Selectivity And Apo

sweete81 · #1 06-04-2003, 01:08 AM

HEY HERE IS FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR BROTHERS:

NOW NATIONALLY, ALPHA PHI OMEGA DISCOURAGES SELECTIVITY, HOWEVER I HAVE NOTICED THAT CHAPTERS THAT ARE SOMEWHAT SELECTIVE DO NOT HAVE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS THAT LARGER NON-SELECTIVE CHAPTERS HAVE. CASE IN POINT: ZETA PHI WAS SOMEWHAT SELECTIVE BY GRANTING PROSPECTIVES AN INTERVIEW TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEY HAD THE RIGHT REASONS FOR JOINING ALPHA PHI OMEGA. AFTER SEPARATING THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF THE END RESULT WAS 13 PHENOMENONAL WOMEN WHO ARE DIE HARD FOR ZETA PHI AND ALPHA PHI OMEGA. PLUS, BY KEEPING OUR CHAPTER NUMBERS UNDER CONTROL, WE REMAIN PRETTY UNIFIED AND CLOSE IN A FRATERNAL SENSE. WHEN MY CHAPTER ATTENDED LEADERSHIP DAY, IN SPEAKING TO LARGER CHAPTERS, THEY COMPLAINED ABOUT LACK OF INTIMACY AND EFFECTIVENESS (MEMBER RETENTION) BECAUSE OF THE CHAPTER BEING TOO LARGE. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON THE ISSUE?!?!?!?

sweete81 · #2 06-04-2003, 01:10 AM

SHOULD ALPHA PHI OMEGA BE HIGHLY SELECTIVE, SOMEWHAT SELECTIVE OR NON-SELECTIVE?

ohsosweet · #3 06-04-2003, 12:00 PM

I personally like the way that we do things, but it all depends on the group. We did things that way in order to be sure that we would be taking people who truely knew what they wanted and what we were about, and that was especially important b/c we were a pg and needed people who were going to work hard. Now, if it comes down to: she looked at me funny at rush and I don't like her so let's not take her, that's inappropriate and should not be tolerated. But in general, a little selectivity will avoid a lot of trouble later.

emb021 · #4 06-04-2003, 12:16 PM

The issue with selectivity comes up every so often. Do we want quality or quantity?

Here are some things to consider.

Do we want to only pledge those we think will be good APO members, or do we think that anyone can be a good apo member and its the purpose of our pledge program to turn them into good members?

How do we know that the people we select for pledgeship are really the 'good' choices? Prehaps by going thru the pledge program, one of the people you turned away might actually become a good member.

The issue I have with being selective is you never know who is the "good" or "bad" choice. Too often I've met people who I thought would be a great asset to APO, only to find out after they became a Brother that they never really got involved. And then there have been people who I wasn't to sure about turn around either during their pledgeship or soon after becoming a member and being a real asset.

Hope this helps

bro_strawter · #5 06-05-2003, 06:41 PM

Quality of course! Forget the idea of "everyone can join." I know at "some" chapters, you are lucky to even be granted an interview. Carry on.

sweete81 · #6 06-08-2003, 01:27 AM

I know that people want APO to pride itself on allowing anyone to join but human nature shows that anything that was obtained easily is not valued. Frankly, I feel that being somewhat selective helps people appreciate the organization because they know that someone else could have taken their place. It also weeds out the wheat (those who are about the principles of the frat) from the chaff (those who just want to wear letters and that good stuff). Also, I find that those who were not selected come correct the second time around to ensure that they are selected.

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Virtuous Woman · #7 06-09-2003, 10:55 AM

I think that everyone has the ability to serve and if Alpha Phi Omega was a service CLUB, then I would say everyone should be able to join. But, APO is about more than service so selectivity based on important factors, NOT things like she used to date my man or he wore a blue shirt to class one day, is a good thing. EVERYONE DOES NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A BROTHER! I think an interview or some other process will weed out some people and the pledge process will weed out the rest. My line was originally a line of 7 and we finished with 4. Now that I am on the other side, I can see that although those other 3 were nice people, they would not have made good brothers.

