My apologies in advance...
 

Hello ladies, I'm sure you get this question a lot and I PROMISE I did a search of both GreekChat and the internet:

Can a woman who is a member of another social sorority join AOE?

And vice versa?

No problem. I'm pretty sure the only place you will find this is in our bylaws, which aren't exactly google-able.

A woman of another social sorority may not join A.O.E. nor may a member of A.O.E. join another social sorority.

However, if a woman terminates membership in either A.O.E. or the other social sorority, she may join the other. She cannot reinstate membership in A.O.E. if she does this though.

Professional/service memberships are OK (i.e. Tri-Beta, Eta Kappa, Alpha Phi Omega).

Gamma Sigma Sigma, Sigma Alpha, SAI, and the like are also not permitted to join, because they (according to our bylaws) fall under the social umbrella.

The main factor of distinction is whether or not the group is co-ed. This is why APO is OK, but GSS is not.

(This question actually came up at a colonization meeting because there was a young woman there who is interested in joining a new colony. However, she raised her hand and asked if other social sororities would prevent her from joining. I was an idiot and asked her if I could ask what sorority she was joining. She blushed and was like "Well, I'm trying to join and I can't really..." at which point I blushed, because I was accidentally rude.)

Thank you very much!

Isn't GSS co-ed??

I think they are technically coed but not so much in practice.

My understanding is that GSS is co-ed in the same way that OPhiA is coed. We are, in policy, a coed organization, and have had a handful of male sisters, but for the most part, men aren't interested in joining a group with sorority in the name.

Ah, that would explain it. I wasn't aware of that.

In my experience, all the instances I've dealt with dual membership in GSS it was only female.

I guess if a prospective new member was a member of a co-ed GSS, it would probably be OK. The big distinguishing factor is really whether or not the group is co-ed.

I believe this caveat is added in case A.O.E. is a member of a campus' Panhellenic association/council, in order to avoid conflicting membership and commitments.

AOEforme correct me if I'm wrong

Jess, I would say yes, you are correct. The idea was that as a core "social" sorority, you should not belong to another social sorority, just as in the NPC or NPHC or NALFO.

Once groups began joining campus Panhellenic, this rule served an additional purpose (as you said) to prevent conflicting memberships.

Actually, GSS is co-ed. Our chapter actually had men in the chapter. Many people aren't aware of that, but it is a co-ed organization. :)

That's what she was saying: Because GSS is co-ed, dual membership is not permitted by AOE.

No she isn't. APO is coed and dual membership is allowed.

Oh, yeah, I blame my headache for mis-reading that. Never mind me.

Yup. Sorry for the confusion. It's vaguely confusing because we're a social organization AND professional. Social are generally single-sex while professional tend to be co-ed.

For people who are familiar with Triangle or AGR, think of us in that sort of category: a special-interest social sorority. It makes the membership rules make a lot more sense.

Title IX pretty much requires professionals to be co-ed. Whether specific chapters will be co-ed may be a different matter.

But I feel you on the special interest social GLO aspect -- that's us too.