NPHC-like activities...

[naraht]

As a general comment on Alpha Phi Omega participating in NPHC like activities (for example step shows and probate), my general feeling is that if the school is an HBCU then I'm fine with it and if it isn't then I'm uncomfortable with it.

To me, doing step shows and probate indicates that the Alpha Phi Omega chapter *expects* to be majority (or even super-majority) African American. This is a "no-duh" statement at Howard University or Florida A&M and won't negatively affect recruitment (and can have various positive effects), but *will* have negative recruitment effects at South Dakota State University.

I realize that there are some schools where
1) being an HBCU,
2) having a majority of the students be African-American and
3) having the campus social life dominated by the NPHCs
don't necessarily line up the way that they do at Howard University (All Yes) or Kansas State (All No) and those would have to be examined more closely.

No, there isn't anything preventing the chapter at Kansas State from Stepping/Probate and OTOH there isn't anything preventing an extension effort at South Carolina State from using SUNY-Buffalo as their model, *but* it would go against everything I've picked up on recruitment in almost 25 years in the Fraternity...

(For those viewing this from outside Alpha Phi Omega, my guess is that this would equally apply to other pledging/non-socials such as: Gamma Sigma Sigma, Omega Phi Alpha, Kappa Kappa Psi & Tau Beta Sigma.)