SPRING RUSH - APRIL EDITION

12 Questions Answered on Black Greek Life at HBCUS,
From 3 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity members, and 1 AKA

The Good , The Bad, and The Ooglee-e-e -
Answers that we all want to know!



Vernon, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member #1 :


1. What made you decide to join a fraternity?
2. How did you decide to become a member of APA (Alpha Phi Alpha)?
Aligning myself up with like-minded successful people.. Alpha has a history bigger than you think from MLK, Duke Ellington, Lynel Richie, Jesse Owens, Thurgood Marshall, etc... But it was the movers and shakers on my first campus at Xavier where I was turned onto the light! There the president, the dean, the SGA, everyone doing things were Alphas.. I expect to do things and I thought this should be great networking and being amongst similar magnets of influence!I came through the "GQ" ZM Chapter of GA State! It's not just a fashion.. It's a lifestyle!

3. What are some of the requirements of membership?
Requirements are having a good positive mentality, at solid GPA at least like a 3.2 or 3.3 somewhere in there.. but we expect higher!!
4. Do you have any regrets, regarding your membership or pledging process?
No regrets.. God lead my feet to places I go with a security in mind of the visions I've seen for myself! No fear! I just got to get it!
5. What is hazing, and did you ever feel that you were a victim or participant of the act? Please provide examples.
Hazing?? I beg your pardon! Alpha?? No!! No tolerance policy here ma’am..should I get beat to call someone a brother??
6. What are the good aspects of pledging APA? Specific examples?
Alpha Phi Alpha is an Incorporation! We run a business and have business meetings and we are proficient and teaches us life skills to running an organization effectively. You see the things we produce.. We expect only the best! It should show in your work! Character is what we look for.Some people pledge for the wrong reason and it will be obvious they will only make work harder on themselves.
7. What are the bad aspects of pledging APA? Specific examples?
8. How you ever thought of resigning as a member?
9. Have you ever felt that you were pushed too far, in your pledging process?
I have no regrets about pledging. So I don't see bad aspects. But, some people like anyone have egos and you have to deal with them from time to time but if they joined for the right reasons then that should not be a issue.
10. Are you still an active member, after graduating from college? What are the differences between pledging during undergraduate studies, and graduate studies? If you could turn back time, would you pledge all over again?
Once you an Alpha you always an Alpha!!Active yes! paid member, no! Money is the key!I didn't come through grad chapter so I really don't know what they do!But they want money! I don't need to give money to an organization to be a servant to my people. I don't need to be frat to do that either! I joined because I like to be in good company! you can meet someone from a totally different area and you can befriend a brother instantly! It's an awesome organization! sometimes I wish the egos didn't get in the way of people working better together! but hey that's everywhere.hope I've been a help to you!!
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Sean , Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member #2 :

1. What made you decide to join a fraternity?
I wanted to be apart of an elite brotherhood; where their likes, ideals, goals, and ambitions mirrored my own.
2. How did you decide to become a member of APA (Alpha Phi Alpha)?
I spoke to respective members of the chapter about my interest.
3. What are some of the requirements of membership?
3.0 gpa, good academic standing, 2 letters of recommendation [from brothers in the chapter], and completion of the members intake process.
4. Do you have any regrets, regarding your membership or pledging process?
NOOOOPE. :]
5. What is hazing, and did you ever feel that you were a victim or participant of the act? Please provide examples.
Hazing is when a person embarrasses, harasses, or injures another through the plight of a personal ambition. Ex: verbally, or physically harassing an interest to prove their worth.
6. What are the good aspects of pledging APA? Specific examples?
I believe that Alpha highlights aspects of scholastics, community service, and the strengthening of Black awareness. Ex: Project Alpha is a program dedicated towards educating adolescents in teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
7. What are the bad aspects of pledging APA? Specific examples?
I really can't say that it's nothing related to the fraternity itself. No society is a utopian society; however, problems do not stem from the fraternity itself.
8. How you ever thought of resigning as a member?
No, like marriage, Alpha is a life long commitment. Through thick and thin, one must make the best out of any situation, whether it's dismal or not.
9. Have you ever felt that you were pushed too far, in your pledging process?
No.
10. Are you still an active member, after graduating from college?
I’m still in college, but after I graduate, I plan on being a member
11. What are the differences between pledging during undergraduate studies, and graduate studies?
If anything, the social aspect. Undergraduate members receive a higher amount of social benefits from being in a fraternity, all of which are superficial in all honesty.
12. If you could turn back time, would you pledge all over again?
I would, so I could garnish the feeling of my neophyte show. It was amazing. But other than that, no.
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Anonymous, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member #3 :


