[17659] in APO-L
My all-male e-mail
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Shad Cook, Nu Mu)
Thu Nov 20 10:11:41 1997
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 03:45:34 -0500
Reply-To: ShadShine@AOL.COM
From: "Shad Cook, Nu Mu" <ShadShine@AOL.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
I've sat back patiently and listened to everyone's opinion regarding all-male
chapters.
And here's my .02 cents.
Being an alumnus of an all-male chapter, NU MU at the U of MN-Duluth, I take
pride in coming from Nu Mu, not because we are all-male, but because we are a
service organization that helps donate time to causes and the communities
around us. Does it matter that a chapter doing Leadership, friendship and
service has 100% males, 100% females or a mixture of the two? No, what
matters, is what the chapter accomplishes. I've visited many chapters over
the years and have talked with members all over the nation at conventions and
on APO-L. Never has anyone chastised me for being a member of an all-male
chapter. Being a delegate at the Dallas Convention, the discussion of
all-male chapters came up. I remember getting a note from other all-male
chapters to have a rally and to support one another. My fellow Nu Mu
delegate and I attended it during the break to see what they had to say.
Those other memebers that attended the meeting were so opposed to all-male
chapters being dismantled that it was borderline militant of an attitude. We
left the meeting after a couple minutes and came up with our own philosophy.
Our chapter entrusted us to make the best decisions for them. we decided
that if we were voted to go co-ed, so be it and stood our ground and would
let no one persuade us otherwise. We prided ourselves for sticking up for
our values instead of tradition. I can see that numbers matter to people and
having all-male chapters turn co-ed could add numbers to those chapters. But
in reality, is it the numbers or whether someone is a man or a woman that
matters or the leadership, friendship and service we provide? Just
something to ponder.
Shad Cook
Nu Mu Alum
Region IX Canadian Extension Chair
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
--Martin Luther King Jr., speech 1964
"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is
no good evidence either way." --Bertrand Russell, "Unpopular Essays"
