Dyad Strategies Announces Release of 2021 Whitepaper
Pensacola, FL – Today, Dyad Strategies announced the release of the 2021 Dyad Strategies Whitepaper.
The whitepaper, entitled “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Fraternity Experience: Three Disturbing Trends,” highlights three disturbing findings from Dyad’s longitudinal assessment of college fraternities. The report was authored by Gentry McCreary, Joshua Schutts, and Logan Davis. The data highlighted in the report were gleaned from surveys completed by over 10,000 members of three men’s national fraternities during October and November, 2020. These data suggest that, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, fraternity members are consuming more alcohol and hold attitudes that are more supportive of hazing motivated by social dominance. The data also suggest that, during Fall 2020, fraternities saw a spike in the concentration of “always joiners” and corresponding declines in the concentration of “maybe joiners” and “never joiners.”
“The research team at Dyad Strategies is pleased to be able to share some of what we are beginning to learn about the impact of COVID on the fraternity experience through our inaugural white paper,” said Dr. Gentry McCreary, the CEO of Dyad Strategies. “To my knowledge, the Dyad Whitepaper is the first comprehensive set of longitudinal data that have been released that demonstrate the impact of the COVID lockdowns on the fraternity experience.”
As a companion to the whitepaper, Dyad Strategies also released an episode of the Dyad Podcast featuring an interview with Dr. Lori Hart, a harm reduction expert with over 25 years of experience in the fraternity/sorority industry. In the episode, McCreary and Hart discuss the three trends highlighted in the white paper in depth, providing analysis and guidance to fraternity/sorority and higher education professionals.
“The findings highlighted in the whitepaper are certainly disturbing, and warrant the immediate attention of fraternity and sorority professionals,” said Dr. Joshua Schutts, the Chief Research Officer of Dyad Strategies and co-author of the report. “We need to be having serious conversations about how we can respond to these trends in a manner that is productive and ensures the long-term health of the fraternity experience after the pandemic.”