1. What made you decide to join a fraternity?
-I was looking for people I could trust and who could trust me unconditionally. For the first time in my life, I found black men that didn’t fit or want to fit the stereotype of a black man (ie. constant slang usage, pants so baggy they are falling off your legs). I found black men like me.
2. How did you decide to become a member of APhiA (Alpha Phi Alpha)?
-I researched all the historically black greek fraternities to make sure I knew what they were all about first, and after reading through everyone’s collegiate, graduate and national websites, nobody could touch A Phi A in terms of community service, prominent alphas, and in terms of having a clear goal for the organization in the future.
3. What are some of the requirements of membership?
-GPA 2.5 is the minimum, but many have greater gpa's. -A desire to know more about the organization, its history, purpose, and the current brothers involved. -Application -Essay
4. Do you have any regrets, regarding your membership or pledging process?
-NO
5. What is hazing, and did you ever feel that you were a victim or participant of the act? Please provide examples.
Hazing is a ritualistic test and a task involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a gang, club, military organization or other group. I do not feel I was ever a victim of hazing. I do feel that I went through constructive conditioning that was necessary to the process. Those who are not greek will never be able to understand and those that are, will never be able to fully explain. But, I will say, that everything has a purpose and my process was a great learning tool I have taken with me. Not once did I ever feel like I was being abused or humiliated, To this day, I find it hard to walk on grass through a park, when there is a nice sidewalk surrounding the grass, after all, there are no shortcuts in life.
6. What are the good aspects of pledging APhiA? Specific examples?
-NEVER feeling alone -My line brother is my brother, he is apart of me. -Participating in these national service programs, was the first time I felt like I was contributing to society as a whole, no matter how small the contribution was. "A Voteless People is a Hopeless People": Get Registered to Vote today!!! We now see how important it is to vote, and that it truly means something.
7. What are the bad aspects of pledging APhiA? Specific examples?
-Not knowing when its over. Nights can be long "study" sessions. -It was hard to have a really good, flowing, bowel movement for quite some time. Bad aspect, but also one of the things that keeps you laughing...
8. How you ever thought of resigning as a member?
-ABSOLUTELY NOT. I worked too hard to earn my letters.
9. Have you ever felt that you were pushed too far, in your pledging process?
-No. EVERYTHING had meaning, and my DP and ADP made sure of that. -Did anyone ever ask Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, and company if they felt they were being tortured too much for being black and walking to class during 1906 in upstate New York at Cornell University? -In the end, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!"
10. Are you still an active member, after graduating from college?
-No. I blame the economy. Also, I just moved to a new city, and need to find the right graduate chapter for me.
11. What are the differences between pledging during undergraduate studies, and graduate studies?
-I don’t know of any pledging when you enter as a graduate. I know you do learn what you need to learn, and you fill out plenty of paperwork...I think I will leave it at that.
12. if you could turn back time, would you pledge all over again?
-I would pledge again because of all I gained from it. I live with no regret. Everything is a learning experience. I would not change a thing. In fact, if I found out that there was no process, I wouldn't be nearly as interested, because I would want to go through what everyone before me went through. No skating here. I truly earned my letters, and may the good lord help the man or woman that ever tries to snatch them off me.

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Mia, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorrority member

1. What made you decide to join a sorrority?
I decided to join a sorority for a number of reasons. One being that I wanted to belong to an outlet/organization that represented good morals, scholastic achievement, community service and a strong sisterhood.
2. How did you decide to become a member of AKA?
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Embodied all of the aspects that I was looking for in a sorority. Many of my female family members were already in the so rority. I felt that this specific sorority had something to offer me and help me develop as a college woman. Alpha Kappa Alpha has a strong history and background of sisterhood that I was seeking as well.
3. What are some of the requirements of membership?
The general requirement for undergraduate membership on the national website is a 2.5 GPA; although the GPA requirements differ from chapter to chapter. For instance, the chapter I was initiated into required a 2.75 GPA. Also you have to be enrolled in a four year college or university or have graduated from college, and you must attend an official rush.
4. Do you have any regrets, regarding your membership or pledging process?
Not at all.
5. What is hazing, and did=2 0you ever feel that you were a victim or participant of the act? Please provide examples.
Hazing is a series of ritualistic tasks that serve no purpose whatsoever. It often involves strenuous physical activities, harassment, humiliation, etc....to be initiated into a group. I have heard of physical hazing, mental hazing and financial hazing. I never felt that I was a victim of any hazing activities.
6. What are the good aspects of pledging AKA? Specific examples?
The term pledging has to be used carefully because people decipher it differently. I pledged to be a loyal and hardworking member for the sorority. But none of this involved hazing.
7. What are the bad aspects of pledging AKA? Specific examples?
I did not encounter any bad aspects of joining the sorority.
8. How you ever thought of resigning as a member?
No! I love the sorority and value my membership.
9. Have you ever felt that you were pushed too far, in your pledging process?
n/a
10. Are you still an active member, after graduating from college?
Yes I am. I just had to transfer my membership and join the chapter in my current city.
11. What are the differences between pledging during undergraduate studies, and graduate studies?
It’s true that it’s very different joining an undergrad chapter vs. a graduate chapter. On college campuses, Greek life is more magnified and sought after therefore joining undergrad is likely the more exciting option for most people due to the mainstream view or Greek life on college campuses. Also I feel that your exposure to your sorority sisters is greater in undergrad. I mean, you have classes with a lot of them, eat lunch on campus with them, study together, and many other activities that go along with college life whereas in the graduate chapter I’ve joined since graduating...I only see those sorority sisters at the monthly meeting and service projects, but not on a daily basis.

12. if you could turn back time, would you pledge all over again?
I would definitely do everything the same as I did the first time around and choose the same sorority, and I wouldn’t change it for anything!