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Blog Entry
October 16 2019 / 07:37 AM PST
Posted By: BrendaLewis16
The ‘Allison’ Situation
As a teacher my job is to not only impart education but to ensure the well being of my students. In a way, a big way it is my personal opinion that the board of directors at Alpha Gamma harbor a similar obligation to the students that they allow to pledge to their organization. As an Alpha Gamma member from 1998 to 2002, I can relate to many of the sentiments conveyed by Allison during her speech to the board a few weeks ago. The implications of sisterhood, the lifelong bonds, the feeling of belonging, all of it resonates with me, and all of these are things that I walked away with upon graduating Ericsson University. The experiences that I gained there are second to none and can never be replaced; I applaud Ms. Parsons for recognizing the importance of those relationships and choosing them over and kind of submission to the AG leadership. Now with that being said, did Alpha Gamma do anything wrong? To really ascertain that we need to look into the facts:
Transgender Acceptance in Sororities
No matter what Alpha Gamma wants to think, what they did was not revolutionary. Omega Alpha Chi at the University of Kansas opened their doors to transgender applicants years ago (https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/articl...) and so far it has gone smoothly. The implication as relayed to Allison was that the other sororities she rushed were angry about her insulting them by dressing as a woman. This would be a falsehood; their anger would stem from her presentation of decidedly false information. Allison Parsons is guilty of nothing more than being a confused transgender woman in a college setting. I can’t say I’ve been there, but I can certainly understand the social pressure.
Bid Extension and Acceptance
No matter what, Alpha Gamma cannot use the excuse that they didn’t ‘know’ Allison was transgender. They were very aware and they had accepted her as she was, otherwise there would not have been an appeal hearing. Allison accepted the bid and was inducted as a pledge into the ranks of Alpha Gamma as thousand of girls before her have been. Fundamentally she was no different and shouldn’t have been treated differently.
Lack of Investigation
The standard operating procedure for a situation of this nature would be for Panhellenic to launch an investigation prior to expelling Ms. Parsons from their organization even temporarily. To expel her permanently after a mere fifteen minutes of debate is not only absurd but immoral at best. In my opinion, Alpha Gamma embarked on a mission to appear as if they were the vanguards of equality but instead nearly destroyed Ms. Parsons on a whim. That itself is unconscionable.
Walking Away from Alpha Gamma
Over the last few days I have seen countless posts from sorority members across the nation, including a few high ranking Alpha Gamma officers announcing their intention to #walkaway from Alpha Gamma and to take #AllisonsPledge. I believe her pledge is important as it embodies everything that we are as sisters but I also believe that outright abandoning Alpha Gamma is a foolhardy move. Where will these displaced Greeks go? By walking away they lose much of the sisterhood that they love, and it is unlikely that they will be absorbed into other houses. In my opinion as a former Alpha Gamma sister, I believe it is more responsible to either work to bring about change, or to form an independent sorority organization using the resources and Assets of Alpha Gamma itself. Don’t #walkaway, inspire change. Nothing in history has ever been changed by tucking tail and running from the problem.
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Comments
Good view on the problem
Some will want out.
Some will want to pretend nothing happened.
Some will want to make things better.
And yes, I can empathize with Brenda. She pledged to be AG. And it is a right thing to try to persuade AG to do the right thing. Even if AG so far happened to be total... .... But let give them a chance... There are some good girls there!
well said. . .
Change - lasting change is hard. Activism, advocacy, taking a public stand are important and all have their places in creating change. However, when the moment arrives, that key tipping point where real and effective changes can be made, and made to stick, there needs to be someone in the system to plan, execute and protect the changes.
AG National doesn't appear to have those critically placed someone's (16 - 4). Somebody has to grow up in the system so they can be there at the tipping point knowing what needs doing and how the system works to get it done.
Most dangerous person in the room is someone with a plan and the opportunity to make it happen. Scares hell out of bureaucrats and rice bowlers everywhere. The ladies of AG need to begin putting themselves in place.
Super Storytelling!
Warm furry hugs
Tiggs
Another nice piece for the story
This is another part which could have been inserted between the chapters that dealt with the AG split, to show a slightly different take on splitting away from AG national.
This fictional character was trying to have it both ways, acceptance of TG girls into AG and trying to chisel granite with a popsicle stick.
She realizes, as did Allison, that the leadership wasn't going to reinstate Allison, so how did she propose to change attitudes to allow this to happen when like many, she lacked all the facts?
If a person has formed strong bonds with others through any organization, then once leaving that organization those bonds will remain.
The overall theme of this story was about relationships that would last the test of time. But something was revealed if looked at from a different direction.
Everything about this story was about being with others, but never how to cope when being alone. Miles never received the unquestionable love from his mom while growing up, which includes teaching him so he doesn't acquire his own habits.
He did acquire his own habits which his mom never tried to dissuade. It was only after Allison came out did she learn what her mom thought of Miles.
Had mom taught Miles how to be alone maybe Allison would have emerged much sooner, and Miles wouldn't have angered the sororities.
It's just as important to learn how to be alone as it is to be with others.
Others have feelings too.