The purpose of researching this topic is not only to better the futures of college students, but our very generation as people. The goal of college is simple, to prepare you for your life of responsibilities and role in society. When a kid goes to college, the first big decision they have to make is there major, which is not always chosen right away but still lingers in your conscious. The next big decision which has become very apparent in this generation is whether or not to join a Greek Letter Society. For some this can be an easy no due to money which is a big factor, others may not have parent permission due to prejudice views towards Greek life. The question being researched is: Does involvement in Greek life and its extracurricular activities provide a positive outcome in your academic studies and skills for life after college in today’s society? This articles being referenced will be used to show that involvement can produce positive results but ultimately Greek life in today’s society hinders students from succeeding.

The argument that almost every adult makes against Greek Life is its uncanny association with alcohol and binge drinking. Henry Wechsler did a study on the behavior related to alcohol and its correlations to Greek life. Henry Wechsler is a lecturer at the Harvard University School of Public Health and was principal investigator of the College Alcohol Study, giving him a position in studying alcohol-related problems. Which relates to Greek life’s alcoholic lifestyle.   This a respectable argument as “Virtually every study of drinking in college shows fraternity members tend to drink more heavily and more frequently, and to have more alcohol-related problems than their fellow students” (Wechsler, 2008). The argument made about drinking is that kids who participate in it tend to do worse in school, and since college fraternities and sororities participate in these acts frequently, they should have lower GPA’s than most students. Although Greek letter societies do partake in alcohol-related actives, the problem is that it is not the only thing that goes on in these organizations. 

There is a study done by Kathleen Randall and David Grady that researches the cognitive skills gained and used in Greek life. It states that after the first year of college, men and women who participated in a Greek affiliation had lower cognitive skill scores. The only outlier was that African Americans tended to excel in Greek society compared to others (Randall,1998). The study concluded that the lower cognitive skills were due to the time taken up by these organizations. This study clearly states that Greek organizations can increase critical thinking skill, but they aren’t doing it. The way Greek organizations are setup up now, their whole makeup tolerates activities such as binge drinking. These hinder the positive outcomes that can be created through actual involvement.

It is easy to associate college with the aspects of academics and grades, but when you associate college with the becoming of an adult in a child’s life, it sheds a new light. David Grady and Kathleen Randall defend this new light in their article describing the critical thinking skills gained from participating in Greek organization activities. The objection that is raised to this article is its date of publishing which is 1998. Daniel Schwarz, an author for the Huffington Post said that if the proposal of Greek organizations were to be introduced to a campus today, they would be denied. Schwarz’s article “The Greek System: Should College Students Join Fraternities or Sororities?” was published in 2015, and gives us a more recent overview. which’s significance is how it relates to how much Greek life has changed over the years. His audience was upcoming college students, and has made his profession about higher education and succeeding at college so he is very invested. He cites statistical facts from the US Department of Education, which provide assurance of the credibility of what he was saying.  The article is about how over the years, Greek life has become less and less effective in the college experience. He explained how it does not build networks and connections for the future like it did in the past.

  My thesis directly relates to the 21st century involvement in Greek organizations and academic success. Schwarz questions the main focus of Greek organizations, stating that times have changed and what started as a social community of scholars has turned into an alcoholic binging group. He weighs the opportunity cost of being part in Greek life by stating, “Most of them encourage alcohol consumption, including underage and illegal drinking” (Add Shwraz Citation Finally, he states that time could be better spent on academic work and extra-curricular activities, including community service(add shwra citiztion). This is relevant because as stated in the previous article, “Residents of fraternity and sorority houses also were more likely to state that partying and drinking are important activities” (Wechsler,2008). This shows that students lose their ability to prioritize what is actually going to help their future due to the interaction with Greek affiliations. 

Since there is a repetitive view on Greek life and its alcohol consumption, the study done by Jay walker and his colleagues dives in a statistical view on the results of affiliation.  With these results they take a different view on the topic stating, “Greek membership leads to higher levels of involvement in and satisfaction with campus social life, and predicts higher graduation rates and degree persistence.”(add citation) This opposing view means that due to so much time involved in one’s association, there is a bond or attachment in which causes a student to want to stay apart and to do so, they must attend the school which increases the graduation rates and tendency to stay in school. This, compiled with the previous evidence stated by the other articles, just boils down to the facts versus the feelings. The facts show increased alcohol consumption, and that alcohol consumptions hinders students. Therefore, Greek life at this point in time is hindering students, but it doesn’t mean get rid of them. It uses them for their actual purpose of creating a social communities of scholars to network and create a brotherhood or sisterhood of people that help one another excel at success. 

