AOII officially disbands Washington University chapter

[ASTalumna06]

https://www.studlife.com/news/2021/0...uitment-cycle/

The international executive board of Alpha Omicron Pi voted to withdraw the charter of Washington University’s chapter, immediately halting all chapter operations, Jan 21. Following months of calls for the abolition of Greek Life, AOII is now the second sorority at the University to officially disband after Pi Beta Phi in October.

Former AOII member junior Lacy Wilder said that the chapter almost unanimously decided to work towards disbanding during the summer of 2020, but they faced significant resistance from their national organization’s leadership.

“We got in contact with the AOII headquarters and explained to them our point of view and why we were trying to get our chapter abolished instead of reformed,” Wilder said. “And headquarters was not particularly receptive to what we had to say; they very much dominated all of our conversations, and they didn’t really see where we were coming from in terms of wanting to get our charter revoked, even if [we] as individuals personally had had a good experience in our sorority.”

.....
"Headquarters’ main reason for revoking our charter was the significant drop in membership,” Wilder said. “Which is fine, except it’s not the reason that we wanted our charter to be abolished. We felt like they weren’t necessarily receptive to our concerns about why we actually wanted the charter revoked.”

Several former members of AOII are working with the Greek Life abolition movement to call for other chapters to relinquish their charters and to discourage students from going through the rush process.

“I would encourage people who are considering going through recruitment to really take a step back and look outside of themselves and listen to members of the LGBT community, Black and Indigenous people of color and people from marginalized socioeconomic groups, and really take stock of their experiences and how they’ve been harmed by the institution of Greek Life before you think about how you might personally benefit,” Wilder said.

.....
During the fall 2020 semester, multiple other sororities attempted to officially close their chapters, including Delta Gamma and Kappa Delta. However, largely due to a lack of receptiveness from the national organizations, those efforts have failed to yield results. Additionally, some sorority members who deactivated during the summer have chosen to rejoin Greek Life.

[thetalady]

It is hitting all of us across the country. We are all going to lose chapters to this AGL movement. For collegians, it is not enough to simply resign their memberships. They insist on destroying the chapter entirely so that NO one can join. They don't want it and no one else can have it either. Like a bunch of spoiled children.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by thetalady

It is hitting all of us across the country. We are all going to lose chapters to this AGL movement. For collegians, it is not enough to simply resign their memberships. They insist on destroying the chapter entirely so that NO one can join. They don't want it and no one else can have it either. Like a bunch of spoiled children.

Amen!

[carnation]

This actually sounds like a lot of these kids are mentally ill.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by thetalady

It is hitting all of us across the country. We are all going to lose chapters to this AGL movement. For collegians, it is not enough to simply resign their memberships. They insist on destroying the chapter entirely so that NO one can join. They don't want it and no one else can have it either. Like a bunch of spoiled children.

Yea, I really can't understand the logic behind this. All of these articles have quotes by current or ex-members who essentially say, "Well the (inter)national organization won't listen to us and won't support our want to burn everything to the ground!" Perhaps that's because you've been a member for five minutes and don't even understand the very thing you're looking to destroy.

[navane]

Originally Posted by thetalady

It is hitting all of us across the country. We are all going to lose chapters to this AGL movement. For collegians, it is not enough to simply resign their memberships. They insist on destroying the chapter entirely so that NO one can join. They don't want it and no one else can have it either. Like a bunch of spoiled children.

It's because they are thinking of this from a self-centered perspective. They seem to believe that this is *their* chapter and they want to close *their* chapter. The chapter is not "theirs", the chapter belongs to AOII.

Originally Posted by from the news article

During the fall 2020 semester, multiple other sororities attempted to officially close their chapters, including Delta Gamma and Kappa Delta. However, largely due to a lack of receptiveness from the national organizations, those efforts have failed to yield results. Additionally, some sorority members who deactivated during the summer have chosen to rejoin Greek Life.

Can anyone expand on this? Did some members resign their membership and then petition to rejoin the chapter or did they join a different GLO?

[JayhawkAOII]

There is so much to unpack with this. I particularly love the idea that all of the issues will disappear if that evil Greek life would just go away. Its a very unrealistic view of life.

