Membership Intake Moratorium
 

Click here for the news release available on the national website.

Note that the brotherhood will not be discussing this matter further on GreekChat. :)

I think this is a good move.

News no one ever wants to hear. Surely with good intentions, aimed at longevity for your (and every NPHC) organization.

Wow. That's a really, really big deal.

This seems like an interesting idea. I wonder what other measures Alpha Phi Alpha will be taking to prevent hazing in the future. Also are there chapters small enough that they need to do intake every year? What happens to them?

Of course these are all rhetorical questions.

lol

alrighty then.

Wow is right. I appreciated the way the letter from Mr. Mason just comes right out with it - the decision, the reasons, action plan and reassurance to the members. I know Alpha Phi Alpha to be an excellent organization and this just reaffirms, for me, how members from top to bottom strive to truly exemplify the organization's values.

.....Kelly :)

wITHOUT sharing the details, did anyone read Bro. Parks recommendations

No, but he's spamming about it.

Seriously. He sent 2 separate emails to owners of the pretty much defunct Sorority Alumnae yahoo group (which has no Alphas as members, for reasons that should be pretty clear) on I think Wednesday:

My district director sent it out to all the Brothers. I thought it was very well documented and I liked much of what was referenced. Take a look at it.

I am perplexed about why Dr. Parks would be soliciting support in seemingly random places where he is more than capable of just sending this info to every graduate and collegiate chapter.

That was kind of my take on it when I got the random emails, and also why this post caught my attention. I know nothing about the situation, I know very little about Alpha Phi Alpha in general (besides that it has some awesome members!), but I think many people found it interesting for a GLO to have a moratorium on new members.

As an outsider to the situation, I question the motives of someone "reaching out" about this internal issue to sources outside of the organization. It makes me think that it isn't just the best interests of the particular GLO he has in mind, but perhaps how he could "market" his solutions to other GLOs.

Just my two sense as an outsider who received what seemed to be a solicitation about this situation. I'll swerve back in my own lane now.

In general, it has happened before in BGLOdom and it is something that BGLO members sometimes joke about being in support of. Many BGLOers that I have interacted with don't find it shocking or particularly interesting. LOL. And we know that Alpha is capable of addressing the issue of aspirants and small chapters during this moratorium.

I definitely see why you feel this way.

As for why he wouldn't just send it to chapters, those methods may be too formal and controlled on the part of APhiA. It seems as though Dr. Parks has done a great job of marketing himself via the Internet and using technology to further whatever his agendas are.

Indeed.

i got the same email as KDdani, but i believe b/c i actually subscribed to one of his lists or had email correspondence with him personally a while back when we were looking for a speaker for a program.

Brothers, please refer to your most recent email titled
"Moratorium & Intake proposals" from the Office of the Executive Director.


There are very specific instructions on how the proposals should be discussed. Surprisingly, GreekChat was not listed. :)

I'm searching my brain here, but I do believe that I engaged in a conversation with Gregory Parks (and several others) a few years ago at a conference. We were talking about the BGLO move from the historical pledging process to the intake process and how it had caused a rift between some members (i.e. you aren't a "real" brother/sister if you did the "paper" intake process). He was talking about how that rift was a big factor in why the intake process wasn't working, and why chapters were still hazing, etc. (I know there was more to this conversation, but I can't remember it!). It was a good conversation, and at that time I do remember him saying something about wanting to find a middle ground...a way to create a process that addresses both sides of the argument. I don't think he was being Alpha specific...he was talking about this being an solution for most/all of the Divine Nine. Since I'm not in a BGLO, I was not involved in further discussions but I do remember being very intrigued with his ideas.

I haven't seen the proposal, but I'm guessing that he continued on with his ideas and this proposal is what came from that initial conversation. If so, I hope it's a workable solution. I hate seeing these students having to struggle with acceptance issues within their own organizations (acceptance issues meaning not being fully accepted by those who still believe in the pledging process...which very well could be dwindling).

(End lane swerve)

PsychTau

That's life. The issue of acceptance across the board will never be fixed. No one is accepted across the board and that applies to Greekdom and outside of Greekdom. Only a relative minority of instances result in the things that get chapters, members, and aspirants into trouble.

