Eight Founding schools or seven? (Change on Wikipedia)

[gamma_girl52]

Originally Posted by naraht

I don't feel that a full and true history of Alpha Phi Omega can be written without knowledge of how Gamma Sigma Sigma interacted with Alpha Phi Omega over the last 50+ years and that begins even before the meeting at Beekman Tower.

I'm glad somebody from Alpha Phi Omega said this. Our interactions together are not really documented and I think they should be at least for historical purposes. I've been GSS for 11 years and I kept being told that we aren't as linked as we think we are; I've always disagreed with that.

Originally Posted by naraht

I love the fact that Gamma Sigma Sigma is doing a more complete job of researching its history and found the fact that some chapters in the past on their websites listed the eighth school as U of Miami and some as Miami of Ohio to be like nails on chalkboard... (Fortunately that's gone away)

I would agree, that was a HUGE argument and I'm glad it was finally cleared up. What was also cleared up was what the EXACT role of APO was in our founding as well.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by gamma_girl52

I'm glad somebody from Alpha Phi Omega said this. Our interactions together are not really documented and I think they should be at least for historical purposes. I've been GSS for 11 years and I kept being told that we aren't as linked as we think we are; I've always disagreed with that.


I would agree, that was a HUGE argument and I'm glad it was finally cleared up. What was also cleared up was what the EXACT role of APO was in our founding as well.

Whether there are Links depends on what type you are talking about, of course.

Legal, none. (But then as far as I can tell the only ones for that are ZPBS)
Historical, considerable, but varied by both time and place.
Ideals, certainly.
Cultural, depends on the school, with both the type of school and the gender status of the APO chapter affecting the relationship.

I think all of these are recognized at the National Level between the two organizations.

Miami of Ohio is a great school, but not the correct one...

I would love to see what has been cleared up in terms of the Exact role of APO in the founding of GSS. As best as I can tell from the APO side, the Exact role of APO in the founding of GSS consisted of giving addresses and phone numbers to put women's service groups in contact with each other. I have seen *zero* indication that there were any APO brothers at Beekman Tower. I know that the APO National President was a guest at the First National Convention in 1953, but I don't know if GSS counts the founding as ending before the 1953 convention or not.

[gamma_girl52]

Originally Posted by naraht

Whether there are Links depends on what type you are talking about, of course.

Legal, none. (But then as far as I can tell the only ones for that are ZPBS)
Historical, considerable, but varied by both time and place.
Ideals, certainly.
Cultural, depends on the school, with both the type of school and the gender status of the APO chapter affecting the relationship.

I think all of these are recognized at the National Level between the two organizations.

Well, certainly not legally, and maybe not as much historically, but ideally
and culturally I think there are quite a few. Some of our chapters were chartered with direct help from the local APO chapter (either morally or financially). We still have GSS and APO chapters that have a close relationship and work together all the time (although that's probably more evident with those APO chapters that are all male and both chapters have been at their school for awhile)

Originally Posted by naraht

I would love to see what has been cleared up in terms of the Exact role of APO in the founding of GSS. As best as I can tell from the APO side, the Exact role of APO in the founding of GSS consisted of giving addresses and phone numbers to put women's service groups in contact with each other.

That's exactly what was cleared up. You probably already know about the APO meeting in Des Moines in 1950 and how they found about these different service groups. Maybe "cleared up" wasn't the right word on our end. It was more or less discovered after we started researching more into our founding.

Bottom line I feel our members appreciate finding out even more about Gamma Sig and even more importantly, we are all FINALLY on the same page about it.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by gamma_girl52

Well, certainly not legally, and maybe not as much historically, but ideally
and culturally I think there are quite a few. Some of our chapters were chartered with direct help from the local APO chapter (either morally or financially). We still have GSS and APO chapters that have a close relationship and work together all the time (although that's probably more evident with those APO chapters that are all male and both chapters have been at their school for awhile)


That's exactly what was cleared up. You probably already know about the APO meeting in Des Moines in 1950 and how they found about these different service groups. Maybe "cleared up" wasn't the right word on our end. It was more or less discovered after we started researching more into our founding.

Bottom line I feel our members appreciate finding out even more about Gamma Sig and even more importantly, we are all FINALLY on the same page about it.

In paragraph one, absolutely. Drexel, Florida A&M & Prairie View would be examples of those with strong ties...

On the other hand, its unfortunate that the chapters at Howard seem to have had a rough relationship at least in the last decade.



For Paragraph 2, When I can get my hands on it again, the Torch and Trefoil (The APO equivalent of Perspectives) with the minutes/results from the 1950 Convention in Des Moines does mention this effort.

Yay research! (And I swear if I find GSS chapter mentioning Miami of *Ohio* in their history, I'll let one of the GSS Sisters on greekchat correct them)