[24349] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] Transfer Brothers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Charles Brace)
Mon Jun 7 11:03:33 2004
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 11:03:23 -0400
Reply-To: brace347@yahoo.com
From: Charles Brace <brace347@hotmail.com>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
Brothers
First, this is not an account of transfer membership...i graduated from my
undergrad institution and therefore changed schools and chapters when i went
to grad school...further, i was technically never active at my grad school
chapter...i share my story, however, because it does touch upon what i think
Rashid is looking for
first, statistics...I attended duquesne university for undergrad...the APO
chapter there, Pi Chi, was (and still is) an all male chapter with a healthy
but smaller chapter size (around 10-20 brothers give or take during my time
at the chapter)...
upon graduation, i moved to Syracuse, NY to attend Law School at Syracuse
University. The chapter there, Phi Chapter, was around 25-30 active
brothers when i began my education at syracuse. also, the chapter was
predominately female at the time.
ok, now that you know the stats, here's the story
the transition for me was not as difficult as you might think, as i was
already quite active in the fraternity outside my undergrad chapter, so the
one issue you might think would be a problem (coming from an all male
chapter to a co-ed chapter) really wasn't an issue FOR ME. (I did, however,
keep this little fact to myself for quite sometime...as many know, the all
male issue is volitile for some, and in my experience at that time, some
brothers make immediate assumptions about you when they find out this little
fact and i wanted to avoid this....as it turns out, when the chapter did
learn of my all male roots, nobody really cared...the chapter is all
inclusive and they didn't care where i came from...i was there now and
that's all that mattered)
The biggest adjustment for me was the kind of chapter...i came from a
smaller and very close knit brotherhood
the chapter i moved to was considerably larger and a different mentality
about the brotherhood. in fact, the chapter grew in size during my three
years at syracuse, from about 25 to about 70-80! The larger chapter size,
was probably the biggest hurdle...as i was used to a smaller size
chapter...phi was large in my eyes (and got larger)...and it was difficult
to get to know the entire brotherhood...but i tried
to try to get to know the brotherhood i helped create and participated in a
"master class" (suggested by the then section chair and was intended to be
like a pledge class, but for brothers)...my master class project was to
interview the chapter brothers, just like a pledge...it did help,
unfortunately my law school work load did not permit a proper attention to
the project. The master class, while a good idea, died out at the end of
the fall semester, 2001.
due to the size, and also due to the nature that i was a grad student with
oh so little time, i never truly got to know everyone in the chapter like i
knew the brothers of my undergrad chapter...so i focused my energy on the
good relationships i had in the chapter and fostered them as best as
possible
mind you, during this time, i was never technically a part of the
chapter...i never requested transfer membership (and in fact, turned down
such an offer/idea by various chapter brothers), i never requested to become
an advisor, i never requested to become active, etc...i was just a brother,
from another chapter, attending school there and participaing in the
chapter's programs
another difficult transition for me was the open mentality of Phi chapter.
During my time at Pi Chi, the chapter was cautious when it came to
non-chapter brothers attending events and meetings...partly b/c of it's all
male status and partly because we just wanted to keep to ourselves. That
mentality took a while to get over. When I first arrived at syracuse, and
wanted to attend a meeting, i made sure that it would be OK...as i didn't
want to make any trouble. I continued to make sure brothers knew i was
going to be in attendance for a month or two until i realized that (1) it
really didn't matter and (2) they were becoming familiar and used to me and
even if it matterd in september, id didn't matter now...
phi's method of family trees was also different (primarily because there was
more than one tree)
ultimately, i became just another chapter brother at phi...through my
attendance at meetings, fellowships, service projects, and even in that
master class...eventually, the chapter confered honorary membership upon me
in the spring of 2002. I got a big and therefore a family (that actually
happened back during my first semester at syracuse) and i officially became
part of the chapter...and during my last semester at syracuse i even took a
little (my little was an advisor, not an active)
so, for me, it was a slow and gradual process to get to know and become
familiar with my new chapter...part of this was because my two chapters are
so different, but most of it really was because of the size of Phi and my
limited time to do things b/c of grad school
i imagine that true transfer students (undergrad transfer students) get a
much different experience...they likely have more time to become acclamated
to the chapter, and likely become active immediately
i now have two chapters, two bigs, two littles (yes, only one little from
each chapter), two membership certificates and cards, and two totally
differernt brotherhoods that are both unique and special to me...I consider
myslef lucky to be a part of two strong chapters each with rich histories
and traditions.
I hope my account helps Rashid and anyone else interested in this subject.
in LFS
--Chuck Brace
Pi Chi - SPC '97
Phi (Honorary) - S '02
_______________________________________________________
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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