A student is collecting data about students’ feelings of belongingness in Greek Life.
Sabrina Bartley, psychology sophomore, created a survey assessing students’ sense of belonging and inclusion in OCU’s Greek organizations, specifically comparing heterosexual members’ responses to LGBTQ+ members’ responses.
Bartley said the survey started as a research project for her social psychology class.
“We have to research and do a whole presentation and paper about a topic of our choice for my social psychology class, so I decided to study sense of belonging in Greek Life because it’s something that I thought would be really interesting to look into,” Bartley said.
Bartley said research has shown that Greek Life, in general, has not had a great history with LGBTQ+ belongingness, and LGBTQ+ identities have not always been accepted.
“As somebody who is in Greek Life on campus and also identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I really wanted to see how the rest of our campus felt in terms of Greek Life and belongingness,” Bartley said.
Bartley is a member of the sorority Alpha Chi Omega. She said there hasn’t been a ton of research done on LGBTQ+ individuals in Greek Life and, specifically, their experiences with sororities and fraternities.
“I wanted to do a quick little survey to see how our students felt about it and see how Greek Life on our campus is doing and if we’re doing enough to make sure everyone feels included and feels like they belong in their house and in their chapter,” Bartley said.
Bartley said the survey was set up to measure how far OCU has come as a community.
The survey is open to both heterosexual and LGBTQ+ individuals, and Bartley said she will then compare the differences between the acceptance they feel within Greek Life.
“By measuring belongingness, I am measuring whether the individual ever feels excluded or if they feel like the black sheep within their chapter at times,” said Bartley.
Levi Harrel, dean of students and fraternity and sorority life advisor, said his knowledge of the survey came from students posting in the OCU private Facebook group.
“Being the staff member who oversees the fraternity and sorority community, I find the survey to be of particular interest because I want to know what our students are feeling, their point of views and where we are missing the mark,” Harrel said.
Harrel said as both a fraternity man and LGBTQ+ individual himself, as well as someone who did their dissertation research on belonging in the fraternity and sorority community, he finds the research to be very compelling.
“I absolutely see this survey leading to change on campus in the future; knowledge is power,” Harrel said.
Erin McBriarty, cell and molecular biology/psychology sophomore, said she thinks there is inclusion within Greek Life but not necessarily representation.
“I think the survey is a good idea to help our campus realize how the LGBTQ+ community feels in organizations like Greek Life,” McBriarty said.
Russ Tallchief, director of student diversity and inclusion, said the work Bartley is doing is very important.
“I think OCU has a unique campus culture that is inherently inclusive, which is not always the case in Greek Life at other universities,” Tallchief said.
Tallchief said he thinks the survey will be a unique snapshot of the LGBTQ+ community in OCU’s Greek system.
“I believe the data from the survey has the ability to inform our diversity and inclusion efforts as an institution; the survey allows direct student engagement and retention, and the data would directly inform our community on who feels safe and included within Greek Life,” Tallchief said.
Tallchief said the survey should help pinpoint some areas where organizations and the university might need some work and training.
The results will be presented in Bartley’s social psychology class and may be presented at the undergrad psychology research day, which is open to the public.
For more information, contact Sabrina Bartley at ssbartley@my.okcu.edu to get involved in the survey or find out more information about the results once the survey is concluded.
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