About Alpha Phi Omega

A Little More About Alpha Phi Omega:

ALPHA PHI OMEGA is today, the single most represented undergraduate intercollegiate organization in the United States of America. We take pride in this and hope to be even larger. We dedicate ourselves to become larger only because, if what we are and what we represent are important and useful to students, then we should share what we have in order to further our common goals more effectively. We want to share with colleges and universities all across this great land the benefits that APO gives to students, their campuses and their communities.

The strength of Alpha Phi Omega lies in its active chapters. The importance of Alpha Phi Omega consists of what happens to the individuals who are pledged and initiated in these local chapters. The future of Alpha Phi Omega is entirely in the hands of the students who determine on each local campus what the Alpha Phi Omega program shall be. The status of Alpha Phi Omega results directly from the maturity and meaningfulness of the local chapter programs. Why, then, a National Fraternity? If what is important is what happens in the local chapter, then why the need for a National Office, a national magazine, a common ritual, a professional staff, national officers, and national dues and fees? Why not just a very loose federation of independent local groups rather than all the paraphernalia of a national organization?

The most obvious reason is to help us keep our goals before us. Without constant reminders, teaching, help and advice, even the best of us lose sight of our larger goals. We become introverted, concentrated on our own selfish ends, forgetful that we come this way but once and that our challenge is to serve others. This is why conventions have to deal repeatedly with memberships in IFCs, questions of housing, violations of the dignity of individuals through hazing practices, and the lure of social status and personal indulgence through primary emphasis upon social programs. Without some structure to keep us focused on our purposes we would quickly lose our way in an envious and competitive world. We would soon disappear.

There are many other reasons for a truly national organization. We reaffirm our openness to all when we come to know members from different sections of the country, different religious, racial and ethnic groups, and different personal circumstances. We share in the stimulus of association with students from various kinds of colleges when we discuss common problems. We find friends wherever we travel, when we transfer schools, when we begin our careers, when we move from one city or part of the country to another in the pursuit of our interests. We share in the costs of maintaining and advancing a common endeavor. We make a mighty witness through our combined testimony to the power of the ideal of service in our common and corporate life.

Each of us needs to feel pride in the things we are associated with. We are proud of the record of Alpha Phi Omega and of the kind of individuals it attracts. The conventions increase our confidence in what’s right with our country – for when hundreds of individuals of differing views can make hard decisions in complete understanding and with a sense of community, then there is hope in our democratic ideals, despite the challenges of the times through which we are passing.

Source: Taken from the Alpha Phi Omega Pledge Handbook

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It was last updated on Wednesday, November 14, 2007.