Abstract
Becoming involved in Greek Life can have a huge effect on a
person’s college experience. The goal of the research I conducted was in order
to find out if getting involved in Greek Life on University of Louisville’s
campus would be beneficial in life after college. I sent a survey out on
surveymonkey and posted it to my facebook page in order to receive feedback
from a diverse group of students and professionals. In addition to this I gave
a paper copy to random University of Louisville students in order to get a
better understanding of my university’s view on Greek Life. Through these
surveys, I found that the majority of University of Louisville students have a
positive outlook on Greek Life, and many people out of college with work
experience say being involved in Greek Life has benefitted them. As a result, I
think many people would find benefit from becoming involved in Greek Life.
Introduction
Greek Life can be extremely beneficial to those willing to
try it. Greek Life, however, can be extremely time- constraining and, depending
on the organization, can be very costly. Also, at some colleges, Fraternities
and Sororities are convicted of hazing and too much drinking and partying. So
the question is: can joining Greek life benefit you? USA today says that “85%
of Fortune 500 executives were a part of Greek life…and college graduation
rates are 20% higher among Greeks than non-Greeks”(
http://college.usatoday.com/2012/05/08/examining-the-benefits-of-greek-life/
). The majority of Greek organizations were formed as a way to commit a group
to helping others through their philanthropy and today still are putting forth
efforts through philanthropy events. Greek
involvement is not always a good thing; “since 1975, there has been at least
one hazing-induced death per year across college campuses” (
http://college.usatoday.com/2012/05/08/examining-the-benefits-of-greek-life/).
However, the University of Louisville has a very strict no-hazing policy, and
the Greek life here is not strict on loyalty to the organization, meaning one
does not get punished for speaking to members outside of their affiliated
chapter. So now the question is further narrowed: does being involved in Greek
life at the University of Louisville benefit students?
Methods
Participants:
I focused
on two main groups for my survey: students at the University of Louisville and
members of the working population, who have graduated from college.
Procedures:
I questioned
the members of my survey over if they are, or ever have been, involved in Greek
life, if they supported the idea of Greek life, and if they would recommend
Greek life to others. I then posted this survey to my Facebook wall, in order
to get a wider age range. I also handed this survey to students in the library
in order to get a random University of Louisville students’ perspective.
Data Analysis:
From this
survey, I found that the majority of people involved in Greek life at the
University of Louisville speak very highly of it. They are happy with their
involvement, think its benefits them both socially and academically, and they
would encourage others to participate as well. The majority of the members of
the working class who were involved in Greek life during their college time say
that being involved in Greek life has helped them in their job. The majority of
the participants who dropped out of Greek life said they dropped because either
they could not afford it or did not have grades that met the grade requirement.
However, the majority of these participants still said they would recommend
Greek life. The participants who were never involved in Greek life tended to
have no opinion on whether Greek life was beneficial or not.
Results
Through this study, I have found that, on the campus of the
University of Louisville, Greek life tends not to have a bad connotation. The
University of Louisville is known for having strict hazing rules, and even the
simplest form of hazing receives punishment. Because of this, I believe that
many people at this establishment look highly upon Greek life. We go to a
school that shares stories of the good work done by the Greek life, and because
of this, not many people are against it.
Discussion
This study
was made in order to see if there is a positive or negative outlook on Greek
life at the University of Louisville, and if it can benefit you later on in
life. The only problem I think I had was not getting enough people. If I had a
way to get off campus and survey more working adults, I think this survey could
have been better. I think there can be a very negative connotation with Greek
life in general, but the strict rules the University of Louisville has for
Greek life breaks most of those stereotypes.
Future
studies that could be done would be going into the fraternities and sororities
and seeing how happy those students are verses the students outside of Greek
life. That way you could see if Greek life helps an individual. The study I
performed talks more about the Greek system as a single unit. You could also
look into each individual fraternity and sorority and see which ones have the
happiest members or the most successful
members.
