[24186] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] Use of old Rituals.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Charles Brace)
Thu Mar 4 11:38:10 2004
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 11:37:58 -0500
Reply-To: brace347@yahoo.com
From: Charles Brace <brace347@hotmail.com>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
While I agree that the ritual should not be changed often, permitting
changes only every 6 to 10 years presents one major problem. Any policy
changes made by the convention in the off years would not be reflected in
the Ritual. For example...and not to bring up a sensitive subject (but it
is the only one i could think of that could be discussed over the list
serv)...what if the convention changed the toast song in an off year? Would
then the toast song be changed everywhere (pledge book, web page, other
publications, etc), except in the ritual, where we would have to wait 4 to 6
years to bring the ritual up to date with fraternity policy?
I agree that changes to our ritual should be few, and then only when
necessary. However, we have reference committees at convention to weed out
unnecessary and unwanted changes.
I understand the frustration with the use of old ritual books. However,
careful tracking would likely not be feasable for many reasons, some already
mentioned in previous posts. I only add, that if we required ritual books
to be returned prior to receiving new books, many chapters would continue to
use the old books for a few reasons: (1) they don't want to spend postage to
send books back to Ntl Office; (2) the changes were minor, and therefore
it's not worth their time to send everything back and wait for new ones; (3)
they simply forgot. It's a problem just trying to get AAMD's and chapter
reaff's back before the Nov. 15th deadline. And chapters are required to
submit that paperwork to stay in good standing.
And in regards to re-publishing the books every two years, we do the same
thing with the bylaws, and I argue that the bylaws are rarely opened by the
"average" brother, while the ritual books receive much more use. If there
is something that we should keep up to date in print form, it is the ritual.
Just my thoughts....
lfs
--chuck
_______________________________________________________
Charles Brace, Esq.
Admitted in Pennsylvania
brace347@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/brace347
Alpha Phi Omega, National Service Fraternity
Region II -- Leadership Development Chair
Section 91 -- Extension Coordinator
Pi Chi Chapter (Duquesne Univerity) -- SPC '97
Phi Chapter (Syracuse University) -- Honorary -- S '02
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