|
Berkeley (where I pledged APO) didn't have a service sorority, so I don't know if there are direct conflicts I can't imagine, but I think the two organizations can provide completely different experiences for women at most universities. I would expect the relationships between brothers in a mixed-gender setting to be quite different from the relationships between members of single-gender organizations (in this case, GSS sisters). I'd expect the types of service projects and especially the types of fellowship/friendship events to be different. I'd expect the leadership elements of GSS to focus much more on female-specific issues than APO leadership development programs often did when I took them. There are benefits to both organizations, and if Cal had a service sorority when I was there, I would have joined that if I could, too.
That perspective probably isn't accurate in two different cases:
1) An all-female college (or one where women make up over 80% of the students)
2) Schools with APO chapters that, for various reasons, are almost entirely female
In those cases, it might be a little weird to have the same people in both.
Pledging two organizations of any type at the same time is probably a bad idea. I don't know how intense GSS pledging is, but my APO pledging experience ate up nearly all of my free time that semester. I can't imagine trying to do that amount of work for two groups at the same time!
|