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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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