My question then is this-
For all of the defense to the social behavior of APO and GSS on HBCU campuses taht this thread suggests goes on- what is the point? How did it come to be and if it was not begun out of emulating the nPHC orgs, then out of what? Many of the characteristics sited (probates, stepping, strolling, lines, line number, calls, signs...) while unofficial are social hallmarks of NPHC orgs. and we all know that. They are common throughout chapters throughout the country. They are not chapter specific and for that reason are thought of as distict to the orgs. If what a chapter of APO or GSS is doing in that reagard
1. is only taking place on HBCU campusses or in chapters that are predominantly African-American
2. are mirroring actions of NPHC orgs (whether the sign, call etc. seem to mimic someone else's or not) and
3. Are not something that would be understood or recognized by a chapter of the SAME ORG. on another campus then it would be very easy for an onlooker to feel as though it is an attempt to copy NPHC orgs.
Now that is not to say that another group who has done all those things from the start would not get the cold shoulder from NPHC greeks if it is a greek letter org os African Americans but when it is a more select group of a much larger antional body who participate in it like this has been described it looks even nore like people in places heavily populated with NPHC orgs are trying to emulate what they see.
**Note- this is all news to me and I am just trying to understand how these chapters even came to have a call and sign, etc. in the fisrt place. I went to a PWI where they were of no consequence to the NPHC as they were predominantly white chapters. The school was very racialized and only African Americans who did not generally associate themselves with other African American students on campus joined Fats or Sororities outside of the NPHC at all.***
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