Blog Post #8

The Interview

Who did I interview: I interviewed a student/newly found friend (thanks to this interview), who asked not to be named in my blog, he is a junior, political science major, hoping to move onto law school after Rutgers. He affiliated with a fraternity on-campus here at Rutgers University.
What did I learn during my interview: I learned that not everything that the media dishes out to the public is one-hundred percent true. I'm not implying that the media outright lies; however, the media exaggerates when they discuss anything to do with fraternities. I learned not to judge people based on the activities they are involved with. Before this interview, I had a pretty negative image of men in fraternities. Due to movies like Neighbors, Hollywood pegs frat guys as stupid, immature boys who only care about drinking, getting multiple women, and most importantly themselves. However, this interview showed me that just because other people, or media outlets show something as a certain, you should still give an individual the benefit of the doubt and believe that they can be the exception to the norm.
Memorable Quotes: "You know, sometimes, I know people already either do not like me, judged me, or do not want to talk to me because they see I'm wearing my letters, and they assume I'm a bad guy."
"It is hard not to agree with people that judge me based on my affiliation to my fraternity because, I watch the news, I see the movies, I would not want to friends or even remotely around the frat bros I see in the media."
"Do fraternities partake in drinking? I don't know, does a bear shit in the woods? The majority of college students drink."
"Why is it such a crime they we drink? The majority of rest of the student body also partakes in drinking an excessive amount of alcohol, yet they look down on us for doing it, it's hypocritical"
Why I chose him: I chose this young man because I noticed that he was wearing Greek letters and he was in my class, and I needed to get this interview. Since my paper talks about fraternities and what people think about them and how it affect some students' drinking behavior. I wanted to see if he was the norm or the exception. And hey, there are always exceptions to the rule, and he certainly was.

Blog Post #7

Luckily, since my topic is so hot right now I had a variety of cases to pick from. However, I wanted to make my paper relate to myself, not just my audience. The case I chose was the unfortunate case of Caitlyn Kovac. Kovac was a 19 year old, sophomore who attended Rutgers University. Kovac was rushed to the nearby hospital, Robert Wood Johnson, from a long night of partying at the local fraternity house, Delta Kappa Epsilon, because she seemed to be in “distress”, where later she was pronounced dead. According to the county medical examiner’s report, Kovac’s death was caused by an “acute ethanol toxicity”, in other words, alcohol poisoning. This case is directly in favor of the claim I am making in my research paper. I claim that fraternities cause college students to believe that binge drinking is the norm, causing people to believe that it is normal to drink excessively. In my paper, I highlight her case by using the evidence given by Kovac's friends. Her friends claim that Kovac was not a girl who drank an excessive amount. However, she attended a party at a local fraternity party where she engaged in behavior that she did not normally partake in. My paper connects her case with the Social Norm Theory, saying that Kovac did not plan on going to this fraternity house with the mindset of binge drinking. However, when she got there, she observed that the majority of people in her direct environment binge drinking, leading her to believe that this is the norm. It is human nature to want to follow the norm, therefore, Kovac, not being a regular binge drinker, consumed more alcohol than her body could handle, leading to her death.

The research I stated above in regards to the Kovac case can be found here: http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/10/rutgers_student_caitlyn_kovacs_died_of_alcohol_poisoning_after_party_autopsy_finds.html

Blog Post #6

The images that are displayed were taken from one of my sources that I used in my final paper. It was taken from the article's name is "The Dark Power of Fraternities" which is even perfect for describing what my entire paper is about. The images are of men who are in a fraternity and engaging in drinking alcohol. I picked these images for my visual more because they came from the article. I truly believe my whole paper can be summarized using simply the title of the article. My final paper attempts to prove to the reader that college students partake in risky drinking behaviors because students attend parties at fraternity parties and observe the Greek members engaging in binge drinking. Using the Social Norm Theory, I draw connections that students believe through observation/perception that it is the norm for college student to binge drink as well. Binge drinking can not be handled by everyone, and sometimes lead to fatal outcomes. Anyway, these fraternities have a lot of power, as in, influence, over the other college student. It is a dark power because it is giving student the misconception that it is normal to drink that much when attending a party, when it is not.

