DE Campus Life Editor

A joint study conducted by SIUC and Cornell University researchers links heavy drinking and greek leaders in the latest blemish on the greek system’s image, which has been under fire across the nation.

Researchers discovered that greek leaders may be the heaviest drinkers at college campuses even among other fraternity and sorority members. These students also may suffer the worst consequences of heavy drinking.

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Binge drinking, or consuming five or more drinks in one sitting, is considered heavy drinking.

SIUC researchers Cheryl A. Presley, Jeff R. Cashin, and Cornell University researcher Philip W. Meilman published this new finding in January’s Journal of Studies on Alcohol. The article, Alcohol Use in the Greek System:Follow the Leader? features the researchers’ survey of 25,411 greek and non-greek students at 61 two- and four-year colleges and universities nationwide. The identities of the surveyed schools are confidential.

The specific findings about greek leaders’ drinking patterns were culled from a nine-year, government-funded study of alcohol use on U.S. campuses. For university administrators, the statistics serve as an unwelcome addition to a host of recent problems associated with the greek system.

In the last few years, fraternities and sororities have been a focus for contributing to negative alcohol use at college campus, Presley, director of SIUC Student Health Programs, said. We’ve had a number of calls from administrators [about the research] because they want help in their efforts to make campuses safer places.

Last year, administrators at Louisiana State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were up in arms about fraternity-related binge-drinking deaths at their campuses.

In August, an underage student was found dead at LSU’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon house with a blood-alcohol level that was six times that of the legal limit for drivers. Officials estimate that the fraternity pledge consumed about 24 drinks, but could find no evidence directly linking the death to a hazing ritual. A similar incident occurred at MIT months later.

SIUC administrators decided to implement a program on campus last fall that could prevent those events from happening here. The program, Select 2000, is a nine-part initiative that, among other things, eliminates alcohol from fraternity houses by the year 2000. It also encourages more greek participation in community service and sets a standard for grade point averages for greek students.

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SIUC was among four schools in the nation invited to pilot Select 2000.

Katie Sermersheim, assistant director of Student Development, is working closely with the greek system and with other SIUC administrators phase-in Select 2000. But while Sermersheim believes Select 2000 is an effective means to rid the greek system of alcohol, she also believes that SIUC’s greek leaders are more responsible with alcohol than the latest research suggests.

I think we have problems with alcohol that are consistent across the country, she said. I don’t like those results more than anyone else, but I also believe that we have numerous greek leaders who do not fit that description.

It’s unfortunate that these are the findings because I believe the greek leaders are the ones who set the conduct and standards for fraternities.

But according to the research, greek leaders often set undesirable standards to follow.

About 34 percent of fraternity leaders performed poorly on a test or project as a consequence of alcohol use, compared to about 20 percent of non-greek male students. About 28 percent of sorority leaders showed this trait, compared to about 14 percent of non-greek female students.

Twenty-six percent of fraternity leaders reported trouble with police or other campus authorities because of drinking, compared to about 12 percent of non-greek male students. About 13 percent of sorority leaders showed this trait, compared to about 5 percent of non-greek female students.

As a whole, fraternity and sorority leaders also outperformed their non-greek counterparts in negative drinking consequences ranging from driving under the influence to being taken advantage of sexually.

Although these results are disturbing, Presley said this research could allow greek leaders and university administrators to work together for more positive results.

Everyone wants the campuses to be a safe place for students, and although different institutions may use different methods, they are all working toward the same goal, she said. But, it’s important to engage these leaders in how to solve the problem of heavy drinking on campuses.

Sermersheim also agrees that greek leaders can help combat the negative use of alcohol on campuses, but she maintains greek leaders are already part of the solution not part of the problem.

I challenge people to keep an open mind when reading these study results, she said. All greek leaders are not portrayed in this study. You cannot generalize.