As seen, there has been evidence of how alcohol is a high risk in Greek life, but a study conducted by Jay Walker found opposing results to the assumption of alcohol and Greek organization’s academic success. The study did show the increase in alcohol consumption stating, “are about 14 percentage points more likely to report they drink beer ‘frequently’, while for sorority members this effect is a bit smaller, at about 9 percentage points” (Walker 2014). This solidifies how alcohol consumption does increase, but what was really interesting was that their study at Duke University showed that Greek organization members’ graduation in 4 years rate was higher than non-Greek students. This is relevant since its opposing the view of the article but this research just show that they graduate in 4 years doesn’t mean they have sufficient GPA’s. The article does do a study on GPA which shows know difference but Walker states, “perhaps because Duke students are of higher academic ability than that of the average student in the national college student pool” (Walker, 2014). Thus showing that results differ from campus to campus but the only fact that stays steady through every study shown is Alcohol.

This article also dives into the social aspect, as well as, the skills gained from joining a  Greek Organization.  They did a study of “well over 100,000 students from over 450 US colleges and universities” (Walker,2014). The study showed results about the changes in opinions due to Greek life and how it affected relatability and open mindedness. The results stated that, “Overall, these view effects of membership are mostly small in magnitude. It seems that variables other than Greek membership are more likely to change student opinions during college, and Greeks and non-Greeks have numerous social views in common”(Walker, 2014). Which is beneficial to our position on this topic due to how it shows that even if you don’t partake in a Greek organization you will still have similar socials views thus making it just as easy to interact with others. This piece really challenges the view that joining Greek Life can cause better social skills and help create viewpoint to interact on.

Greek life has been noted to give leadership skills and other after-college skills to help students take on the world. Jay Walker conducted a study on the skill differences gained from students and wrote, “Fraternity members, more than similar male college graduates, report improvements in their general knowledge, leadership abilities, interpersonal skills, public-speaking skills, knowledge of other ethnicities/cultures, ability to get along with those of other backgrounds, understanding of community problems, and understanding of national social problems.” This does show that this statement is true, but he also states that, “Most of these differences, though, while statistically significant, are small in magnitude” (Walker, 2014). These statements are significant in proving that the difference in alcohol consumption which affects academic success outweighs the difference in skills gained and maybe a view academic outliers in students. He even states that the study shows girls have no differences, and  girls in Greek life stated, “their general knowledge and knowledge of different ethnicities/cultures has not kept up with those of female non-Greek graduates.”(Walker, 2014) furthering the point of the insignificances of joining these Greek binge groups.

 This article dives into the differences of life after college and does report an increase in salary for prior Greek members, but there is no affect in social networking and employment rate. Thus, the relations thought to be gained are no greater than the alcoholism you gain from joining Greek organizations. Though the main point of this research is to prove how Greek Life isn’t affective in present day, it doesn’t mean there can be a solution or positive purpose for them. Greek-letter organizations initial stated purpose was to provide support and fellowship for students in an era when significantly fewer high school students choose a college education, and when fewer on-campus living situations were available to undergraduates (Walker, 2014). It’s not that colleges don’t have a purpose it’s just that alcohol has taken over.

The high risk behavior due to Greek life is becoming apparent to colleges since UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol at a press conference talked about how she is very aware of the negative alcohol effects happening from Greek life and she and others are working on solution for alternatives to get what is positive about Greek organizations without the bad as well. “Studies show that fraternity brothers drink more heavily than their non-Greek peers”. (Blake, 2016) This has been a common result across all studies and “Although National fraternity headquarters do have rules against this and against hazing during the pledging, or membership-education, process, alcohol consumption is frequently a component of Greek life. Though the benefits of joining a Greek organization seem to far outweigh the risks, it's important to note that negative choices can impact college performance” (Blake, 2016) Based on the other articles used in correlation with this one, I think it is obvious to see that the benefits do not obviously outweigh the negatives due to the small magnitude of their difference between students who don’t associate with Greek life. The main difference that is getting repetitive is the alcohol use which leads to the conclusion that how can an organization have a positive effect on your academic success and life after college if it influences alcoholism which negatively affects both things.

The main reason for this research is to better help incoming college students like myself decide whether it truly is worth it to join into the crazy Greek life. When it comes down to what is actually good for me and my future, the evidence shown throughout these articles and my research exhibits that the Greek letter organizations do not have a positive outcome on academic success or life after college, but more of a neutral nonexistence difference in those categories. Which then leads to the question of why not join and then the statistics of alcohol consumption and dependency of alcohol as an adult come into play and how the health after college is significantly affected by Greek Life. Being a college student I know the peer pressure that comes with doing certain activities and socializing. Based on these results you can infer that if you join a group of people that have a high alcohol consumption rate, you will be highly pressured in participating in these activities. They may be different for everyone, but even if you could restrain yourself from the peer pressure of your brothers or sisters why would you want to be a part of something that ultimately is trying to influence you to hinder yourself?
