I
WEDNESDAY
MAY 3,2D17
GREEK LIFE
from cover
for initiation and recruiting new members.
Elon adheres to much of what was
found in the study, but some numbers
provided by the Office of Fraternity and
Sorority Life go against the findings.
Unlike the Duke study, Elon does not
control for factors such as class difficulty,
students’ Scholastic Aptitude Test scores
and organization social status.
The average GPA for new sorority
members at Elon in the spring of 2016
was 3.41, just slightly lower than that of all
active members. For new fraternity mem
bers, their 3.13 average GPA was slightly
higher than all active members.
Of the 10 sororities who acquired new
members last spring, four organizations
had an average GPA lower than the aver
age for Elon women. Of the 11 fraternities,
six had a new member term GPA lower
than that of the average Elon male student.
The dip in GPA during new member
periods for fraternities is recognized as a
problem by Fraternity and Sorority Life.
Dan Faill, director of FSL, said he
believes this decline is likely because of
the time commitment required to be in a
Greek or^nization.
“Elon data does
show that men par
ticipating in fraternity
life have lower GPAs
during their new
member period than
men not participating
in fraternity life,” Faill
said. “While I cannot
speak to the soror
ity executive board
aspect, I would pos
tulate that both dips
in GPA would be the
ability to effective
ly manage time and
organization expec
tations. This is why
our office staff meet
with chapters to reit
erate the importance
of academic engage
ment over organiza
tion meetings.”
Even with this decline during new
member periods. Greek-affiliated students
still have a higher average GPA than the
average of all Elon students — 3.39 com
pared to 3.31.
Elon’s Interfraternity Council (IFC)
and Panhellenic Association (PA) have
a GPA requirement to rush of 2.8, and
National Pan-Hellenic Council’s (NPHC)
is 2.5. Some organizations have their min-
imums set higher.
Senior Jordan Lockhart, former PA
president and member of the Epsilon
Delta chapter of Delta Delta Delta sorority,
believes the GPA requirement is necessary
for ensuring that students are able to han
dle the commitment of Greek life while
still focusing on academics.
“To rush, you want to make sure
that you’re already handling college well
enough,” Lockhart said. “If you are already
below that 3.0 after your first semester,
you probably have some acclimating to do.
Maybe adding another level of responsi
bility isn’t a good idea for you right now.”
Lockhart emphasized that students
involved with FSL should remember they
are in school to learn first, but some stu
dents may not take this priority serious
ly. Senior Michael Goldstein, former IFC
president and also a member of the Theta
Omega chapter of Sigma Chi Fraternity,
believes GPA is an indicator of the organi
zation’s involvement.
Regardless of the numbers showing that
Greek-affiliated students have a higher
average GPA than the average Elon stu
dent, Goldstein said he still believes that
fraternities could be doing more.
YOU DO FEEL LIKE YOU’RE
TORN IN A THOUSAND
DIEFERENT DIRECTIONS
TO MAKE SURE THAT
EVERYTHING GETS DONE,
BUTATTHEENDOFTHE
DAY, THE PEOPLE THAT
ARE GOING TO BE THERE
EOR YOU ARE YOUR
SISTERS,
JANAE WILLIAMS
PRESIDENT OF THE XIOMICRON CHAPTER
OFZETA PHI BETA SORORITY
“I think the academic standards in
the Interfraternity Council community
are absolutely pathetic and that none of
the organizations hold the other orga
nizations accountable from an academic
standpoint,” Goldstein said. “There’s no
desire to improve or wanting to make their
grades better, and I don’t see anything
changing anytime soon. All the tools and
resources are available and waiting for
them, and it’s a matter of whether they’re
finally willing to start using them.”
Lockhart believes the decline in GPA
could be from students losing touch with
their organization.
“It becomes more about you and what
you need out of it, rather than what you
can give to it, and I definitely think that’s
where a lot of the problems come from,”
Lockhart said. “I think a lot of the problem
comes from people taking; they stop giving
to their organization, and so maybe that
means they stop going to study hours and
their GPA goes down, or maybe it means
they are skipping chapter and then they
lose touch. Then that accountability falls
away.”
A large part of the reason why Greek
affiliation can negatively impact academ
ic performance is the time commitment
expected from being in a fraternity or
sorority. Obligations
vary based on position
in the organization
and the time of year.
Policies put into
place by both FSL
and individual chap
ters hold students
accountable for their
academic achieve
ment.
Faill said Jordan
King, FSL assistant
director of chapter
development, works
closely with each
organization during
their intake process
to highlight Elon’s
expectations regard
ing academic perfor
mance while students
go through this pro
cess.
“This is done to reiterate that academ
ics should be a priority throughout their
membership, and activities should not
detract or affect their academic endeav
ors,” FaiU said. “While mandatory activ
ities may cut into student’s studying or
homework time, affiliated students said
they still see a positive impact.”
For junior Janae Williams, president
of the Xi Omicron chapter of Zeta Phi
Beta Sorority and vice president of Elon’s
NPHC, having “scholarship” as one of her
sorority’s primary principles motivates her
to be a better student.
“For me personally, joining my orga
nization, while, yes, it is a service organi
zation, but one of our main principles is
scholarship,” Williams said. “So for me, it
drove me to be the best academic version
of myself and helped me boost my GPA,
just because I didn’t want to be the one
sister who brought the entire chapter GPA
down.”
This motivation has helped Williams
maintain a steady increase in her GPA
since joining her sorority. This is the same
for other students as well.
“Even though I have that one test I
didn’t do so great on, my sister was there to
tell me, ‘You’re smart, you know you know
this, you know you just didn’t have enough
time more or less to study for it,’” Williams
said. “So that’s why I see both aspects, the
pros and the cons of coming from a small
chapter or even being in a Greek organiza
tion, because you do feel like you’re torn
in a thousand different directions to make
sure that everything gets done, but at the
end of the day, the people that are going to
be there for you are your sisters.”
NEWS
Results from Elon’s Fraternity and Sorority Life for Fall 2016,
which only provides raw GPA data.
+.3
+.2
+.1
The average Elon
GPA of a 3.27
-.1
-.2
-.3
-.4
-.5
-.6
-.7
-.8
-.9
KEY
3.45
3.39
3.35 'Z
FALL 2016
3.01
3.11
2.40
= .05 GPA points
Active sorority members
New sorority members
All sorority members
All Elon women
Active fraternity members
New fraternity members
All fraternity members
All Elon men
CflllR SORORITIES HAD
rUUIl AN AVERAGE GPA
nr TCU LOWER THAN THE
Ur I tn AVERAGE EOR
ELON WOMEN.
SIXOE
PI rifrij LOWER THAN THE
LLLYCn AVERAGE FOR
FRATERNITIES HAD
AN AVERAGEGPA
ELON MAN.
GPA REQUIREMENT TO RUSH
INTERFRATERNITY
COUNCIL
PANHELLENIC
ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL'
PAN-HELLENIC
COUNCIL