National "Personality"

[OPhiARen3]

Originally posted by Drolefille
And I suspect that this is the difference between being black and being white at a college campus. Like I said, I'm not aware of it, because I don't have a single friend in one of the NPHC groups. I suspect the fact that they are forced to be mostly off campus is the major reason for this. If they were on campus I'd see more than the occasional flier.

This may come down to the self-segregating tendancy that everyone has. This is an issue that goes beyond Greek Life and everything but may explain why non-black students are more in the dark about NPHC and why, especially on campuses where NPC is seen as "white-only" (I know it's not, but we all know the perception exists and is perpetuated by people on both sides), non-white people are more in the dark about NPHC and MCGLOs.

The fact that NPHC orgs aren't recognized by a lot of campuses may have something to do with it.

I'm not black. I practically glow in the dark ...

[Rudey]

What is Omega Phi Alpha?

And why does it spell Alpha Phi Omega backwards? I just realized that.

-Rudey

[SoCalGirl]

Originally posted by Rudey
What is Omega Phi Alpha?

And why does it spell Alpha Phi Omega backwards? I just realized that.

-Rudey

It's a service sorority. I think it was inspired, at least, by Alpha Phi Omega.

[Ch2tf]

Originally posted by Drolefille
The fact that NPHC orgs aren't recognized by a lot of campuses may have something to do with it.

Cosign on Jubilance1922:
Please define a lot of campus!

[SoCalGirl]

Originally posted by OPhiARen3
What I think is odd is that I do probably know more about NPHC groups than NPC groups, and before I came to college I didn't know that NPHC groups existed (I am from one of the whitest placest ever). Maybe because I didn't go to rush, I don't know. But it seems so much more a part of general culture to know about NPHC, even if you aren't in the orgs, that I absorbed a lot of that info, whereas with the NPCs, even hanging around with NPC people, there is still a lot that I don't know. Trying to learn more, though - it's really interesting.

I suspect that NPHC groups are just more interesting to you on some level so you just pick up on the NPHC stuff faster. Personally, I know I oftern went out of my way to avoid discussing NPC greek life with non members because I felt like I was boring them. Maybe your NPC friends feel similarly? Have you ever asked your NPC friends to talk to you about their experiences?

Also, I think it really depends on the campus. You feel it's much more of the culutre to know about NPHC, I'd disagree with that based on my personal experiences. (I attended a school with a huge population but very few black students.) I was shocked when I learned that there were members of DST at my school. I was excited to learn they were there, but my reaction could be summed up as "where have they been hiding?". ((hijack. My junior high pe teacher used to wear her DSQ track suit to school. I believe it was the first set of greek letters I had seen in real life. /hijack))

[jitterbug13]

To help Rudey out:

www.omegaphialpha.org

And yes, we were inspired by APO!

[SoCalGirl]

Originally posted by Ch2tf
To my knowledge (and I am not an NPHCer so I could be wrong so feel free to correct me) but they don't "market" to high school students either". They DO have auxiliary groups that serve the needs of teens in their respective communities, i.e. tutoring, mentoring, etc., as well as other philanthropies and community services. They have a HIGH level of visibility in their communities due to their HIGH level of active involvment in/with their organizations and communities.

edit (because I hit the submit button too soon): Thus a large portion of the community outside of greeks or those that know greeks, both younger and older, tend to know more about the organizations even though they may have never stepped foot on a college campus.

They have a HIGH level of visibility and a HIGH level of involvement in their comunities because that's the POINT of their organizations. As far as I know, NONE of the NPHC groups were founded as SOCIAL organizations. They were all meant to better the BLACK community. Whereas my NPC sorority was founded because there were five lonely woman all alone at an all male school and they needed the social connection with other women. NPCs always were philanthropic but it had way more to do with the expectations of their place in society and their religion that about "lifting up" the community.

[jubilance1922]

Originally posted by SoCalGirl
They have a HIGH level of visibility and a HIGH level of involvement in their comunities because that's the POINT of their organizations. As far as I know, NONE of the NPHC groups were founded as SOCIAL organizations. They were all meant to better the BLACK community. Whereas my NPC sorority was founded because there were five lonely woman all alone at an all male school and they needed the social connection with other women. NPCs always were philanthropic but it had way more to do with the expectations of their place in society and their religion that about "lifting up" the community.

That is NOT true. Just as your founders were lonely women, my founders were 7 Black women in Indiana (home of the KKK at the time) trying to educate themselves at a school that didn't want them.

All the NPHC have a social component to them and their foundings. But it is not the SOLE purpose of their foundings, as you have stated.

[OPhiARen3]

Originally posted by Rudey
What is Omega Phi Alpha?

