FAQ: Is Alpha Phi Omega Greek?

[Senusret I]

Thank you, 33. It derived from their actual chapter FAQ, located here: http://www2.gvsu.edu/~apo/becoming.html

APO doesn't have "new members." It bothered me so much to see it written so many times, I decided to just take five minutes and edit it. It was definitely written by one of the people that you described, or so it seems.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

APO doesn't have "new members." It bothered me so much to see it written so many times, I decided to just take five minutes and edit it. It was definitely written by one of the people that you described, or so it seems.

I know someone on here (from another school) said that they weren't allowed to use the word "pledge" because it was hazing. Even though APO national says that is what pledges are to be called....I hate the term "new member" for everyone, not just APO. It's misleading. No matter how much your sorority treats you like a sister - you aren't officially one until initiation. That's not a putdown, just a fact of life. A dog is officially a puppy until it's a certain number of months old, period. Same deal.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I know someone on here (from another school) said that they weren't allowed to use the word "pledge" because it was hazing. Even though APO national says that is what pledges are to be called....I hate the term "new member" for everyone, not just APO. It's misleading. No matter how much your sorority treats you like a sister - you aren't officially one until initiation. That's not a putdown, just a fact of life. A dog is officially a puppy until it's a certain number of months old, period. Same deal.

Depends on the school. Short answer is if the school bans the term pledge, use something else. Otherwise, they are pledges. And the schools that do have an issue are sort of bi-modal. On the one hand, you've got the schools ultra-PC schools (mostly) in the Northeast that have killed off any social greeks that they had and have decided that if APO doesn't change terminology they are next and on the other hand, you've got the HBCUs that are trying to make all of the GLOs behave like NPHC members and get rid of the term pledge. These are also the schools where they put a maximum time length on the process and hopefully, that max time isn't 3 days.

Can you let us know what school? I'll be happy to research what rules they might really have in that regard.

Randy

[33girl]

Originally Posted by naraht

Depends on the school. Short answer is if the school bans the term pledge, use something else. Otherwise, they are pledges. And the schools that do have an issue are sort of bi-modal. On the one hand, you've got the schools ultra-PC schools (mostly) in the Northeast that have killed off any social greeks that they had and have decided that if APO doesn't change terminology they are next and on the other hand, you've got the HBCUs that are trying to make all of the GLOs behave like NPHC members and get rid of the term pledge. These are also the schools where they put a maximum time length on the process and hopefully, that max time isn't 3 days.

Can you let us know what school? I'll be happy to research what rules they might really have in that regard.

Randy

I think it was that school in NJ (I'm blanking now) that made APO be on IFC and consequently a female APO member ended up as IFC president. It was definitely your first example - it wasn't an HBCU/NPHC issue.