Quote:

Also, I find that those who were not selected come correct the second time around to ensure that they are selected.

I find this to be true too. I know of a brother (Spring 02 Kappa Beta chapter), who pleged THREE times. The first two times, she got rejected and she made the necessary adjustments and got in the third time. She gets so much respect because of her persistence. I guess if you want it, you want it.

I_Candee · #8 06-09-2003, 05:12 PM

I agree with my Sisters on this one! I think that selectivity will certainly be an asset to our Organization. In my particular case, 37 people participated in Rush, then 10 of us were approved to pledge but only 8 of us were deemed "True to Alpha Phi Omega". While my particular Chapter did not verbally express selectivity, the nature of the process that they used helped to weed out the poor prospects for membership. I love my every single person on my line and I know that we will always be bound forever. While we were SO diverse (every race imaginable), we really struggled and share our love of APO together. In the end, that's what really counts.

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brandyme · #9 08-22-2003, 12:05 AM

hi to everyone, about selectivity we are very strict here! because loyalty in apo is one of our main strength that is why we are united

GoldnBlue2004 · #10 08-22-2003, 12:48 AM

I agree that Alpha Phi Omega should be selective. We need to forget about letting everyone into the organization and have interview sections and what so forth. I do believe that if we are selective then you can weed out the slackers from the organization and work with those who want and are willing to work. If those don't believe in being selective, then they need to handle thngs at the discretion of their chapter. I am just agreeing to the suggestion, but as I just stated doing things at the discretion of your chapter will work out finely as well.

Senusret I · #11 09-16-2009, 11:02 PM

The older I get in Alpha Phi Omega, the more I realize what a sad topic this really is.

Virtuous Woman · #12 09-17-2009, 10:48 AM

Care to elaborate?

Senusret I · #13 09-17-2009, 01:45 PM

If one remains active in the fraternity, you can understand better why we are essentially non-selective. Prohibiting people the opportunity to at least start pledging is contrary to what we're all about.

Frequent assessment during the pledge program is key, but no chapter with a rigorous pre-selection process has demonstrated that it builds better brothers. If that was the case, these chapters would have more representation on section and regional staff, national committees, and alumni associations.

The unfortunate truth is that there is nothing which will indicate whether a pledge is in it for the right reasons. It's a mistake to have the type of recruitment process which disqualifies potential members before they have the opportunity to prove themselves worthy.

emb021 · #14 09-17-2009, 02:12 PM

Senusret- thanks for the response. I think the question was more about where you stood on the question. What you conveyed is what I also believe, which I tried to indicate earlier.

IMO, a good pledge program (by that I mean one that properly teaches the pledges to become Brothers, which can be done without hazing) is a better way to do this then by some kind of bid or selection process.

arvid1978 · #15 09-17-2009, 02:24 PM

I've always looked at APO as being selective, but on the tail end of the pledge process: Pledge Review. The chapters I see doing the filtering on the front-end of the process don't have any better rates than those who go with the prescribed process (everyone can try, not everybody succeeds). We are non-selective in our pledges because that is the time period for the individual and the chapter to determine if they are right for each other, not some interview during rush week. To deny someone this opportunity is, in my opinion, contrary to the purpose of pledging and contrary to the membership policies of APO. Assuming that because someone was "chosen" to pledge based off of a couple hours of interaction, that they're guaranteed to have a lifelong commitment to APO need to look at what you're actually supposed to be doing, not what other groups around you do.

Just because someone is pledging does NOT mean that they will be activating into the fraternity. You have pledge requirements, and if they don't meet them during the pledge period of 6 to 10 weeks, then they have done the "weeding out" for you. If a pledge has met the requirements set forth by your chapter, then they have met all the filtering requirements you need in order to join the fraternity, and you need to have a damn good reason to deny them membership. The kind of reason that might necessitate a need to talk to a campus administrator, your section chair/region director, or other figures of authority. Not "s/he looked at me funny", or other garbage like that.

Someone earlier several years ago asked about quality vs. quantity, and which one is better. This is a bad question because they're not mutually exclusive.