[6194] in APO-L
New Chapters...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (EDK)
Tue May 4 16:26:16 1993
Date: Tue, 4 May 1993 16:00:00 LCL
Reply-To: EDK <EDK.LASPAU@MHSGW.HARVARD.EDU>
From: EDK <EDK.LASPAU@MHSGW.HARVARD.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@PURCCVM.BITNET>
To: APO-L
John Harry from Delta asked a number of membership policy questions, so I
went straight to the source, Fred Pollack, the National Membership and
Extension Committee Chairman. Here is what he said. If you have any
questions about these answers, you should contact Fred by conventional
means since he isn't connected to email.
>I have a simple question. Is it required for new chapters to be co-ed?
"Answer: All Petitioning Groups are required to have an open membership
policy. The group's membership must be representative of the student
population. This means that, unless extraordinary circumstances exist,
they must be co-ed when they apply for a charter."
"'Extraordinary' circumstances means that a Petitioning Group could, in
theory, be admitted with an all male or all female membership provided that
the Sectional Chair and Regional Director are convinced that, despite their
best efforts, the group has not been able to recruit women/men. I say 'in
theory' because an application for charter from such a group which had the
approvals of the Sectional Chair and Regional Director would be submitted
to the National Board and the chapters in the Section for approval.
Whether or not two-thirds of each group would approve such a chaprter is
impossible to predict."
>This question seems simple enough, but from what I've been told differs
>180 degrees from anything that the National By-Laws or Articles of
>Association might say.
>
>If it is required, by what rule do we require it?
>
>If it is not required, where are people getting the idea that it is?
"Answer: We start with the National Bylaws of Alpha Phi Omega which state
that 'Membership in Alpha Phi Omega shall be open to all students ..."
(Please not that the wording change made in Boston made no difference - we
had the same policy prior to the convention because the meaning of the
Bylaws was the same.)"
"'All students' clearly means that every student on a campus must be allowd
to seek membership in the Fraternity. In 1976, when we admitted women into
membership, the Fraternity adopted a policy which said that it would do
nothing to force existing all-male chapters to admit women against the
desire of the majority of the chapter's Brothers. That remains our policy
with the full support of the National Board."
"That policy does not (nor was it ever intended to) apply to new chapters."
"The next document to review would be the "Alpha Phi Omega Membership
Policies". These policies (which are included in the current Pledge
Manual) were first adopted by the National Board of Directors in the early
1980's and subsequently approved by at least two National Conventions.
Section III(B) states: 'Because all people have the potential to be of
service and to be leaders and friends, active membership is open to all
students and should represent a cross section of the student body."
"Finally, the National Bylaws provide that the requirements for a
Petitioning Group shall be established by the National Membership &
Extension Commitee. Based on the Bylaws and Membership Policies, as
referred to above, we adopted the requirement that all groups be
representative and this includes being co-ed."
"I should note that I have raised this issue with the National Board at
several meetings, including the February, 1993 meeting. Our policy has
always had and continues to have, the support of the Board."
---------------
If you would like to contact Fred Pollack directly about any of this, his
address is 54 Farifield Avenue, Port Washington, NY 11050.
Y.I.S.
Ellen c.c. Kranzer
APO-L Administrator (and various other things)
INTERNET: ekranzer@Harvard.edu or ccrazy@athena.mit.edu
BITNET: ekranzer@harvard or ccrazy@harvarda
