[KAPital PHINUst]

I understand that the extension membership category has been eliminated, but in the case of students at junior and/or community colleges, IMHO it should be reinstated for such students to give them the opportunity to join via a nearby 4-year school. Personally, I don't think we should be spending time to have students petition a charter a chapter at a school where it's survival is inherently unstable at best.

Having been a member of APO at a community college, it is indeed a very difficult task at retaining student membership, and by nature of the school being a two-year school, turnover is high, and its "shelf life" limited.

Case in point: the Alpha Gamma Theta Chapter. I was a member from the fall of '92 to the spring of '94. We only had one "line" during my time there (fall '92), and while the chapter was active the entire time I attended, when I graduated, so did most, if not all the members, or they dis-enrolled by then. I remember that the fall of '95 had one or two "pledges" that never got initiated for whatever reason. Long story short, Alpha Gamma Theta went inactive in 2005, and frankly, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did (15 years).

I think that future Columbus State students should align with the Ohio State or Capital University chapters if they want the APO experience.

I also think that extension membership should be for students at commuter schools where such organizations as APO would not be likely to maintain long term survival. Case in point: Franklin University. I attended graduate school there, and I know from experience that a school such as Franklin would not be a good fit for an org like APO. Franklin is a commuter school devoted primarily to non-traditional business students. A significant number of students are foreign (China, Africa, India, the Carribean), so fraternities are relatively an unknown concept. That and the fact that most students there are there primarily, if not exclusively, for classes only. A student interested in APO at Franklin would be better served aligning with the OSU and Capital chapters if they are interested. Because they would have a heckuva time getting 12-15 students interested in petitioning a chapter, and if they did, it wouldn't last beyond the initial group.

Yes, ideally APO belongs on every campus. But not every campus is conducive to chartering (AND KEEPING ACTIVE) APO, and that needs to be taken into consideration before paperwork is submitted to the National Office for charter/chapter petitioning. In that case, extension membership would be better served or even a city-wide chapter (a chapter comprised of several schools where it would be too difficult to keep a chapter on a single campus due to low student interest).