[15653] in APO-L
Re: APO-L Digest - 14 Nov 1996 to 15 Nov 1996
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Oz, the Great and Terrible,)
Sun Nov 17 01:24:07 1996
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 01:21:42 -0500
Reply-To: "Oz, the Great and Terrible," <gt6978b@PRISM.GATECH.EDU>
From: "Oz, the Great and Terrible," <gt6978b@PRISM.GATECH.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Bravely and without thought to personal injury, The Italian Stallion said:
> Okay, I think it's time to put this one to bed. This will be my last
> piece of public discussion on the subject (but feel free to write me
> privately if you wish). Four years ago, when I came to Auburn, I knew that
> there was an APhiO chapter. My mom had been a little sister and a
> sweetheart at another chapter, and said that the brothers were great, so
> I decided to pledge. what did I find? A fraternity, almost exactly like
> the others, but with two obvious exceptions: (1) No house; (2) service
> oriented scout-like attitude. They liked to hang out, B.S., and have fun,
> but they wanted to do service too. The chapter gave the guys a place where
> they decided how they would do things. During closed sessions we could
> debate and argue, talk and swear. We could decide policy how we wanted,
> without worrying what anyone else thought. After all, we were a bunch of
> guys who knew each other. The brotherhood that I feel with my brothers is
> almost impossible to put into words. Sure, we have our differences, but
> they work their ways out. So many times I've seen two brothers argue
> relentlessly about a subject, then an hour later one would buy the other
> a beer at the bar that we would go to after chapter was over. We would
> just get together to smoke cigars and talk about the football game, or to
> watch the "Moronathon" on MTV, or to talk about the fact that a brother's
> girlfriend was driving him nuts. We'll go on roadtrips for no apparent
> reason, listen to stupid music, and sit in Denny's at 2am talking about
> the dumbest pickup lines we've ever used. When potential pledges get to
> know us, they see a group of guys that accomplish alot of work, and still
> have alot of fun with each other.
My experience with a co-ed chapter is virtually synonamous. The specifics
change (Dennys, etc.), but the content remains the same. All of which is
irrelevant, even if the atmosphere was changed it would not constitute a
compelling reason to discriminate on the basis of gender.
> When the sexes are mixed, some of that
> simple fun is interrupted. We have to act differently than we do when its
> just us, and everything we do, right down to chapter issues, would change
> because of that. Our chapter's style is based on the fact that we're all
> guys. The way we work is as guys. Lets face it, I joined for two main
> reasons:
> (1) To be in a service organization
> (2) To be around, and have fun with, these guys.
> The brotherhood in our chapter is intense, powerful, sometimes a little
> silly, and makes us the organization that we are. If we go coed, that all
> changes. Forever. We wouldn't be the same way we are now. I don't know if
> I'd be in this chapter if it was coed. At least, not to the degree that
> I'm in right now. Like I said, its hard to explain. The reason that we
> want to stay AllMale isn't because we don't like women, its because we
> like who we are right now.
"Because we like who we are now," was not a compelling reason to
discriminate against people of a different race and it's not a compelling
reason to discriminate against a person of a different gender.
> What we are is good, and it works, and the members or the chapter are
> happy this way.
And it's not a sufficient reason to discriminate.
> -Delta 1159
> Mark Librizzi
YiLFS,
Charlie Smith
Pledge Trainer and Parlimentarian
Gamma Zeta
Georgia Institute of Technology
--
"[The] whole struggle in this country to give equal rights and equal
privileges to all citizens of the United States has been an unpopular one;
that we have been forced to struggle against passions and prejudices
engendered by generations of wrong and oppression."
Sen. Henry Wilson (R) c.1868