Blog Post #5 updated

I updated by Sources since my old ones were outdated.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Elizabeth A, and Laura T. Hamilton. "The Party Pathway." Paying for the Party: How

College Maintains Inequality. Cambridge: MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

Attrino, Anthony G. "Rutgers Student Caitlyn Kovacs Died of Alcohol Poisoning After Party,

Prosecutor Says." NJ.com. N.p., 28 Oct. 2014. Web. <http://www.nj.com/middlesex/

index.ssf/2014/10/rutgers_student_caitlyn_kovacs_died_of_alcohol_poisoning_after_party_autopsy_finds.html>.

Bandura, Albert. "Social learning theory." (1977): 305-316.

Cialdini, Robert B., Raymond R. Reno, and Carl A. Kallgren. "A Focus Theory of Normative

Conduct: Recycling the Concept of Norms to Reduce Littering in Public Places."Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology 58.6 (1990): 1015-1017. Print.

Flanagan, Caitlin. "The Dark Power of Fraternities." The Atlantic [Washington, D.C.] Mar. 2014:

Web. <http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/02/the-dark-power-of-fraternities/

357580/>.

Glindemann, Kent E., Ian J. Ehrhart, Elise A. Drake, and E. S. Geller. "Reducing Excessive Alcohol

Consumption at University Fraternity Parties: A Cost-effective Incentive/reward Intervention." Addictive Behaviors 32.1 (2007): 39-48. Print.

Kelderman, Eric. "Why Don't Colleges Do More to Rein In Frats?" The Chronicle of Higher

Education [Washington, D.C] 3 Apr. 2015: A4. Print.

Kingkade, Tyler. "West Virginia Fraternity Pledge Who Died Had A 0.49 Blood Alcohol Level." The

Huffington Post. N.p., 27 Jan. 2015. Web. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

2015/01/27/west-virginia-fraternity-pledge_n_6557238.html>.

Konnikova, Maria. "18 U.S. Presidents Were in College Fraternities." The Atlantic. N.p., 21 Feb.

2014. Web. <http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/18-us-presidents-

were-in-college-fraternities/283997/>.

Ragsdale, Kathleen, et al. "“Liquor before beer, you're in the clear”: binge drinking and other risk

behaviours among fraternity/sorority members and their non-Greek peers." Journal of Substance Use 17.4 (2012): 323-339.

Thatcher, Esther. "Fraternity/Sorority Association with Heavy Drinking: Chicken-Or-Egg Question."

The National Social Norms Institute at the University of Virginia. N.p., 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 
  <http://socialnorms.org/fraternitysorority-association-with-heavy-drinking-chicken-or-egg-question/>.

Blog Post #4

Theresa Costello

Professor Goeller

Research in Disciplines: College!

February 24, 2010

Research Proposal

Working Title: Alcohol Affecting Greek Life

Topic:

            I will explore the tendency of students using Greek life as a gateway into the partying and drinking lifestyle that goes hand in hand with the idea of college. The paper will show the statistics in which students partake in risky drinking behavior linking those statistics with students that choose to join Greek life. In addition, I want to show how the risky drinking behaviors lead to many accidents within Greek life mixers and what not.

Research Question:

            Does joining a fraternity or sorority create a gateway for students to leading more risky drinking behavior? Alternatively, does the problem with drinking in college lie wit the overall college atmosphere?

Theoretical Frame:

            There are many theories to why there are so many students during the academic years fall victims to fatal accidents due to risky drinking behavior. My paper is going to focus on whether or not there is a correlation to joining Greek life and engaging in a dangerous amount of alcohol consumption. The theory of peer pressure will be examined. Peer pressure is the likelihood to partake in any behavior your friends are engaging in, even though you may not want to do; however, you will partake in the risky behavior so you may feel a sense of belonging.

            Another term I want to analyze and link with the rest of my paper is the idea of hazing. Hazing is the act of initiating new members into a club of some sort. Now most college that I have research have made any practice of hazing illegal and will not be tolerated in any organization within the college campus. However there are still many instances where students engage in dangerous drinking behavior due to hazing with fraternities.

