[19262] in APO-L
Re: All Male (We might as well drop the No Subject Line)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard Quodomine, Thomas Register)
Tue Oct 6 10:23:17 1998
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 10:22:19 -0400
Reply-To: "Richard Quodomine, Thomas Register Rep. on Long Island" <trrdq@SPRINTMAIL.COM>
From: "Richard Quodomine, Thomas Register Rep. on Long Island" <trrdq@SPRINTMAIL.COM>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
> Nicely said about "brotherhood". However, as one of the brothers who first
> proposed going coed in the late 60s and getting much more heat than even babs
> seems to, from the chapters who blindly were following their "outdated
> traditions of being all male".
Excuse me? Did you say "their traditions?" Well,we passed an agreement to protect
"their traditions", even if YOU seem to think they are "outdated." I hate to break
it to you, but no brother, you included, is the sole arbiter of whose traditions
are valid or not. As long as they are not related to hazing or similar, traditions
belong to chapters, not to others' opinions of what is "correct." I don't
understand alot of people's traditions, but they are there, and I respect them.
That "outdated tradition" smacks of "White Man's Burden" that pervaded racist
culture at the turn of the 20th century. No, I am not calling you a racist, but
don't presume that your belief makes it right for everyone.
> We took alot of heat to push legislation
> through that enabled YOU to join; a compromise was made to allow that. That
> compromise was based on the idea that even the Deltas would change with time.
> Unfortunately they have not. You have come to easily accept the fact that you
> are an equal "brother" in our fraternity.
How many times do we have to say it: The compromise was written out to allow such
chapters the right of maintaining the brotherhood the way they saw fit, ie
all-male. I am sorry that it didn't turn out the way you thought it would, but
that is tough. Overall, there are less than 30 chapters that remain all-male. You
have your principle: the vast majority of APO is co-ed, and many all-males are
dying out. There was no eventual purpose to it. It was a compromise born out of
respect for tradition. Don't you dare try to rewrite history to benfit your
self-righteousness. It may have been thought that the all-males would die out, but
they remain. Why? Because their brotherhood is strong that way. Would you be so
willing to sacrifice that for your own sense of what is correct? Delta, whom you
bring up as an example, has a strong tradition. I have seen it at Nationals from
1992 - 1996, and expect to see it again. Don't hurt them just to prove yourself
right.
<snip>
> Those few chapters that are still resisting
> because their "outdated traditions" will die will come out stronger (albeit
> maybe not for a few years) with this change.
So, you admit it. You would be willing to kill a chapter in the hopes that your
version would come back stronger? Well, like Democracy, a chapter dead may be hard
to revive, if you need an example, look no further than our own Alpha Chapter. It
may be dead forever, and you can have a special, unique, and valued chapter's dead
soul on your hands. Hope you sleep well at night.
In case anybody needs reminding, I am from a co-ed chapter, I believe in co-ed
chapters, my girlfriend is a brother, and the vast majority of my friends are
brothers, both male and female. Hell, even my sister is a brother. I believe in
Alpha Phi Omega being co-ed, but I also believe, that as we learned very early in
our APO careers, "Our word is our bond." I took an oath as an Eagle Scout and
again as a brother to that effect. We were all under that bond in 1976. The spirit
of that bond remains today, and we have not the authority to break it.
-- Richard Quodomine, whose opinions remain his own
