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Janelle StephensSN 48914155Professor FlemingEnglish 112 – 14N7 April 2016

Why a Fraternity Lifestyle May Lead to an Increased Amount of Academic Dishonesty in University or College

Introduction:

Academic dishonesty is an increasingly popular phenomenon in universities around the

globe. From a survey performed at Rutger University it was found that over 30,000

undergraduate students and over 7,000 graduate students admitted to performing academic

dishonesty on both written assignments and test writing (McCabe 121). It has been further

discovered that an alarmingly high number of these students are active members of fraternities.

The incidence level of academic dishonesty – including copying worksheets, cheating on an test,

and plagiarizing – has been on the rise in the past decade, due to increased expectations and

higher qualifications for most careers. The majority of the discussion about the rise in incidences

of academic dishonesty in fraternity members has determined a strong positive correlation

between membership in a fraternity relating to higher incidence level of academic dishonesty.

Charles Stannard and William Bowers’s article “The College Fraternity as an Opportunity

Structure for Meeting Academic Demands” (1970) introduces this issue and concludes that more

fraternity members resort to academic dishonesty because the fraternity community values

academic success for their members. This study opens the door for further research which is

then performed by Donald McCabe and William Bowers’s in their study, “The Relationship

between Student Cheating and College Fraternity or Sorority Membership” (2009). This study

determines that there is a lower level of peer disapproval for being academically dishonest in

fraternities which results in an increased amount of cheating. The mere focus of these mentioned

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studies is to determine the incidence level of academic dishonesty in fraternities, but both of

theses studies avoid the discovery of the factors influencing this heightened incidence level of

academic dishonesty. Slowly this aspect has begun to be researched, notably by Eric Storch and

Jason Storch in their article, “Fraternities, Sororities, and Academic Dishonesty” (2002). They

determined that there is not a direct relationship between fraternity membership and increased

incidence of academic dishonesty, but that it also depends on the amount of involvement in

fraternity based events. All of these researchers have neglected to pinpoint the exact factors

integrated in the life of a fraternity member that coincides with an increased incidence level of

academic dishonesty. By performing research my study will assist in indicating the level of

incidence of academic dishonesty in fraternity members. If it is supported that elements of the

fraternity lifestyle indicate that a student that joins a fraternity is more likely to perform high

levels of academic dishonesty, universities and colleges will have to alter the fraternity program

to discourage the use academic dishonesty.

Methodology:

Many studies have been previously performed that have concluded that membership in a

fraternity has a strong relationship to an increased incidence level of academic dishonesty, but

most of this research is outdated. To fulfill the knowledge deficit of my topic I decided to

perform my own primary research to provide a potential answer for the question of if being

involved in a fraternity results in an increased incidence level of academic dishonesty. If I do

find a relationship between these two variables, then what factor could cause a fraternity member

to involve themselves in more academic dishonesty. I created a quick survey that I would be able

to receive many responses from and also be able to easily analyze the data I acquire. In creating

this survey, I needed to ensure that the results could be representative of the male population in

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both fraternities and of non-fraternity male students at UBC, Vancouver. This survey was then

distributed to forty active members of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at UBC and forty random

males of differing ages, races, and educational experience. After collecting the finished surveys,

I created an Excel spreadsheet (Appendix B) to tally up the results and to perform further

analysis. Although most of the responses that I received seemed as though the respondents

answered legitimately I still needed to be aware of the possibility that some respondents may

have been uncomfortable with revealing this personal information even though everyone knew

that they would remain anonymous.

Elaboration:

Despite the immense amount of research outlining the connection between a fraternity

membership and the level of academic dishonesty there have been some opposing opinions that

have fuelled a discussion. Larry D. Long performed a study at the Michigan State University on

the beneficial aspects of the fraternity lifestyle. Long concluded that being involved in a

fraternity can benefit a person in the areas of leadership, service, and friendship by enhancing

critical thinking skills and gaining a sense of belonging (Long 20). He argued that fraternities

provide endless opportunities of untouched networking that students need in order to succeed in

their first years of universities. Although this can be proven true by many members of

fraternities, the reality is that many of these members achieve these benefits through unjust

mechanisms as displayed by the results of my survey (Appendix B). This observation by Long,

however, opposes the findings of Bowers and Stannards’ research which showed that fraternities

provide an established community that promotes the academic success of their members, but

there are few borders that they are unwilling to cross to reach this success (Bowers and Stannard

380). This statement is further explained to indicate that the goal of many fraternities is to raise

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academically successful members, but ignore the process of how this success is achieved

(Bowers and Stannard 382). Long does not logically analyze the reason for moderate to high

success in their academic career, but he merely wonders if the members themselves view the

involvement in a fraternity as a beneficial experience. As indicated by the results of the study

performed by Storch and Storch and the results of my survey suggest, as the amount of hours

spent partaking in fraternity activities increases the level of academic dishonesty also increases

(Storch 247 and Appendix B, Figure 4). So although Long indicates that a fraternity can benefit

many aspects of a members’ social life, it can also cause harm to their academic lifestyle that

may in turn negatively impact areas of their lives including leadership and friendship.

