Document Type
Thesis
First Faculty Advisor
Kevin Menzter
Second Faculty Advisor
Dirk Primus
Keywords
greek life; sorority; fraternity; involvement; membership
Publisher
Bryant University
Rights Management
CC 4.0 BY-NC-ND
Abstract
A large aspect of student life for college campuses across the country includes Greek Life, whereby students must gain membership and are initiated into a secret society style of organization. Upon expansive research and thorough analysis of the field focused on Greek involvement implications, impacts, and outcomes, there were many conflicting conclusions across studies that had a wide variety of differing input and control factors. With little definitive and holistic research that could reflect all colleges and chapters of Greek Life, this project takes specifically to the climate of Greek Life at Bryant University. Many studies primarily focus on the impact on an individual level, and this project serves to focus on student reported outcomes, but in the context of both a comparison to the reported outcomes of students in their experience with a non-Greek affiliated organization, as well as the impact the Greek organizations have on leadership contributions to the campus in student life. By administering a forty-seven-question survey to a diverse group of students at Bryant anonymously, the survey captures perspectives from both the Greek and non-Greek affiliated student populations. The survey looks objectively at measurable metrics like service hours in the community and GPA, as well as more subjective components like student reported gains in terms of skills.
