[23276] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] Pre-Convention Greetings to my Brothers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ken Hunter)
Thu Dec 12 12:18:07 2002
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:17:57 -0600
Reply-To: Ken Hunter <kwh_apo@hotmail.com>
From: Ken Hunter <kwh_apo@hotmail.com>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
A couple of thoughts:
First, I would like to point out my personal experience in this matter. I
pledged and was initiated into an all-male chapter. For 3 years as an
active and associate, my chapter was all-male, and proud of it (as were the
other chapters in our section). At the start of my fourth year in the
fraternity (and my term as Chapter President), the membership requested a
vote on changing our status from "all-male" to "co-ed." I granted their
request and held the vote. The vote passed (in fact, I was probably the
only who voted against us going co-ed). Since then, our chapter has been
co-ed. I also had the opportunity to serve on a National Committee that
reviewed the "Single-Gender" issue in 1998, as well as attend and work with
some of our HBCU-based Chapters (including attending the 2001 25/52 Cookout
in Atlanta).
Now, there are many things I admire about our HBCU-based Chapters. First,
there is their open expression of Brotherhood and spirit in Alpha Phi Omega.
When you are at an event like the Cookout, you are surrounded by Brothers
who believe that they are part of a "Fraternity." This is not the case
everywhere else. While I believe that most of our current active Brothers
understand that they are part of a "Fraternity," some express some
resentment of this status. They choose not to wear letters, nor promote
themselves as anything more than a collegiate service organization.
I also respect the efforts of our HBCU-based chapters to maintain
traditions. HBCU campuses are home to a culture not found at your
mainstream higher education institutions. There is a deeply-religious
element that I admire (having spent some time around TSU and Fisk in
Nashville), as well as the unity found among the student bodies that you
just don't see elsewhere. There also are some long-established customs and
expectations that still exist. Some of those were pointed out in Joel
Bryant's original statement from this past weekend. This sense of
tradition, custom, ritual, whatever you want to call it, just does not exist
in most of the mainstream, where these words are often given a negative
connotations by professors, administrators, and some students.
However, tradition and custom do have to adapt to the realities of time. As
a National Fraternity, our customs and traditions undertook major change in
1976 with the establishment of coed membership. Intially, it was because of
outside pressure (changes in Federal Law). However, as time went on, the
Fraternity began to grow and prosper as a result of the change. Today, our
Fraternity would not be where it is in terms of membership, financial
capability, or expressing its principles without the contributions of our
male and female membership.
Over the past several decades, outside pressures have also forced us to
review and change policies with respect to how we treat fellow members
(especially pledges). I have listened to plenty of elder alumni speak
happily about their pledging experiences and the "hazing" that took place.
That time has passed, as present realities (lawsuits, overexuberance on the
part of some organizations (not us), changes in public attitudes, etc.)
force it to.
So long as those changes that are made with respect to the realities of our
time are addressed and included, chapters should still be encouraged to
maintain and promote their traditions. In Tennessee, we have one
rechartered chapter and another extension group undergoing rechartering at
HBCU-campuses. Both are coed, and both are making it happen. They
recognize and embrace the realities of the 21st Century, but they strive to
embrace and restore tradition as well.
Every active chapter in Alpha Phi Omega is an active chapter. My experience
indicates that there are no separatists. Experience also shows that there
are chapters who choose to "stay on campus" and not venture out into
sectional, regional, and national activity. There are also special
"inter-chapter" relationships the transcend the boundaries established by
our hierarchy. The HBCU chapters and their alumni comprise such an
"inter-chapter" community.
In the end, it comes down to education, and it starts with pledges. If we
do not strongly iterate to our pledges that we are a "Fraternity," we will
have serious dissent over how different chapters act with respect to their
programs and traditions. Unless we are on the same page with respect to
what membership in Alpha Phi Omega means, then we cannot assess our
differences in an appropriate matter towards solution.
That is my opinion, we welcome yours,
In L, F, and S,
Kenneth Hunter
Alum, Tau Epsilon Chapter, Tennessee Technological University
President, Tuckessee Local Alumni Association
Section 70 Secretary/Treasurer
kwh_apo@hotmail.com
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