[15506] in APO-L
all male chapters
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Laura A Costa)
Tue Nov 12 14:41:49 1996
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 14:36:41 -0500
Reply-To: Laura A Costa <lcosta@RUNET.EDU>
From: Laura A Costa <lcosta@RUNET.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
I believe that we should eliminate the all male chapters except when one
of the following is true:
-the chapter is located at an all-male school
-there exists at the school a sorority equivalent to APO, such as Gamma
Sigma Sigma or OPhiA
-the chapter has a "little sister" program.
I think this covers almost all (if not all) the existing all male
chapters.
The reason I feel this way is because these chapters were promised by the
1976 National Convention that it would be up to them if they went co-ed
or not. This was later reaffirmed by the 1992 National Convention (or
was it the 1994 Convention--anyways, it was very recently). Also, our
own National Bylaws state that it is up to each and every chapter to
decide who will be members of that chapter. Of all of the collegiate
fraternities, APO gives the greatest amount of power to its chapters.
(Or so I've heard). This includes the right to decide who should be
members and who shouldn't be. This is not to say that we should
discriminate against one group over another. Quite the contrary! On the
other hand, APO has told these chapters that it is up to each individual
chapterto make the decision to go co-ed. If the chapter chooses to
remain all-male on a co-ed campus and there is an equivalent organization
for women, then so be it! We are not active brothers in that chapter, so
therefore, it is not our right to tell them what to do.
However, if there is no equivalent organization on the co-ed campus, then
APO does need to go co-ed because this is discriminating against women.
Or the women can start their own sorority or whatever which is equivalent
to APO. The women on the campus who want the opportunity to live by the
APO (or Gamma Sigma Sigma or OPhiA) principles should have every right to
do so.
Let's leave the all-male chapters alone!
In LFS,
Laura
