[17719] in APO-L
APO Discrimination
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ken McGuire)
Sat Nov 22 11:55:04 1997
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 11:11:06 +0000
Reply-To: Ken McGuire <MCGUIREKR@INTERLOCHEN.K12.MI.US>
From: Ken McGuire <MCGUIREKR@INTERLOCHEN.K12.MI.US>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <01IQ69Q20V269IMUBJ@INTERLOCHEN.K12.MI.US>
Well... I was a member of Rho Theta Chapter from 89-92. At that
time we were all male. However, right after this they went Co-ed,
and I saw a bit of how this changed the chapter.
First of all, I must say that I was and still am in favor of the
change. I questioned it a bit as a pledge, and I made a motion to
do this my senior year.
Some useful(?) background is that Rho Theta is at Capital
University, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America. We didn't have any problem whatsoever with
people who challenged traditional Christian views.
Also, we had no problem with Gay members. We were called Gay P O
by many on campus. Usually around 1/3 of the membership was Gay...
We've had multiple Gay chapter presidents.
Many in the chapter did not want to go co-ed because of what they
saw in other chapters. They saw more of a service club, like
Circle K, and a LOT less brotherhood. Admittedly, the fraturnity
changed when we let in women. In fact, a few years later, one of
women (the membership vp at the time) said that it had definitely
been a mistake.
I still do not think that it was a mistake. However, it was a
shocking change, even if we had dealt with situations like the
Pres and Service VP dating... I would not like to see it forced
upon any chapter.
In Leadership, Friendship and Service,
Ken "Phantom" McGuire
mcguirekr@interlochen.k12.mi.us
