Gallup Survey Notes Positive of Greek Membership

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com

Earlier this year, a Gallup study of more than 30,000 college graduates across the United States found “that those who were members of fraternities or sororities are more likely to be ‘thriving’ in their well-being and engaged in work than college graduates who did not go Greek.”

The Gallup Blog of May 27, 2014, noted that:

“Individual Greek members and chapters have unfortunately been associated with issues involving hazing, binge drinking and sexual assaults, and Greek organizations should certainly continue their efforts to prevent these negative events from happening.  But it appears that, on the whole, the Greek experience have notable long-term benefits.”

The Gallup study, supported by the National Panhellenic Conference and the North-American Intrafraternity Conference, was a part of a larger Gallup-Purdue Index Survey.  That work has now been followed up by a National Panhellenic Conference study conducted by J. Patrick Biddix, Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  The Biddix study looked at women students from 18 randomly selected four-year institutions comparing women who were in National Panhellenic Conference organizations with those who were not.  It found that Greek women were three times higher to be retained at their schools from freshman to sophomore year, 2.5 times more likely to graduate within six years and two times more likely to graduate within four years than were non-members.

The two studies combined other strong empirical support for the value of involvement in Greek Life as an important part of the college experience and in life beyond campus.