Epsilon Omega
Epsilon Omega is the University of Mississippi chapter of Alpha Phi Omega. They are located in Region VII, Section 45.
History
Early History: 1948-1982
Epsilon Omega was chartered on May 2, 1948 as the 144th chapter of Alpha Phi Omega.
The chapter faded in the early 1980s. Little is currently known about the chapter between 1948 and 1980 aside from information found in Ole Miss yearbooks. In 1951, the Ole Miss lists 60 student members. By 1973, the chapter was down to only 21 members, and by 1975, the chapter had only 10 members.
During this time period, the chapter participated in many traditional service projects, including:
- Fundraisers for March of Dimes
- Ugly Man on Campus
- Annual campus book exchange
- Sponsoring Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout packs in Lafayette County
The first women involved in the Epsilon Omega chapter joined sometime during the 1972-73 school year; one of these women, Katherine Baker, was chapter historian as of Fall 1973. The 1973 Ole Miss, with information collected in Fall 1972, states: "Members are chosen from the student body who are interested in aiding the university and the surrounding area." The selection criteria make no reference to gender. In the 1974 Ole Miss, women were no longer eligible to become members or listed as being members, although a woman, Flossie Stuby, still managed the book exchange: only enrolled "male students" were eligible for membership. Similar language was used in 1975. While little information is currently available, the chapter did not appear to become co-ed again after the 1976 convention. (We hope to interview alumni from the 1970s to clarify what information we've been able to find.)
Rechartering: 2003-2008
In 2003, two students, Jordan Taylor and Steven Griffin, were inspired by the recently chartered chapter of Omega Phi Alpha, a national service sorority, and wanted to create additional service opportunities on campus appealing to men as well as women. As a result of their efforts, the Epsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Phi Omega was rechartered on December 5, 2004 with 21 members, with Delta as big brother chapter. Jordan and Steven attended the 2004 National Convention in Denver as the chapter's voting delegates. In the following semesters, the chapter struggled with recruiting younger members, and despite having pledge classes each semester through Spring 2006, the chapter stopped reporting information in 2007. By the end of 2008, all initiated members had graduated.
During this time period, the chapter performed several different service projects while supporting other campus and local organizations:
- Pocket Change for Pups (also known as Pennies for Puppies), a fundraiser outside the Student Union for the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society. The chapter brought puppies from OLHS to campus to encourage donations and potential adoptions.
- Kickball with the Rebels, an event for Spring Youth Service Day where K-12 students in the Oxford area were invited on a weekend to play kickball with student-athletes.
- Adopt-a-Basket, a campus-sponsored Thanksgiving program that provides food baskets or boxes for local families. The chapter provided donations for baskets as well as, in later years, helping to organize and distribute them.
Post-Rechartering: 2009-present
The chapter was revived in the 2009-10 academic year, primarily through the efforts of graduate students. Jordan Richard, Rosie Nelson, and Wendy Whitmire used the Fall 2009 semester to untangle the few records left behind and get the chapter back into good standing before recruiting additional members. The chapter had only one active member (Rosie) from September 2009 through April 2010, with anywhere from four to seven advisors. Jordan and Wendy became community advisors, with Jordan elected as advisory chair. Jordan went on to receive a Chapter Distinguished Service Key for her efforts in reviving the chapter.
The Spring 2010 pledge class was originally composed of 10 members; of those, 8 were initiated into the fraternity on April 17, 2010. The Spring 2010 pledge class namesake was Cole Robertson, Region VII Director, honoring the extensive help he provided to the chapter in its revival efforts.
Current service projects include:
- Walking dogs and helping with other tasks at the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society
- Cleanups of local parks and campus areas
- Adopt-a-Basket at Thanksgiving
- Clothing drive for the Salvation Army
- Helping with the Oxford Community Garden, including building two benches
- Handing out reusable cups and information on recycling as part of the Going Green on the Grove campaign
The chapter reports every project in the service database at apo.org, not just NSW or SYSD projects; more detailed descriptions of their service program can be found there.
Traditions
Toast Song
The chapter substitutes "true to" for "men of" at all chapter events. Brothers also begin shaking their hands up and down, while remaining clasped, with the line, "Now we raise our grateful voices..." This tradition was adopted from Omicron Zeta (or, at least, that's who they attribute it to).
At interchapter events, Epsilon Omega brothers will typically either sing "men of" or not sing those two words of the Toast Song out of respect to other chapters in attendance with different traditions.
The chapter sings the Toast Song after every chapter event, including but not limited to service projects, fellowships, leadership development events, and chapter meetings.
Family System
From the historical information the chapter has so far, Epsilon Omega did not have an organized family system prior to the current system's organization in the Spring 2010 semester. The chapter currently has three families, not yet named:
- "Dolphins," associated with the color red
- "Pandas," associated with the color blue
- "Penguins," associated with the color gold
Each family was given a name and a color based as much as possible on favorite colors and animals of Rosie's big brothers. Pledge binders for Robertson Class reflected the formation of the family system, with three different designs based on family designation, and the brothers from Robertson Class are all considered "founders" of their respective families.
Rosie hasn't yet directly affiliated with a family, but will likely become either a panda or penguin, depending on family numbers at the beginning of the Fall 2010 semester.
Interchapter Hat
Members of Epsilon Omega take a hat to every interchapter (IC) event they attend. During or shortly after the event, a member of the host chapter is asked to sign the hat, typically either the event chair or someone the chapter interacted with extensively. If additional brothers wish to sign the hat, they are more than welcome to do so, but only one signature is actively sought per event.
The current hat, a red felt cowboy hat, began circulation on October 18, 2009 with a visit to an Alpha Epsilon chapter meeting. The hat was purchased at a Wal-Mart in College Station, Texas after the 2009 Region VII Conference at Texas A&M, but does not have a signature from that event. It contains signatures from five events in three different regions, as well as signatures from additional brothers that the chapter met over the year. In the hat's initial year, the chapter chose not to get multiple signatures from the same chapters during a single academic year, so several visits to chapters went unrecorded on the hat. The most notable signature is probably by the president of Gamma Upsilon chapter at Tulane University shortly after their rechartering ceremony. The hat was also signed by National President Maggie Katz at the Section 69 Conference in February 2010.
Trivia
Rosie is one of Isaac Liao's littles from Gamma Gamma, where she was active as an undergrad. All of the current actives at Epsilon Omega come from her line. Meaning that, in a twisted way, everyone currently active in Epsilon Omega is connected to Iota Phi and Gamma Gamma (but IPhi matters more, it's their wiki).
The chapter's interchapter hat was inspired by a contest held by the Gamma Gamma IC chair at the Spring 2003 Section 4 Conference hosted by Iota Phi. Attendees from Gamma Gamma were asked to have as many IC brothers as possible sign their plastic cowboy party hats.
The interchapter hat was almost lost at the 2009 Region X Conference when Rosie accidentally left it in a lecture hall. She got it back on day four, after a lot of brothers made a lot of phone calls.
At one point in the post-rechartering time period, there was a pledge, an active, and an advisor in the same graduate student cohort, as well as two additional advisors from that department (one graduate student and one professor). This combination created interesting and occasionally awkward department social dynamics.
Both Epsilon Omega and Alpha Epsilon picked Cole Robertson for their Spring 2010 pledge class namesake—completely independently of each other—and discovered it when planning for a joint end-of-semester dinner.