It has been discovered that these social benefits also influence the cognitive development

of a fraternity member. Another opposing study performed by Alexander Astin determined that

fraternity membership may further the development of cognition when compared to a non-

fraternity member (Astin 193). Astin concluded that fraternity members were more likely to be

persistent and successful in college or university and that they are more likely to complete

subsequent degrees (Astin 195). He is unable to produce a logical reason as to why fraternity

members show a higher level of perseverance which allows for the discussion of the possibility

that academic dishonesty utilized by fraternity members results in their success. As indicated by

my survey, in general a fraternity membership does not automatically indicate that someone will

more have a higher incidence level of academic dishonesty. As mentioned by Stannard and

McCabe, fraternities have high academic norms that could result in the use of academic

dishonesty to provide this success (Stannard and MacCabe 576). So although they appeared to

show more interest in university or college, there is a strong indication that their assumed interest

could be a result of the ease that fraternity members endure by resorting to academic dishonesty

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for success. As indicated by many respondents to my survey, most fraternity members rated the

level of difficulty they found within school to be in the range of three to four corresponding to

one being very easy and ten being nearly impossible (Appendix B, Figure 5). Contrasting this,

many non-fraternity members rated their difficulty in school on average between six to nine

(Appendix B, Figure 5). Although this is not completely representative of the entire population

of students, this evidence indicates that fraternity members study less, but also find school easier.

This particular finding paired with the results shown in Figure 1, indicates that many fraternity

members find ease in their post secondary education because of the reliance on academically

dishonesty mechanisms.

A main distinguishing factors that is unique to the authentic fraternity lifestyle is the high

level of alcohol consumption (Nelson 394). As indicated by the survey I performed most of the

fraternity members that indicated moderate to high level of alcohol consumption also indicated a

low amount of hours spent studying per week and a relatively high level of academic dishonesty

performed. (Appendix B, Figure 2/3). There was also a small amount of survey responses where

although a specific person was a non-fraternity member they still indicated high levels of alcohol

consumption accompanied by high levels of academic dishonesty. Without performing an actual

experiment, the relationship between alcohol consumption and incident level of academic

dishonesty cannot be determined. Although this poses a challenge there is an slight indication in

my results that alcohol is one of the major components of the fraternity lifestyle that could result

in a higher incident level of academic dishonesty. It can be assumed that with increased alcohol

consumption, a person spends more time partying and less time studying (Nelson 396). Since

less time is spent studying perhaps a fraternity member feels that the only option to succeed in

university or college is to be dishonest in their academic performance. This connection found

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may allow for further experimentation to be performed to determine if there is a concrete

relationship between the amount of alcohol a person consumes and the incident level of

academic dishonesty performed.

Conclusion:

Many factors flow together to create the fraternity lifestyle and through further analysis

of these components it is difficult to create a recipe that results in a high incidence level of

academic dishonesty. Due to the inability of determining the precise influence that causes an

increased level of academic dishonesty among fraternity members, the current discussion has

generalized all fraternity members as students who prevalently resort to academic dishonesty to

succeed in post-secondary education. The increased incident level of academic dishonesty has

been indicated in students that are actively involved in a fraternity. While my research assisted in

furthering the discussion on the high incidence level of academic dishonesty in fraternity

members’ academic history, I was limited by the representativeness of my survey sample. I was

only able to analyze one fraternity, but there are several others on the UBC campus that may

have different morals or expectations of their members. Future research could continue to

analyze all fraternities to determine if the incidence level of academic dishonesty varies across

each one. If a distinct difference is found, then further analysis could be performed to determine

the factor that differs between the fraternities causing an increase or decrease in academic

dishonesty. A strategic plan to reduce the amount of alcohol consumption incorporated within

the fraternity lifestyle could have the potential to reduce the high incidence levels of academic

dishonesty that are performed at universities and colleges across the world.

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Appendix A:

Survey Questions

1. Are you associated with a fraternity? Yes/No

2. If yes to previous question; how many hours do you spend involved with fraternity events

per week?

o 0-2 hours

o 3-5 hours

o 6-8 hours

o 9-11 hours

o More than 11 hours

3. Rate your alcohol consumption per month: 0 (No consumption) – 10 (high consumption)

4. Estimate the hours per week that you spend studying:

o Less than 3 hours

o 4-8 hours

o 9-13 hours

o 14-18 hours

o More than 18 hours

5. In your academic career rate your level of academic dishonesty: (choose all that apply)

o Copied a few worksheets

o Cheated on an exam/midterm

o Cheated on a quiz

o Purposely plagiarized

o Bribed someone to do work for you

o Impersonation – pretending to be someone else

o False excuse for missing class or a test

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o Falsification of data, information, or citations

6. How easy/difficult do you find school: 0 (Very easy) – 10 (Almost impossible)

Appendix B:

Figure 1. Comparing levels of academic dishonesty used in both fraternity members and non fraternity members in March of 2016.

Figure 2. Comparing alcohol consumption levels of both fraternity members and non-fraternity members in March of 2016.

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Figure 3. Comparing the amount of time spent studying by both fraternity members and non-fraternity members in March of 2016.

Figure 4. Analyzing the amount of time fraternity members spend taking part in fraternity events in March of 2016

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Works Cited

Figure 5. Comparing the difficulty/ease of schooling faced by fraternity members and non-fraternity members of March 2016.

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