The influence of standards on the college fraternity man: An evaluative study on the impact of the 2004 implementation of the North American Interfraternity Conference standards for member organizations
Abstract
This dissertation sought to examine the effects that the implementation of standard nine by the North American Interfraternity Conference had upon member behaviors with respect to academic achievement, alcohol consumption, career preparation, civic engagement, hazing, leadership development, sexual assault awareness/prevention, and values and ethics. The Greek Life Experience Survey and Fraternity/Sorority Experience Survey, which were administered by the Center for the Study of the College Fraternity (CSCF), were used to collect the data. The sample comprised 683 respondents selected through a stratified random sampling procedure. Participants were located at both private and public higher education institutions from around the country; however, there was a slightly higher concentration of respondents from the Mid-west. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-Square, and Mann-Whitney U. The purpose of this study was to determine if positive changes could be seen in the responses of the men completing the surveys because of the implementation of the NIC standards for member organizations. The three areas discussed in this study were: (1) demographic data of respondents, (2) impact of standards on areas of personal development and core competencies, and (3) impact of standards on factors influencing negative incidents. The findings revealed an overall change in the affirmative in most areas, following the implementation of the standard. This suggests that the standards were not only a unifying effort for the member organizations, but had a positive influence on individual fraternity men. Additionally, there were improvements in the areas of academic achievement, career preparation, leadership development, and sexual assault awareness. The responses to alcohol consumption showed considerable improvements; however in some aspects actually proved to be lacking more after the implementation of the standards. There was a statically significant difference on median scores between the GES and the FSES concerning members' refusal of alcohol, pacing themselves while consuming alcohol, and drinking non-alcoholic beverages during extracurricular activities with respect to the implementation of standard nine. It was recommended that the study be replicated using a quasi-experimental design to mitigate the influence of extraneous variables concerning the true impact of NIC standard nine.
Subject Area
Higher Education Administration
Recommended Citation
Kimberly A Godwin,
"The influence of standards on the college fraternity man: An evaluative study on the impact of the 2004 implementation of the North American Interfraternity Conference standards for member organizations"
(2011).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3487294.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3487294