“It could bring down Greek life as a whole”: Greek life members’ perspectives on party culture, safety, responsibilities and consequences

Abstract

Objective Describe Greek life students’ perspectives of party culture, safety, and College Sexual Violence (CSV) prevention. Participants 27 US undergraduates: 5 fraternity underclassmen, 6 fraternity upperclassmen, 10 sorority underclassmen, 6 sorority upperclassmen. Methods Students participated in one of four focus groups, separately by gender and academic year. Facilitation guide addressed partying, sexual violence, and safety. Results Greek life members described partying preferences, perceived safety threats, and actions they took to party safely. University efforts to support safe partying were not universally viewed as helpful. Conclusions Although Greek life students strive to create safe partying environments, there remain missed opportunities to mitigate risks related to CSV. The responsibility to ensure safe partying falls too heavily on students, resulting in universities missing opportunities to provide measures that promote safety while mitigating risks and potentially serious harms.