The good thing about BGLOs is that, from day one, we pride ourselves with never being confined to our campuses/home chapters. You take the good and bad across the spectrum and keep your eyes on the prize.

This is very true...an Alumni Neo made a comment that he was confused because he was accepted by many of the older bruhs some with at least 50 yrs in the bond but slighted by some of the younger bruhs. At the end of the day he felt there will always be matter a of true acceptance for some bruhs but that's life in the bond!

This is hardly a BGLO only issue. (But that's another thread.)

Sounds like the right thing to do.

I would think that is exactly why he did it.



I didn't see facebook on that list either, but I guess he said f*** the rules. Maybe he as gone rouge...I mean rogue.

:D:D:D

Senusret I, you already know. Sounds like someone needs to be put in baby booking!:D

LMAOOOOOO

"You afraid of baby booking?????"

Hopefully he won't send anymore mass messages on facebook. Although I doubt it. SMDH.

Following the direction of national office - wow - I only read the notification on yesterday. I think many Brothers were mislead in thinking that Brother Parks proposal was official. I think I stated that my district director sent it out to all the Brothers in the state. It will be interesting to learn how this plays out at the regional convention.

Brothers, please refer to the latest email with the subject heading
Targeted National Membership Intake, Spring 2010

ok...i just finished that season literally an hour ago, so now this all makes sense.
:cool::p:cool::p:cool::p

My thoughts exactly - perhaps he is gearing up to run for natiaonl president.

I doubt it.

How the moratorium has affected some chapters:

http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.ph...on#comment7871

The article paints only one side. UNC has always been a strong chapter and I'm sure it will continue.

This is not the type of article that we usually see and it's good that people understand the negative effects of a moratorium, especially on smaller chapters. We can't solely rely on faith that they will continue.

Paints only one side? I didn't get the impression the article was a debate, nor was it critical of he chapter.

I don't think the issue is whether UNC is strong enough to continue, but rather the fact that without members it cannot continue. No members=no chapter.

Obviously when the moratorium is lifted and it can once again do intake the chapter will have plenty of prospects. But until then the article, imo, accurately refelcts what happens when chapters are not allowed to take new members. Eventually all of the members graduate and no one is left.

On another note, there are some BGLOs that would put the chaper on inactive status when here is only one member left.

What I wonder about in that situation is if the school understands what's going on and isn't going to make the post-moratorium members jump through hoops and/or treat them like an entirely new org. I mean, it's not their fault.

Schools are often so clueless about NPHC things - I know Pitt had this problem a couple years ago with NPHC groups possibly getting derecognized because they didn't have as many members as the NIC/NPC groups. To which I say DUUUUUHHHHHH.

That's when the school and the organization's representatives work together to ensure that the charter is not lost. Some NPHC chapters, particularly at PWIs, pride themselves with being small. That can eventually pose a problem with and without a moratorium.

While this situation for Alpha has been occasioned by the intake moratorium, it's so common for various reasons. Frequent suspensions and other problems with administrations--at HBCUs and PWIs--often mean that chapter size is small. My own undergrad chapter of Omega was off "the yard" for a decade. If it was up to some, we would never have come back, but our chapter alumni remained persistent in the face of obstacles.

Mu Zeta Chapter of APhiA will be like the phoenix if the moratorium persists. For good or ill, the NPHC orgs "brands" are so distinct and indelibly marked in the consciousness of black college life that there will never be a time when a dormant chapter will not have interests to resurrect or reconstitute a chapter.

This is true but changing at some schools. Likely due to stigma and known situations regarding membership intake violations, some schools are no longer caring so much about NPHC orgs' needs and differences. I know of a PWI that now considers chapters inactive if there is less than 5 active members on campus and NPHC chapters are not exempt.

My alma mater has upped it to 10, with little to no regard to an org's method of intake. Their stance is pretty much if your arent at 10 or you even anticipate dropping below 10 then you better just find the number of people you need and "make it do what it do" (not their actual words of course).