[15603] in APO-L
All-male / co-ed issue
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sharon Zohar)
Thu Nov 14 10:27:56 1996
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 10:24:15 EST
Reply-To: Sharon Zohar <75277.620@COMPUSERVE.COM>
From: Sharon Zohar <75277.620@COMPUSERVE.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Hi all,
I became a brother at a co-ed chapter, but over the years as both an active and
a staffer, have become friends with a number of brothers from all-male chapters.
Some men from all-male chapters have been rude, but the majority have been
respectful of my brotherhood.
While I would like to see our all-male chapters voluntarily go co-ed, I think
forcing them to co-ed would just cost us some valuable chapters and create a
hideous rift within the fraternity. I have done service with brothers from
all-male chapters, and became friendly with a little sister at a formerly
all-male chapter in Florida when I lived in Florida a few years back. All-male
chapters may be different than co-ed, but their members are still brothers,
still living the principles of LFS.
The only justification I can see for forcing them to go co-ed is if our Legal
Counsel views us at being at significant risk of a major lawsuit, or if we are
actually facing a major lawsuit. Yes, it's awkward when women want to be active
brothers at schools with all-male chapters, but if the chapters go under, it's
even less likely that there will be a chapter there for those women to be active
in, because most of the all-male chapters will choose to deactivate, from what I
know of them. I'd hate to see that happen.
In the future, I would like to see a resolution proposed to request (not
require) all-male chapters to allow female brothers taking classes on their
campuses who have been duly initiated into another chapter to have some level of
activity within the chapter, so that these female brothers can continue in the
fraternity. It would be the start of an effective compromise to deal with this
one issue.
Sharon Zohar
EZ (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) '87
Former Section 96 (Southern New England) Staff
"What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?" - Elvis Costello
