern Region of the United States. Critical Race Theory was utilized to framed issues surrounding race in a homogenous Greek context. A second lens, Rosenberg and McCullough's (1981) concept of mattering, provided a comprehensive description of participants' feelings of significance within the inter-racial Greek experience. Thematic findings indicate that although African American members are recruited to be a part of a particular historically White fraternity's brotherhood, they initially experience marginality. Through continued interaction, the fraternal bonds become strengthened with participants rising to varying levels of leadership within the group, and, mattering to their White fraternal brothers. Other themes related to African American participation within historically White fraternities include: (a) One or no family member that attended college, (b) no immediate family members that are Greek, (c) significance of race is downplayed, (d) limited fraternal knowledge prior to entering college, (e) recruitment is driven by image, status, and counter assumption, (f) stereotypical organizations are racial holdouts; and, (g) discord exist with other African Americans that disapprove of the inter-racial experience.