            Another term that goes hand in hand with my topic of college drinking and Greek life is binge drinking. Binge drinking is the act of drinking an excessive amount of alcohol in a small amount of time. In many instances of binge drinking leads to the student being hospitalized or even deceased. Many college students partake in binge drinking. I plan to follow up on whether students join Greek life so they can partake in these activities.

Case:

            In the scholarly article, Alcohol Use in the Greek System: Follow the Leader?, they show statistics such as, “Fraternity house residents averaged 20.3 drinks per week compared with 7.5 drinks for all male students, while sorority house residents averaged 6.2 drinks per week compared with 3.2 drinks for all female students” (Cashin, 63). The authors surveyed many college students and separated them into regular students and students involved in Greek life. The statistics are appalling to see how much a difference the drinking behavior is when comparing the two different groups of students. I plan to explore why this happens.

            Another scholarly article, Liquid Bonding: A Cultural Analysis of the Role of Alcohol in Fraternity Pledgeship, in this article, they gather that fraternities are to blame for the binge drinking in a majority of college students. In this article, they do not blame the binge drinking on peer pressure or any of the other usual topics that are examined when discussing this controversial topic. The attribute the risky drinking behavior on the overall appearance of the Fraternity houses themselves. They believe that since the Greek life houses are always filled to the brim with alcohol and funnels to chug alcohol lead students into believing that drinking this excessive amount is normal, and to fit in they must engage in the behavior as well.

Working Bibliography:

·      Armstrong, Elizabeth and Laura Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains

 Inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

·      Cashin, Jeffrey R., Cheryl A. Presley, and Philip W. Meilman. "Alcohol use in the Greek

 system: Follow the leader?." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs59.1

 (1998): 63.

·      Kuh, George D., and James C. Arnold. "Liquid bonding: A cultural analysis of the role of

            alcohol in fraternity pledgeship." Journal of College Student Development 34

(1993): 327-327.

·      Sher, Kenneth J., Bruce D. Bartholow, and Shivani Nanda. "Short-and long-term effects

of fraternity and sorority membership on heavy drinking: a social norms

perspective." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 15.1 (2001): 42.

·      "How Fraternities and Sororities Impact Students (Or Do They?)." Psychology Today.

            Alan Reifman Ph.D., 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2015.

Blog Post #3

How does privatization apply to my topic?
In my final project, I aim to show how privatization affects every social class. However, it severely affects the lower class, cutting off opportunities, and sending mass people into debt. Using the video, The Red, it clearly shows two girls from different social classes, and how it is affecting their everyday life. I plan to add this issue into my paper.

Blog Post #2

1.) Update on my topic. My topic idea has not changed since my last blog post.
2.) Key terms that I found helpful through this process was, social class and college opportunity, low income opportunity, high class opportunities in college. I found a variety of information. The issues I found is that not many low income students had a lot of opportunity in the past. However, with times changing it looks like that will be a different story soon.
3.) I did not find many articles yet; however I found this book which I'm interested in pursuing,

Choosing Colleges: How Social Class and Schools Structure Opportunity, by Patricia M. McDonough. Seems like the perfect fit to what I am looking for in my final project.

4.) Ideas for my topic is that now since the economy is changing there may be more opportunities for the lower class. I want to explore how those students handle being in college since they are receiving help from the government, if they act the same way students that have to take out loans do.

5.) Resources I want to use are Armstrong and Hamilton's Paying for the Party paints a clear picture of what I want to explore in my final project. Within the introduction they illustrate exactly what I want to explain to readers. They talk about two girls, Taylor and Emma, both who go to the same school, and wanted to pursue the same field. However, the two girls came from two different social classes. The authors explained that, Taylor was able to reach better opportunities for herself because of her social standing, while Emma had to settle for something she did not exactly want. I plan on going more in depth with this reading and exploring what else they have to say about social class and college. Another resource I want to use is http://www.jstor.org/stable/2775010?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
6.) Some controversies include that everyone is on the same playing field and no one has a better opportunity because of their social class. I plan on exploring this topic in depth.