Do Fraternities and Sororities Inhibit Intercultural Competence?

Abstract

This study explored the impact of fraternity and sorority affiliation on students’ development of intercultural competence over four years of college at 11 institutions. Prior research admonishes fraternities and sororities for being largely heterogeneous organizations that detract from institutional efforts to create a culturally competent student body. In the present study, fraternity and sorority members did not differ from their unaffiliated peers on their development of intercultural competence during college. Implications for higher education and student affairs practice and intercultural competence among fraternity/sorority communities is discussed.

Social Integration in First-Year Undergraduates: The Role of Peer Learning

“…Another finding is the ambivalent effect of students' belonging to organizations (Martin, Parker, Pascarella, and Blechschmidt 2015). One needs to be careful with assumptions about such effects, since opposite outcomes might be created to what was intended.…”

Research‐Driven Practice in Fraternity and Sorority Life

“…Employing two different scales that measured awareness, acceptance, and openness to diversity, the WNS found that fraternity and sorority membership had no significant influence on students’ intercultural competence in college (Martin, Pascarella, Parker, & Blechschmidt, in press; Martin et al., ). These findings may challenge the prevailing assumption that fraternities and sororities inhibit the development of intercultural competence.…”

Will Anything Change? Examining Historically White Fraternity Members’ Development of Openness to Diversity in Contemporary Times

“…Existing scholarship shows a conflicting view on fraternity life and its influences on how students conceptualize relationships with diverse others, which many scholars use to describe interacting with groups like students from other racial backgrounds or who identify with sexualities different from one's own (Asel et al, 2015;Bowman, 2014;Martin et al, 2011Martin et al, , 2015Morgan et al, 2015;Porter, 2012). For example, Bowman (2014) asserted that the body of scholarship on fraternities and their engagement with diversity showcases that participating in these organizations does not have a relationship with members' attitudes toward diverse others or in fact, reveals a negative association.…”

“…In fact, the present moment has seen university leaders, faculty members, students' family members, and students, including on occasions, sorority and fraternity members calling for the abolition of fraternity life due to the perpetuation of oppressive attitudes toward people of color (Lautrup, 2020), amongst other reasons (e.g., perpetuation of hazing and sexual assault; Cohen, 2021). Contemporary research, however, paints a more complex and nuanced picture of fraternal life and its influence on how students think about and interact with diverse others (Asel et al, 2015;Martin et al, 2011Martin et al, , 2015Morgan et al, 2015;Porter, 2012). Namely, this body of scholarship has tracked whether participation in fraternal organizations results in members interacting with those whose identities differ than their own or if these groups lead to homophilic networks.…”

“…Second, the longitudinal, multi-institutional nature of this inquiry allowed us to isolate the effects of campus-wide (e.g., involvement) and fraternity-specific (e.g., brotherhood) dimensions of students' experiences on their ODC over-and-above pre-test scores (see Pascarella & Wolniak, 2004). Finally, drawing on existing quantitative (e.g., Asel et al, 2015;Martin et al, 2011Martin et al, , 2015 and qualitative (e.g., Joyce, 2018;Morgan et al, 2015) literature, our study expands what is known about the development of fraternity members and generates evidence that can guide decisions made at individual fraternal organizations and campuses while informing this meaningful national conversation.…”