[17660] in APO-L
all-male chapters
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dolphin)
Thu Nov 20 10:13:01 1997
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 01:51:56 -0500
Reply-To: dolphin <sklarsky@mathcs.duq.edu>
From: dolphin <sklarsky@mathcs.duq.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
the statements below do not necessarily reflect the views of my chapter.
the whole argument over the all-male chapter issue has pretty much just
made my blood boil with anger on why everyone has to argue over such a
petty issue and just can't let things be.
i attend duquesne university, home of pi chi chapter, the only all-male
chapter in region V, and proud to state that fact.
many years ago, we decided to remain all-male, and we have stayed true to
this TRADITION ever since. we don't like the idea of being FORCED to go
co-ed. in fact, if this were to happen, one would probably see a whole
chapter turn in their letters and go social to keep this tradition. i
also don't speak of our actives, but also of many of our alumni. if a
similar situation such as this were to occur at the other 25 all-male
chapters, i think that it would cause a terrible detriment to the
fraternity as a whole, but then i guess the majority would get what it
wanted.
our university is deeply rooted in service. we have many service
organization on our campus. remaining all-male, i believe, is one of the
factors that differentiate us from the other service organizations. do
we really need females to do service?? no. we believe in doing service
for service's sake. it doesn't really matter who is doing the service.
i think that in the all male argument, people sometimes forget several
things. one that is very important is that our university's
administration is supportive of a-phi-o. they have been since we were
founded. we are one of the few fraternities on campus to have an actual
office. whenever the university needs something, such as ushers for an
event, they call US. they can give us as little as 24 hours notice and
will be there for them. it is also because of our organization that the
duquesne university volunteers program now exists. this council started
out with a brother of a-phi-o and administraters. it has now grown to be
a student organization, made up of members of the service organizations
on campus. about 3600 students participated in a service project of some
sort last year alone. this our of a student population of 9500
(undergrad, grad, and law)
we do have a chapter of gamma sigma sigma at our campus. originally, way
back when, the chapter was founded with the help of a-phi-o. it is now
on its third rechartering. we have a very good relation with this
organization and going co-ed would only hurt this relationship. one of
our brothers is a sweetheart of their sorority. they want to be a
sorority as much as we want to be a fraternity. an interesting fact is
that one of their two male founding members has since turned in his
letters and pledged us. the sorority was not able to fit his needs as
much as our all male fraternity was able to meet them.
i have never been in a coed fraternity, but my opinion of why i think all
male is better. i feel that by being all male, we are a closer knit
group. admittingly, we are more social. we participate in intramural
athletics (football, street hockey, etc.) as a fraternity, something that
would be nearly impossible coed. we also have an organized fraternity
wing in the dorms. this wing does include independents though, which
differentiates us from many of the fraternity wings on our campus. i
have also noticed from my brushes with chapters outside of my own is that
we do not have as many problems as some of the coed chapters and they do
not reach a high magnitude either. i truly think that because we are
close knit and we know each other, we can work out our differences, not
matter how heated a discussion may get. we act as a fraternity, we
pledge as a fraternity, we are a fraternity, and i think going coed would
destroy the traditions and values that we hold.
i really can't think of anything else to say other than to leave some
food for thought.
1) i saw some statistics from i believe the august or september t n't
(it doesn't really matter when it was printed) my point being, according
to these statistics, i think that it turns out that ONLY 47% OF CHAPTERS
CHARTERED are ACTIVE. i'm not a statician, but i think that it is
pathetic and that our time would be better spent trying to recharter the
other 53% than trying to convert 10% of the active chapters to something
that they don't want.
2) another point that i really am not clear on and haven't had time to
research, but it is my opinion that many coed chapters have come and gone
since 1976, but to be an all male chapter means that it was been
continuously active for AT LEAST 21 years (ours since 1966) and i think
that point says a lot on behalf of the all male chapters out there.
it's late, goodnight, and that's as close as i can get to an unbiased
opinion.
john sklarsky
pi chi, fpc '95
