Of the orgs you mentioned, I can only speak for Alpha Phi Omega. Yes, APO does address topics of Risk Management such as hazing; however, our policies do not include topics related to housing since APO chapters do not have houses. Since the primary focus of the Fraternity is service, we do not have a single "National Foundation." At the National Convention, a "Program of Emphasis" is chosen around which chapters will focus their service for the year. Yes, APO values leadership training. The Fraternity offers several leadership programs including the Chapter Program Workshops and the Sectional Resource Workshops. Also "APO Leads" is a dynamic Leadership Development Program. Finally, Alpha Phi Omega does have both a new member ceremony and an initiation ritual. These are beautiful ceremonies that were some of my most memberable college moments! While APO is not a "secret society," the initiation ritual is kept "private" among Brothers.

Beta Sigma Phi is unlike any other group I have encountered, but it is similar to traditional GLOs in many ways as well. Beta has several International Funds including the Beta Sigma Phi Breast Cancer Research Fund which is about to reach 1 million dollars!! Although we do not have a ritual that is called "initiation," Beta has several rituals. The Opening and Closing rituals are open rituals that are performed at every meeting. A new member goes through the "Pledge Ritual," and after six months of traning, she goes through the "Ritual of Jewels." Subsequent years of membership and study lead to other "degrees" that are earned through additional rituals.

Hope this helps!

Erica

If you are interested, Tau Beta Sigma's national website is:

http://www.kkytbs.org/

At the recent national convention there were over 800 attendees:
http://www.kkytbs.org/2003natconv.html

It's a small group compared to NPC et al groups but still of significant size none the less. We do all the things any NPC group does except participate in formal rush. At my school we would not have considered it. We do require you to be in marching band, but we had everything else, letter jersies, rituals, pledge periods etc etc.

Gamma Sig has all those things too! We do recuitment, initiation, activation, retreats, conferences, conventions, mascots... colors... crest... all that good stuff!
Check out www.gammasigmasigma.org -- or just ask me anything! (I loooove being Historian :) )

This is an interesting thread. I go to a small school, so we only have social GLOs (local and national). I never really realize HOW big some of the non-social focus GLOs were. AST has close to 70 chapters and we are NPC, but some of these other groups are much bigger than us...it's neat, too bad some people make mean comments :(

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I understand completely what you're going through. When I ordered the TBS tote bags I got the same thing. "Are you guys national?" "oh you're not a real sorority". And I hate that!! GRR!

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Re: I know the feeling...
 

Can I say this:
That is EFFED UP! and the GLOs that were guilty of saying that should be VERY ashamed of themselves! :mad:

I'll pretty much agree with you, ktsnake, although I will note that many Phi Mu Alpha chapters are part of their campus IFCs and participate in all Greek activities at their campuses. From what I can tell, this seems to be more common at smaller colleges. I also know of Phi Mu Alpha chapters with no music majors or minors in them.

And I think it goes a little deeper, too, because on many campuses and for a variety of reasons, the music department/music school is almost a world unto itself. Groups like Phi Mu Alpha and SAI were founded when that was even more the case (or when conservatories were indeed seperate) so as to provide students in that environment the fraternal experience. But this "academic isolation," if you will, can perpetuate both the "insular" recruitment and the interaction only with other music GLOs. (Aside from Phi Mu Alpha, SAI, Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, there are Mu Phi Epsilon and Delta Omicron, as well as locals.)

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Many folks don't really know what SAI and organizations like it are so they probably consider them to be similar to an honorary or professional GLO that meets once a month and does a service project.

You got that right. And that, in my opinion, is mainly our fault for not getting word about ourselves out. But one does sometimes run into folks who aren't giong to, shall we say, expand their views of reality to figure out how we fit in. You know, we have to write the memo for people to get the memo, but even after the memo goes out, a few people will refuse to read it.

Quote:

When you get down to it, the solution to the problem is all in your hands.

Again, I agree. And while I can't say anything for any other group, I am glad to see that more and more Phi Mu Alpha chapters seem to be doing something about it.

And to tfj-1893: Yes, we have all those things, plus just about everything else one would associate with "traditional" general fraternities (except that most chapters do not have houses). The difference is that we have a "special interest," if you will, that is an integral part of our identity.

Since MysticCat said everything I was going to say, I'll just answer tfj-1893's questions in regard to Delta Omicron.

Much like Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, we willingly accept and actively recruit non-music majors and minors. I myself am one of those "recruits".... I don't have one iota of musical talent. Had I not been rushed by DO first, I would have joined an NPC on my campus. We run (or ran, at my time, things have changed) very, very much like an NPC sorority.

We have risk management programs, a national foundation, weekly meetings, ritual, philanthropy, socials, mixers, etc. When I was in college, we regularly held activities with the other "social" fraternities and sororities. We have formals and retreats. Some chapters have houses. The only way we differ from a strictly social sorority is that we have a "focus", as MysticCat put it, in music.

Edited to add: I thought I should note that as MysticCat mentioned, the variety in 'temperment' so to speak of these groups is wide, and can change very fast. Some chapters of DO, PMA, SAI, etc. are very social (like the chapter I pledged). Some are strictly professional. This depends greatly on the members at the time and what they want out of it. When I was an active, we were more interested in the social and sisterhood aspects rather than just having something to put on a resume. Five years later, a different group is in there and wants it to mainly be another society to boast about. In another 5 years, who knows, perhaps it will be a social organization again. It's hard to make a blanket statement about what a group is about when you have tens of thousands of members who may all want different things. Delta Omicron strives to be all of those things for every member.

Phi Sigma Pi does! We have ceremonies, like initiation, big/little, and induction, risk management stuff, two national conventions a year, and, according to the website, approximately 20,000 brothers and 100 chapters across the country.
One thing that Phi Sigma Pi does, that I haven't heard of other GLOs doing, is having interchapter events. A chapter will hold an event specifically for brothers from other chapters to come and hang out with us. It's great fun, roadtripping into other states...some people drive halfway across the country for the good ones! Does any other GLO do things like this? I wish AXiD would do it, too, because it's a lot of fun to meet people from other chapters!

Phi Mu Alpha does, particularly among chapters in the same province. Many provinces also have a province "trophy" that one chapter "steals" from another and holds until yet another chapter "steals" it from them. The "exchange" from one chapter to another often involves an impromptu party.

Edited to add: It is also very common for chapters to invite other chapters, as well as alumni brothers in the area, to their initiations.

I just had to throw in a little side note, here, for MysticCat. The UW-Whitewater and UW-Platteville chapters of Sinfonia are nearly inseparable. In fact, we often need to explain to our new members which guys go to our school, and which are from Platteville :) It's great to see brotherhood like that, even from chapters that are over an hour apart!

YES they are. I loved it when the UWW guys came to visit - the old Sinfonia house was very near ours and one of our sisters is best friends with one of their brothers! Those guys are so much fun to hang out with and I loooove their serenades.

Thanks for passing that along Ginger and GeekyPenguin -- great to hear!!

I have had this same problem at my school as well. I have heard people say that we are a veggie sorority because we are a local and not a national sorority. Also, can you be in a social and and a service org at the same time cause I thought it was a conflict of interestsl.