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I'm wondering in what ways Alpha Phi Omega could have chapters where students attending different accredited schools are in one chapter.
Unless the university has specific inter-activity arrangements with another university, most schools frown heavily upon people who are unaffiliated with them being involved in their student groups, especially if that student group draws any funding from fees, which most groups do, and which people from other schools do not pay.
Additionally, as it was explained to me, there is liability when a student from School A joins a chapter at School B without being enrolled at School B because they are not ultimately accountable to the policies and practices of School B.
Yes, I know our bylaws say you must follow them, but what recourse does a school have against a person who is not enrolled at that campus who violates their student code of conduct? Additionally, what recourse through the school does a non-student have against the chapter or its members when they possibly violate code of conduct? The answer is very little or none, unless you start going to court.
Bottom line, I believe this is one of the reasons extension membership was taken away. That, and there are several examples of it being used improperly (pledging a student at a neighboring college without permission from M&E, and with no intention of starting a new chapter). It may have been somewhat working in Region I/II, and I'd be curious to see some statistics on chapters that were chartered/rechartered due to extension membership, however my money is on it having been used improperly more than it was used correctly. This is from my experience, where in Region VI I can't think of a single time it was used correctly as intended, but I can come up with two specific examples off the top of my head where it was used in a manner contrary to its intention (two different chapters pledged in students from a neighboring school around the same time, never asked permission, and in the end after a couple of years both memberships were declared null and void. They both eventually "re-pledged" their chapters when they transferred to those schools.)
Members of the NPHC may do it, but I have a feeling that when it comes down to the details you will find that most are either not recognized organizations of the schools (IE, they're a "community chapter", who limits their membership to those who also happen to be students at those schools) or the campus has specific inter-campus agreements allowing participation of non-students in their affairs. Of course, since NPHC chapters are social fraternities/sororities (instead of just student organizations, like APO), they're not exactly hanging out in the student organization office and probably either have a special exemption granted to them by the greek affairs office, or they're just flaunting school policy, with the latter happening way more than it should.
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