AEPi chapter disaffiliates from National Organization
 

I had never heard of a chapter disaffiliating from the national organization before but it says it happened before on this campus.

Source: http://tuftsdaily.com/news/2015/01/3...-organization/



Source: http://tuftsdaily.com/opinion/2015/0...pi-fraternity/

Interesting comments:


Would this last one mean it's possible there will be this AEPi local and an AEPi national on the same campus? The newspaper article sounded like everyone in the chapter was disaffiliating.

And if it's "non-discriminatory and open to all" then why is there a problem? Doesn't make sense.

watch;Would this last one mean it's possible there will be this AEPi local and an AEPi national on the same campus? The newspaper article sounded like everyone in the chapter was disaffiliating.

And if it's "non-discriminatory and open to all" then why is there a problem? Doesn't make sense.

I agree. That does not make any sense at all. Just by reading their National Mission Statement and the article and comments by the local chapter, it seems to me that their National Org. is double-talking themselves with it comes to the recruitment of members. They welcome all men to seek membership, but they would rather have all their chapters have all Jewish members instead. Does anyone else reading that as well?:confused:

I wouldn't say they want all Jewish men, I'd say they want a certain percentage (say greater than 60%). So if you've got a chapter that is 30% Jewish, while any single person could come in, regardless of being Jewish or not, that's fine, but a certain percentage of Jews is wanted...

Sad to say, I am not at all surprised. An incident happened at my school ~25 years ago where AEPi's nationals became concerned that the local chapter was drifting from its Jewish identity. The chapter was reorganized and almost every brother was told that he was no longer an active. Of the handful who were invited to remain (all of whom, naturally, were Jewish), all but one deaffiliated in solidarity with their other brothers. They formed a local fraternity, and, several years later, became a chapter of a different fraternity. The one brother who did remain worked with AEPi's nationals to recolonize the chapter, which happened almost immediately. I don't think they've had a single non-Jewish brother since - certainly they didn't while I was in school.

As an aside, I will say this about AEPhi, which also has a Jewish identity. We don't care what religion a PNM is, as long as she's ok with Jewish ideals.

Best of luck to the men at Tufts.

It was a few years before my time but the AEPi chapter at my school was closed down by nationals for not being Jewish enough. Or at least that's what the rumor was.

I'm curious about any chapter having "long term goals."

I just have more questions after this article.

Returning to Jewish roots probably is a long term goal. This article was an interesting read: http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Je...eir-roots-pg-7

From finding the article above I came across this situation at MIT: http://tech.mit.edu/V126/N15/15aephi.html

I have to say it's unbelievable to me that the chapter functioned for years without I guess making it clear that it was founded on Jewish ideals just because that's so much part of their history.

ADPi was founded on ideals from Christianity but we're also accepting of all religions.

The AEPi chapter at Penn decided to go local a few years ago, but for reasons of risk management (or lack thereof): http://www.thedp.com/article/2012/04...ty_recognition. There's supposedly a new colony there, however.

Their national had reorganized the chapter sometime back in the late 1980s to make it more Jewish. It was surprising to find out about its history because when I was there, almost nobody was Jewish, and this at a school with a large Jewish population. The SDT chapter also underwent a reboot back then.

Unorganized thoughts ahead:

I think it's important that organizations established for, and maintaining a continuing mission for marginalized/minority communities, maintain that character.

All NIC/IFC fraternities are not the same, don't recruit the same, and shouldn't really be judged the same.

I don't know how or why AEPi does the things it does, but I support their right to maintain their national identity. I wouldn't like a chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha that was composed based on local experiences rather than a national mission.

I recognize this is not the case for many other fraternities that AEPi is frequently compared against.

I also think what "whiteness" means in 2015 has something to do with why locally, some AEPi chapters don't feel the need to be Jewy (in the words of Sarah Silverman).

Good points Sen and I agree that an organization has the right to preserve it's "identity" but at the same time I think it's a very old fashioned way of doing business and is extremely limiting to the chapters and to the fraternity on a national level. What was needed in 1930 may not be necessary in 2015 and I think they should lax some of those restrictions if they want to remain competitive in the conference.

