Date of Award
9-30-2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Joseph Nichols
Committee Members
Annette Hux; Joan Henley; Mary Bradley
Call Number
LD 251 .A566d 2020 W34
Abstract
Because the civil rights of the LGBT community have risen to the forefront in American culture since the turn of the twenty-first century, this study sought to analyze membership eligibility policies and attitudes of single-sex, Greek-letter, social fraternal organizations in regards to transgender individuals. Title IX of the United States Education Amendment of 1972 provides protection from discrimination by institutes of higher learning that receive federal financial assistance. However, section 1681 of Title IX provides an exemption for social fraternities and sororities with primary active membership of students enrolled at a shelter institution. This exemption allows social fraternal organizations to define their membership practices without violating Title IX. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to analyze whether membership attitudes toward transgender individuals affects membership eligibility policies of single-sex, Greek-letter, social fraternities and sororities. In order to successfully understand the interaction of these attitudes and fraternal policies, this study will seek to answer the following research questions: 1. How do fraternal organizations define membership eligibility? 2. What are the attitudes of members of fraternal organizations toward transgender individuals? 3. What are the connections, if any, between attitude and the definition of membership eligibility? This study is important to both social fraternal organizations and transgender individuals because these organizations have misinterpreted and misunderstood Title IX. In order to keep transgender individuals from having to guess or hope their way into fair consideration, fraternities and sororities need to clearly, concisely, and explicitly define eligibility requirements for membership.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Weaver, William Wallace, "A Document Analysis and Examination of Attitudes Toward Transgender Membership Eligibility in Single-Sex, Greek-Letter, Social Fraternities and Sororities" (2020). Student Theses and Dissertations. 357.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/357
