Has someone of the opposite sex ever tried to pledge to your chapter?

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by akamie

Vandal- I was the person distributing the survey, and since I am a registered user of Greek Chat, and signed my posts as a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma, Eta Zeta chapter so in that avenue I think there were several ways open for you to contact me if you had any questions. First off, I haven't received any PM's on the topic so I'm assuming you didn't try that, but also a simple google search with my name and organization would've brought you to the website with my contact info, or at least contact info of my organization. You were certainly more than welcome to utilize those methods, and since participation is voluntary its a mute point anyway.

The research I conducted, and have decided to continue to conduct for the next couple of years, was as stated in my distribution letter a study designed to assess the attitudes of Greek Life towards Gender, and the participation of alternative lifestyles (in this case alternative gender classes) in Greek Life as component of participation in the student life polity. (This is what qualitative research calls an ethnography). The survey is only one method my research has utilized and the study as whole is objective, but in the realm of political sociology is attempting to expose power structures of the Greek Life system, and what could be a potential problem of inclusion/exclusion in politics. For anyone who is interested you can reference the 2007 District Court of Appeals case that upheld the College of Staten Island's refusal to recognize a fraternity on campus that was single-sex. Prior discussion on the matter ended with Title IX back in the 90s, but to those of you who think the matter is trivial I can point to that case as just one of many examples of how it is not, beginning as early as a 1985 California Law Review that would outline the constitutional claim of an individual denied access to a "College Social Organization" regardless of federal statutes like Title IX. There are also numerous "alternative" Greek organization that fall under neither NPC or NIC's umbrellas that are coed that have come as a backlash to exclusion. The point of the study is to provide the foundation for these kinds of discussions to take place, and to encourage the discussions to reach comprehensive policy status before the battle each chapter faces ends up in a courtroom like Alpha Epsilon Pi did in 2006...

I can't wait for the research to be complete, and I'll gladly share the results with everyone who wants them when the study is conclusive.

Originally Posted by akamie

I also feel like its worth mentioning here that the comments made about individuals who go under a sex change are kind of irrelevant to my study, although very interesting as well!, since we're focusing on gender issues, which by the world health organization are defined by behavior, not physical state of being (which is sex). Of course whether or not thats a true definition is debatable, but accounted for in our survey.

Also, I should mention that my campus is very non-traditional. The current pledge class president is around 40 years old, and just now pledging to SAE, plus Greek Life membership doesn't end at 22- membership is for life so I think the matter is very relevant, especially in a society that is becoming increasingly genderless according to sociology literature.

You completely missed my point. I cannot do any research associated with my university without permission from the IRB (Institutional Review Board) and the HAC (Human Assurances Committee). Since you're dealing with human subjects, and asking about sensitive information such as sex and gender, I assumed you'd have to go through some office and have approval and faculty oversight. One shouldn't have to search for the details about the project, it should be readily available and perhaps the University of Alaska Anchorage has different standards for student research than other schools. However I didn't find your project listed here http://ugresearch.uaa.alaska.edu/~urps/view_student.php so I thought I'd mention that I couldn't find the information. I've never seen a study without a faculty contact, so I asked. We get so many people on here asking for help with their projects, and the fact your name and chapter is listed doesn't mean a whole lot as anyone can register on GreekChat, and we've had all kinds of crazy, including impostors and perps.

[akamie]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

You completely missed my point. I cannot do any research associated with my university without permission from the IRB (Institutional Review Board) and the HAC (Human Assurances Committee). Since you're dealing with human subjects, and asking about sensitive information such as sex and gender, I assumed you'd have to go through some office and have approval and faculty oversight. One shouldn't have to search for the details about the project, it should be readily available and perhaps the University of Alaska Anchorage has different standards for student research than other schools. However I didn't find your project listed here http://ugresearch.uaa.alaska.edu/~urps/view_student.php so I thought I'd mention that I couldn't find the information. I've never seen a study without a faculty contact, so I asked. We get so many people on here asking for help with their projects, and the fact your name and chapter is listed doesn't mean a whole lot as anyone can register on GreekChat, and we've had all kinds of crazy, including impostors and perps.

As I stated before, this survey was only one facet of our research study, and yes we did have to go through quite an extensive Institutional Review Board project for the study of human subjects, including not only the traditional course and testing process required by our university but a hearing process as well that would allow us to research non-consenting parties in an ethical manner. Many studies are not made "readily available" to the public because their results depend on a degree of unawareness of the subjects they study, but those studies including this one also tend to have the most invigorating vetting process for approval as a protection. Since one of our methods utilized researching non-consenting parties you will not find our research listed at that website to protect the integrity of the study- moreover the majority of those projects are not current undertaking and are only listed on the website once the study is in full swing and findings ready for publication, which are research has just barely achieved. However, we do have a faculty sponsor and approval from our institution. And while I understand that it can be easy to be pose as someone else online, the point that I was contactable by not only this venue but a simple google search should have led to no alarm regarding the study. By the way, this is not simply for your information, but the information of anyone who was wary of participating in this forum or the survey which in and of itself were both voluntary public acts.