PiKA2001:Good points Sen and I agree that an organization has the right to preserve it's "identity" but at the same time I think it's a very old fashioned way of doing business and is extremely limiting to the chapters and to the fraternity on a national level. What was needed in 1930 may not be necessary in 2015 and I think they should lax some of those restrictions if they want to remain competitive in the conference

Very good statement PiKA2001!!!

ZBT:"BROTHERHOOD & BEYOND"

Rudey had a good post on here years ago about AEPi being a Jewish fraternity rather than a Jewish interest fraternity like ZBT. I'd find it but my head hurts from the super bowl.

In answer to watch's question, this group of guys will probably call themselves Alpha Pi or something. Whether the natl recolonizes there depends on their perceived ROI.

That presumes they believe it's a competition to begin with. I don't believe that they do.

Either way it's still disappointing that a social NIC Fraternity can openly discriminate and kudos to this chapter for taking the initiative to disaffiliate before being forced out.

So how do you feel about the historically African American members of the NIC and the fact that member fraternities such as Alpha Gamma Rho, Farm House, and Triangle have limits on who they will accept? Do you consider it discrimination?

Do you mean Kappa and Iota? They are in both NPHC and NIC but don't most people identity them as NPHC over NIC? I don't think AGRho and FarmHouse limits their memberships to just agriculture students but I could be wrong.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

http://cdn04.cdn.crunktastical.net/w...5yr7o3_250.gif

As well as the Latino and Asian member fraternities.

Right. This is where I exit. Not flounce, but merely give up.

Sen, thanks for the confirmation about Asian and Latino GLOs. I was going off my head post SB, and wasn't sure if they were NIC or not.

PiKA2001, yes, one does have to have an agricultural academic focus to join those orgs. That's why I mentioned them.

A five-minute scan of chapter websites shows that AEPi has black and Asian members on other campuses. It’s unlikely that was the problem here.

AEPi does put a stronger emphasis on their Jewish heritage than other Greek organizations, including the other Jewish-interest ones. They want men who are going to understand Judaism, follow Jewish traditions (no chapter events on Friday nights, etc.), work with Jewish-interest charities. It’s the same thing as the NPHC—do you have to be black to join? No. But you do have to be comfortable immersing yourself in African-American culture and working for African-American causes. AEPi doesn’t mandate that their members be Jewish, but they do mandate that their members be interested in Jewish culture and working towards Jewish causes. If this chapter wasn’t interested in maintaining those traditions, it makes sense that HQ would have objected to it—and it’s good that they parted ways before it became a bigger issue. There will be other fraternities (like . . . almost all of them) that will be a much better fit for the experience they want.

I just want to point out that Jewish and black are not mutually exclusive. Same for Jewish and Asian, Jewish and Latino, etc.

Bye Hunty.


There are allegations that chapters are getting "reorganized" for having an abundance of Gentiles (for lack of a better word) and nationals are possibly telling chapters not to give bids to people who aren't jewish contradicts the national AEPi message of being open to all college aged men, regardless of religion. Either the chapter is making false allegations or nationals is saying one thing but practicing another, who knows.

Amiblue?- I stand corrected then; I always thought the tradiational ag fraternities had opened up membership to all majors. I told Sen earlier that orgs have a right to limit their membership to whoever they like. What I think is messed up is someone getting initiated into a fraternity, being a member in good standing, then getting forced out because they weren't jewish, a math major, a ginger, etc. Be consistent, don't even rush these guys in the first place.

Rho Epsilon Delta!! The Ginger Fraternity!!

Thank you for slamming the chapter of which I am a founder. For the record, I was Catholic at the time, and I was welcomed with open arms.

As is AEPhi. When I was an active, our membership included Christians of several denominations and even a Hindu.

Posting a news story = slamming a chapter? Wow. :eek:

I don't know about specifics but I do know chapter identities aren't constant. Take it up with your alma mater's news paper if the report is inaccurate. Don't shoot the messenger.

Why did you post that news story, if not to slam my chapter?