I live 4 blocks from campus and I routinely wear AOII-lettered clothing around when I walk the dog as a giant f-you to these shortsighted teenagers.

[AGDee]

I don't understand why they aren't fixing it from within. They have the ability to be inclusive. So be inclusive and fix it that way, right?

[*winter*]

They are devaluing and denying the positive experience many women of color and women of lower socioeconomic status enjoy. At my school, most students were far from rich, and many people enjoyed their GL experience.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by JayhawkAOII

I I live 4 blocks from campus and I routinely wear AOII-lettered clothing around when I walk the dog as a giant f-you to these shortsighted teenagers.

I so love this.

[APhi2KD]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I don't understand why they aren't fixing it from within. They have the ability to be inclusive. So be inclusive and fix it that way, right?

Not all GLOs are on board at the national level, though. And chapters trying to enact real change have experienced significant stalling or even pushback. If these women truly believe the harm caused by the orgs has outweighed the good and that they will continue to resist change and be injurious, I can understand their efforts to end the system.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by APhi2KD

Not all GLOs are on board at the national level, though. And chapters trying to enact real change have experienced significant stalling or even pushback. If these women truly believe the harm caused by the orgs has outweighed the good and that they will continue to resist change and be injurious, I can understand their efforts to end the system.

I can't understand it. Change comes from within. They need to be proactive, not reactive.

They also need to realize that not everyone feels the same, and that not everyone gives a rat's a** about them and their cause du jour. And that it's okay to not all think/feel the same way.

[33girl]

I wonder how many of these “disbanders” (or DBs if you will) have reached out to their friends who are members of these groups they are advocating for and offered them membership? Or who actually HAVE friends who are members of these groups? After all the negative publicity APhi got, I would think that “we offered my black friend a bid and nationals denied it” would be an easy way to get their way with their HQ.

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by APhi2KD

Not all GLOs are on board at the national level, though. And chapters trying to enact real change have experienced significant stalling or even pushback. If these women truly believe the harm caused by the orgs has outweighed the good and that they will continue to resist change and be injurious, I can understand their efforts to end the system.

As to the part that I bolded: In my opinion, many times the undergraduate members want action "Right Now!".

But, what the undergraduates view as stalling or pushback is really their organization saying "Let us look at this. We don't want to go off half-cocked and make the situation worse."

It makes me think of the issue that happened at Tufts a couple of years ago. A sorority wanted to bid a transgender woman. They asked their organization what the rules would were on the issue. The organization asked the chapter for a few days to go over their bylaws and get back to them. Many of the undergrad members threw a fit that the leaders didn't automatically say "Yes, go ahead and do it" right away, and those members resigned. All their organization asked was to give them a few days to go over the issue.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

As to the part that I bolded: In my opinion, many times the undergraduate members want action "Right Now!".

But, what the undergraduates view as stalling or pushback is really their organization saying "Let us look at this. We don't want to go off half-cocked and make the situation worse."

It makes me think of the issue that happened at Tufts a couple of years ago. A sorority wanted to bid a transgender woman. They asked their organization what the rules would were on the issue. The organization asked the chapter for a few days to go over their bylaws and get back to them. Many of the undergrad members threw a fit that the leaders didn't automatically say "Yes, go ahead and do it" right away, and those members resigned. All their organization asked was to give them a few days to go over the issue.

But what those members hear is, "Give us a view days to decide whether we want to be inclusive or not." On the other hand, they asked the question, so one would assume they knew it wasn't going to be an immediate 'yes' and it may take some time to work through.

Of course, due to the nature of our organizations (and thinking about this issue in relation to what seems to be the main reason for the Abolish Greek Life movement), a person of color joining does not have the same implications as a transgender person joining.

One of the things I saw popping up on social media from sorority members this summer - including from my own organization - was the demand that we all be called 'siblings' instead of 'sisters'. Apparently some individual chapters are already doing so. I had never heard of this before and it certainly seems it hasn't been brought through proper channels of our organizations, but I'll let others speak to that, if they so choose. Either way, an angry rant on social media is probably not the best way to go about change. Our members have been calling each other 'sisters' for more than a century. Perhaps that may change one day, but that change doesn't occur overnight because you got mad about it on your Facebook wall.