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Editorial: Restructured sorority making progress by admitting past errors

Alpha Chi Omega's plan to rebuild their sorority on the UA campus is a positive event, but the new organization must make up for past mistakes and rise above the traditional image of sororities.

National Alpha Chi Omega consultants visited the UA last week, promoting the sorority's plans to restructure. They claimed that the new organization plans to allow its new members to mold Alpha Chi Omega into whatever kind of sorority they want it to be.

They also said the sorority will continue to be involved in social activities with other campus sororities.

"We are basically starting over," consultant Joy Marshal told the ASUA Senate when she presented before their meeting last week. "We are recruiting new leadership, and a new and different experience for the women of the University of Arizona."

Alpha Chi Omega's plans to reinvent itself will hopefully yield a sorority void of the hazing, corruption and illegal activity that the organization was accused of in the past. If this new chapter gives more control to the women joining, as it claims to, it will most definitely allow the sorority to make up for past mistakes.

These mistakes include the reported practice of hazing, as was brought to light when last summer a former member, Arika Hover, complained about dangerous and belittling hazing practices. A sorority that practices such primitive behavior is not in any way a positive contribution to a college campus. Hopefully the women who join the new Alpha Chi Omega will recognize this and keep such hazing out of their organization.

Another mistake the sorority made last year was funding fraud, when women joined the organization and were not told it was financially insolvent until they had made their investment. The women lost their money and the sorority fizzled.

Clearly, the sorority genuinely plans to revamp itself and forget past mistakes. "Those (incidents) will not be occurring in this new chapter," Marshal said. "We are starting over. We are moving forward and not looking at the past."

But a new, reinvented Alpha Chi Omega has the opportunity to not only make up for its own past mistakes, but can also help erase the stereotypes often associated with sororities.

It can become a highly inclusive, positive group on campus that cares less about partying in fraternities than it does about bringing in quality women who will help give them a good image.

It can become a service-oriented organization that makes a difference on campus and within the community.

The sorority was successful in some areas last semester. It brought MTV's Real World cast members and a concert by Rockapella to the UA as a part of its "Celebration Series."

Hopefully Alpha Chi Omega's new chapter will do just as much. A new, active, responsible sorority will be a positive addition to the UA campus, as long as it takes great care to make sure it does not repeat its mistakes.