Bianca Sanchez

English 1103
Inquiry Project/Annotations

Greeks VS. Alcohol

Buczkowski, Peter. "An Argument for Greek Letter Societies." UTM Think. Blog at
WorldPress.com, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
<http://utmthink.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/an-argument-for-greek-letter-societies/>.
UTM Think is a blog post among students at the University of Toronto, “Where thoughts
become actions.” The author is an English Major, UTM/TV’s Creative Director and a
member of Phi Gamma Delta at UTM.
This article discusses the positive aspects of being a member of a Greek Letter Society.
That Greek Letter Societies are more than what you see in the movies. The author states
that there has been significant “change” in the past 20 years. There is reference to the
Greek tradition of rushing. That in order to “rush” you must be invited, or know a greek
member. Basically you have to have great networking capabilities. Before becoming a
member of a Greek Letter Society one is called a “pledge”. Being a “pledge” is a time for
the current members to see if that person could potentially fit into their group. The author
implies that there is no humiliation when one is a pledge. Frater meaning brother and
Soror meaning sister in Latin which also implies that these organizations adhere to
“brotherhood” and “sisterhood”. Along with “brotherhood” and “sisterhood” Greek Letter
societies promote “friendship, morality, service, excellence, academics, honor, love, and
knowledge”. The author then offers his opinion on why he joined a fraternity. He joined
for the prestige of being a part of a greek organization. An important issue that is
presented with this article is the use of alcohol among greek members. The author writes
that it is up to the university to set up rules and regulations to protect their students, and it
is not the job of the greek organizations.
This article brings a different perspective to the opinions of Greek Letter Societies and
their members. It will be a useful source because it will bring a debate to the paper. It
offers the other side of the story.

"Fraternity and Sorority Members and Alcohol and Other Drug Use." Higher Education
Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention |
Welcome to the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug
Abuse and Violence Prevention. Center for College Health and Safety, 2008. Web.
11 Apr. 2011. <http://www.higheredcenter.org/files/product/fact_sheet5.txt>.
The Higher Education Center offers free publications on its website. Among
publications the center offers services such as training, technical assistance, support, and
evaluation activities to bring awareness to alcohol and other drug abuse.
This article brings up the question of do fraternity and sorority members drink more than
non-members? Is the “culture of drinking” enforced in these greek letter societies? Many
surveys and studies were conducted in order to discover the answers to the questions.
One study done by The 2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol research
found that both fraternity and sorority members consumed more amounts of alcohol than
 non-fraternity and non-sorority members. The results were 75.1 percent against 48.6
percent for fraternity members versus non-fraternity members, and 62.4 percent against
40.9 percent for sorority members versus non-sorority members. The article also
discusses “consequences” of alcohol consumption among greek members. Some of the
consequences stated were ill effects on health, safety, and academics especially among
fraternities and sororities leaders. There are not only consequences for those who are
consuming large amounts of alcohol but also to others around them. For example sorority
members are more likely to be victims of attempted or actual rape than non-sorority
members. Another question that is brought to the light is do fraternities and sororities
support drinking? One study conducted by the University of Alabama discovered that
greek members increased their drinking more than non-greek members after starting
college. With all this information about how members of fraternities and sororities abuse
alcohol and other drugs, as well as participate in violent activities. The Higher Education
Center advertises their prevention services that the fraternities, sororities, and college
campuses could use help reduce the abuse.
This source will be most useful. It is informative on the statistics of the abuse of alcohol
and other drugs. The article also brings up important questions about the specific topic of
greek members. It shows us the problems, but it also provides potential solutions to the
problem of substance abuse.

Marklein, Mary Beth. "USATODAY.com - Binge Drinking's Campus Toll." News, Travel,
Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World -
USATODAY.com. USATODAY.com, 27 Feb. 2002. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/child/2002-02-28-campus-binge-drinking.htm>.
USA TODAY is a recognizable news reporter of national news. Articles can be a searched
and accessed online. The author has worked with USA TODAY since 1997. She
specifically covers higher education for USA TODAY, such as college students.
This article depicts the harsh realities of binge drinking among fraternities and sororities.
One case that is presented within the article is that of Daniel Rearden of the University of
Maryland. Who was found at the Phi Sigma Kappa house while in cardiac arrest. Who
also had ironically just accepted a bid to join the fraternity. Daniel was taken off life
support on February 14th, 2002, Autopsy reports were not “available” at the time, but a
statement from the university states that alcohol “may have played an important” role in
his death. One statistic that is astonishing is that 56 deaths have resulted from fraternities
abusing alcohol or hazing. The results are plain and simple that among greek members
alcohol consumption is a lot higher that non-greek members. Drastic actions are having to
be taken in order to control the binge drinking and the consequences of binge drinking.
The University of Buffalo cancelled all greek activities for a week, as well as suspending
a fraternity and charging some students with breaking hazing and drinking laws.
Universities are not the only ones taking action, National Greek organizations are
“banning alcohol and hazing” from the houses. But leaders of the fraternities say that
they are unjustly discriminated against because of how they are depicted by the media.
Alcohol will always be an issue among fraternities and sororities, but also any college
student. Should Greek Letter Societies be eliminated from college campuses or the
university all together?
 This article is different in that it shows actual incidents where binge drinking brought
horrible ends to college students (fraternity and sorority members), and that there are real
life consequences to abusing substances. The article gives real problems, real people, and
real consequences. It adds emotion to the topic of greek members and binge drinking.

Wells, Brett, and Daniel P. Corts. "MEASURING ATTITUDES TOWARDS SORORITY AND
FRATERNITY MEMBERS: INDICATION OF IMPLICIT, INGROUP FAVORITISM."
College Student Journal 42.3 (2008): 842-846. SPORTDiscus with Full Text.
EBSCO. Web. 4 Apr. 2011
The College Student Journal publishes original investigations and theoretical papers
dealing with college student values, attitudes, and opinions. The journal is peer-reviewed,
and is provided for areas of undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools.
This journal entry discusses the implicit and explicit attitudes directed towards members
of social fraternities and sororities. In order to measure the attitudes towards members,
participants conducted an IAT which is an Implicit Associations Test. The purpose of the
test is to show that prejudice can happen without conscious awareness. The process of the
test was give five names of fraternities/sororities and five academic or service groups.
Then the organizations were showed with eight good words like joy, love, peace and
eight bad words like agony, terrible, and horrible. Twenty-one greek members and
twenty-nine non-greek members participated in the test. The results showed that greek
members were more likely to associate the good words with greek organizations and the
bad words with academic or service groups. Same with non-greek members who
associated bad words with greek organizations, and the good words with academic and
service groups. It is normal that greek members see their groups in a positive light, but
what was surprising was that non-greek members had negative feelings toward greek
groups rather than neutral feelings. The ultimate results were that greek members favor
greek organizations and non-greeks favor academic and service groups.
This source is useful because the information is based on an actual study that was
performed. It gives the basic feelings of what greeks and non-greeks feel about
sororities/fraternities. Also is interesting to know about IAT that measures the strength
of associations between groups like greeks and non-greeks.