And why does it spell Alpha Phi Omega backwards? I just realized that.

-Rudey

Alpha Phi Omega hasn't always been coed

Nu Chapter's website has lots of info: www.cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/opa/

[SoCalGirl]

Originally posted by OPhiARen3 I don't know why some people are getting so worked up about this - it's just a question, I'm not trying to challenge any one's org. I'll repeat: I am not in either group. I have friends in both. I'm just wondering, because it's something I noticed.

People are getting worked up because your not being clear. I even asked, very clearly, that if you are not refering to stereotypes to please give examples of each NPHC group's personality.

{sidebar: Just to note. I'm not taking your questions and comments as degrading. I honestly get the feeling that you're trying to get an uderstanding to something that you can't express clearly. Everyone's got to keep in mind that on a MB we read our own thoughts and emotions into other peoples posts. /sidebar}

Originally posted by OPhiARen3
What I'm talking about regarding a stronger standardized national presence is not "oh, those are the light-skinned girls" or "oh, those are the smart girls" or "oh, those are the smart light-skinned girls" or whatever, I'm talking about things like with NPHC, there seems to be more of an across the board culture, and it's widely known - lots of girls in high school know about the differences in NPHC orgs and which ones they want to be in. They know the colors, the community service, the general history, etc. - it's just known, and that's standard across the nation. I'm not saying that there are no standards for NPC groups, I'm just saying that the national presence and the public knowledge isn't as strong. And I'm not saying that's wrong.

If I'm reading this correctly, you feel that the NPHC as a whole has a stronger national presence that the NPC. Am I close? Not that, for example, DST has a clearer national personality that KKG.

If that's what you're implying, I think I'd agree. As we touched on earlier the NPHC is more involved in the entire community, from auxillory (sp?) groups to the actual chapters. NPC does have groups that are involved with young children (ie KD and Girl Scouts and KAT and CASA) but as a whole the NPC does not make an effort to be a backbone of the community (which is the way NPHC comes across to me). NPC would probably interpret one of our groups working closely with high school girls as a recruitment violation. Unfair advantage.

[SoCalGirl]

Originally posted by jubilance1922
That is NOT true. Just as your founders were lonely women, my founders were 7 Black women in Indiana (home of the KKK at the time) trying to educate themselves at a school that didn't want them.

All the NPHC have a social component to them and their foundings. But it is not the SOLE purpose of their foundings, as you have stated.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that there was zero social motivation. Just that the community service was a MUCH bigger factor.

just fyi: my founders weren't really wanted at their school either.

[Drolefille]

Originally posted by jubilance1922
Define "a lot of campuses" please.

I know that my situation in Saint Louis is not unique. Many schools do not recognize NPHC organizations and instead city-wide chapters are common. I am not maintaining that this is the case the majority of the time, just that it is not uncommon. For St. Louis to have city wide chapter that means, St. Louis U, Wash U, Fontbonne, Webster, and several other schools don't formally recognize the chapter as a campus organization.

This isn't a dig at the NPHC at all. Perhaps someone else can provide more detail, but some schools consider the NPHC organizations to be discriminatory because they only accept black men and women. (NOTE: I know this is not always or even necessarily often the case, but I've seen topics here where NPHC members openly question the sense of having white people as their sorors. I'm not judging this one way or the other, just commenting)

[Drolefille]

Originally posted by SoCalGirl

If that's what you're implying, I think I'd agree. As we touched on earlier the NPHC is more involved in the entire community, from auxillory (sp?) groups to the actual chapters. NPC does have groups that are involved with young children (ie KD and Girl Scouts and KAT and CASA) but as a whole the NPC does not make an effort to be a backbone of the community (which is the way NPHC comes across to me). NPC would probably interpret one of our groups working closely with high school girls as a recruitment violation. Unfair advantage. [/B]

Precisely my point!

[ladygreek]

Originally posted by kddani
Likely you haven't, or haven't educated yourself enough on what the various philanthropies of the NPCs are. And again, we have 26 sororities in our conference, while you have 4. It's a little easier to keep 4 straight than 26!

This threw me for a loop. It's a lot easier for who to keep 4 straight than 6. I thought we were talking about the individual member orgs, not the councils themselves. The councils were used to referenc which orgs. to which we were referring. For example, DST's national personality v. ZPhiB's national personality. One is different from the other, but standardized within that org.

[ladygreek]

Originally posted by Drolefille
Saint Louis has city wide chapters that do have events on SLU's campus as well as at Harris Stowe, WashU, etc.

*hijack* YAY for Alpha Omega Citywide chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated! btw, there used to be a campus based chapter at UMSL, but because of low numbers it eventually merged with Alpha Omega. *end of hijack*