Survey Results | Backgrounds

Religion 

The goal of this survey was to determine if there is a relationship between religious beliefs and perception/ability to participate in Greek life. Fifty students responded to this survey, the majority of whom were involved in Greek life at Emory. The results were limited due to very little elaboration on how students were restricted due to their religious beliefs. To obtain more detailed information, individual interviews were conducted.

 The students that responded saying that they are "sometimes" restricted noted that they were not restricted to a point where they actually couldn't be involved with their organization, but felt that the morals associated with their religion guided them from par-taking in certain behaviors. 

Survey | Background and Perception of Greek Life

The goal of the survey was to discern any potential link between a student’s background and their self and parents’ perceptions of Greek life, specifically at Emory. 83 Emory College students responded, the majority of whom were involved in Greek life. The survey was distributed electronically across numerous Greek and non-Greek Facebook groups. Due to the underrepresentation of non-Greek students in the survey, the results are rather limited. Even still, the perceptions of students within Greek life also vary, and the results were noteworthy.

Of this 10.8% (nine of 83 respondents) who answered no to the above question; ethnicity, origin varied. Five of the students identified as White, and noted that both of their parents were born in the United States. One student was of Chinese heritage with neither parent being born in the U.S. Another student identified as half-Indian; having her mother born in India, and a father born here in the U.S. An eighth student identified as Asian and White, with a Cambodian parent as well as an American parent. Lastly, the ninth student was White, and Polish; having two parents both born outside the U.S. Of those who claimed their parents are indifferent or would be indifferent: only two did not identify as White.

At the end of the survey two optional, open-ended questions were posed:

Please elaborate on your feelings about/perception of Greek life at Emory.

Describe your perception of Greek life nationally.

Of the 6% who viewed Greek life negatively, and chose to elaborate in the follow up question regarding Emory, all identified as White.

They explained their perceptions on Emory Greek life:

“I met a lot of people through it but I think its often dumb and immature and based on antiquated rituals and ideologies”

“Terrible. Poor morals, peer pressure, constantly complaining about stupid stuff. Whiny, waste of money, mean to its members”

“It's insanely expensive. It's also exclusive, and some of the rules that sororities abide by are super archaic and sexist.”

“I think some people love it and others hate it. I hear very mixed opinions, but Greek life is undeniably a big presence on campus and hard to avoid. “

It was extremely interesting to me that most of those who reported viewing Greek life negatively in the survey identified as White. My hypothesis initially was that the negative perceptions of Greek life would reflect the same problems reported by the media: a lack of minority representation within organizations. I thought that those who did not identify as White would actually perceive Greek life more negatively due to an underrepresentation of minorities at Emory and nationally. Only one respondent even acknowledged this problem at all stating: “It's great but it's way too white and heterosexual and I'm not even gay or a minority”.