To show that there is a precedent for traditionally-Jewish organizations having issues with accepting members of all religions versus maintaining a strong Jewish identity? I don't see any hostility in simply posting an article related to the topic at hand. It's not as though anyone announced that this was your chapter before posting it.

Again:

We don't care what religion a PNM is, as long as she's ok with Jewish ideals.

When I was an active, our membership included Christians of several denominations and even a Hindu.

Thanks, clemsongirl! That's exactly why.

I can make it even simpler:

1. I thought the original post and Sen's question about motivation were interesting so I wanted to research to see if there were clear motivations expressed.
2. I found the article about Jewish organizations "returning to Jewish roots" which also intrigued me.
3. I did some searching to see if this happened under a different greek letter org.
4. I found the MIT article and posted it.

The fact that you founded this chapter is something I couldn't have known. How could I have known? I don't know who you are and I didn't read all your Greek Chat postings.

I had no hostile intention. Like I said, it's a news story...not an opinion piece. News stories should be based on factual events and that's why I posted it. I'm happy you had a good experience in your chapter and if you're debating the truthfulness of the news piece that's welcome, but if you're gonna get upset with anyone it shouldn't be me.

Ok. *takes a deep breath*

robinseggblue, I understand that you had no idea that I was a chapter founder at MIT. It rubbed me the wrong way that you happened to single out my chapter as an example of "kick out all the non-Jews". I overreacted, and I apologize for that.

All: AEPhi accepts members of any and all faiths, so long as they are ok with Jewish ideals. I wasn't turned back on my way to initiation because I was Catholic. You don't even have to be of a monotheistic faith (note my earlier comment that we had a Hindu sister while I was an active). We even had a chapter bylaw that forbade mandatory events on the major religious holidays of any member's faith - and I once went toe to toe with my chapter's president to ensure that we did not have a chapter meeting on Easter Sunday.

AEPhi was founded by seven Jewish women who - after being turned down by other sororities because they were Jewish (this was commonplace back in 1909) - connected with each other.

From time to time, if the "Powers That Be" within AEPhi feel that a chapter as a whole has drifted away from the sorority's Jewish identity, they may intervene. It seems that AEPi uses a somewhat heavier hand when determining whether a chapter has drifted away from the fraternity's Jewish roots.

</soapbox>

Okay I don't know how long you've been removed from school, but I had to come back and comment on this. The student leaders of AEPhi chapters have been told that they were "not Jewish enough" by the National Organization as recently as this past Fall semester. Several chapters are known for blatantly discriminating against women who aren't Jewish during recruitment (UT Austin's chapter prides itself on being a chapter that is 100% Jewish). While the national organization claims to "be open to all religions," the fact is they're not. They are fully aware that a chapter like UT Austin will refuse a legacy for no other reason than that the woman isn't Jewish and they haven't done anything about it.

From my own experience, no other women's Greek organization makes any sort of judgments based on a potential new member's religious beliefs during recruitment. If AEPhi wants to focus on being a Jewish organization (which, it seems like they do if they're telling chapters that they "aren't Jewish enough"), that's fine - they just need to admit it and move on (and possibly remove themselves from Panhellenic).

:rolleyes:

Oh, here go hell come.

I just battened down the hatches.

And made some popcorn.

QFP

Amen.

I'm thrilled to see the responses to my post above. It's my honest opinion that discrimation of any kind shouldn't be tolerated, by a national organization or an individual chapter.

And yes, I said in my experience, I've never seen another women's Greek org make a judgement on a PNM based on their religion. I should have also noted that I went through rush with in the last 10 years, but have worked with members of multiple GLOs all over the country in an advisory capacity regarding recruitment issues. I have not experienced recruitment at all schools in all states or countries with Greek Organizations over multiple times during the last 50 years, and I can only know what I've learned from my own experience.

RMT2013, your experience is just that - your experience. Probably wise to refrain from overgeneralizing. Besides, unless you were sitting in membership selection in other chapters, you really don't know what's going on - neither do I. "Advisory capacity" doesn't extend to membership selection for other chapters, does it?

I know of at least two NPC chapters (at the same school) that have disaffiliated from their national organizations. I'm sure there are other examples. It happens.