[20157] in APO-L
Re: APO and campus perception.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Timber Chen)
Wed Feb 10 14:54:13 1999
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 14:44:04 -0500
Reply-To: Joe Timber Chen <jchen1@CSE.BUFFALO.EDU>
From: Joe Timber Chen <jchen1@CSE.BUFFALO.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
In-Reply-To: <Pine.A41.3.96.990209160349.155824A-100000@gsaix2.cc.GaSoU.EDU>
On Tue, 9 Feb 1999, Brandi Mills wrote:
> Dear brothers,
>
> My chapter has, in the past month, been labeled as the "Gay Frat" on
> campus. Granted, a large percentage of our membership is
> homosexual/bisexual. And some of our current pledges are
> homosexual/bisexual. We are currently having problems with our campus
> because of this. We also seem to be having a few problems within our
> chapter on this issue. Not so much from the brothers, as much as it is
> possibly from our pledges.
>
> I would like to hear from you, how your chapter has handled problems like
> this and how individual brothers within your chapter have handled problems
> like this.
>
I will have to agree with brother Ellen Kranzer's points on perception. By
the time I read the fourth message in this thread, it seemed that some
people misunderstood the question being posed as how Alpha Phi Omega
chapters accept into our chapters the bi/etc community and the tangents
that followed. Let us try to bring this discussion back to the original
question which is why I quoted this message instead of any others or their
followups.
My comments on this issue would be that perception is very important but
perception is constantly changing. Every chapter's membership turns over
every few semesters so for the moment it may seem like this chapter in
question is the "Gay Frat" but who is to say in a few semesters it isn't
going to be known "Jock Frat" or the "Geek Frat"? There are chapters out
there which are 90% or more female so sometimes they may be thought of as
a sorority. I know that in a thank you note to my chapter after a service
project, we were addressed as Alpha Phi Omega Sorority because we had a
lot of females present.
I would re-iterate previous comments that we should emphasize our
acceptance of anyone who wishes to join. Perhaps publicize better our
cardinal principles which is why the majority of us are in this
organization. Perhaps write a letter to the editor of the local paper if
the problem is that bad. Talk to your advisor or recruit an advisor within
your provost/administration office who can help you change your image.
It is apparent that the reason that so many of your members are of various
sexual orientations is due to the fact they were recruited by the people
mentioned to be officers in the school's LGBT type organization. We all
try to recruit our friends. This semester it just seems that the bulk of
your members are from that group but as you recruit and the membership
cycles in and out, the perception will change.
--
Yours in Leadership, Friendship, and Service
Joe "Timber" Chen
Epsilon Sigma Chapter
Alpha Phi Omega
State University of New York at Buffalo
