Alpha Chi Omega - University of Missouri

alpha chi omega | page 2 A lpha Chi Omega has a long history of progressive leadership among sororities, as evidenced by our brand Real.Strong.Women and Alpha Chi's Statements of Position, which have been updated frequently to reflect changing cultural viewpoints. One of the 24 Statements of Position is Nondiscrimination: "Alpha Chi Omega does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, sexual orientation, religion or other characteristics protected by applicable law. Women, including those who live and identify as women, regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth, are eligible for membership in Alpha Chi Omega based solely on five membership standards. The National Membership Standards are: 1. academic interest; 2. character; 3. financial responsibility; 4. leadership ability; and 5. personal development. "Alpha Chi Omega remains, as it always has been, a women's organization. Those assigned female at birth who live and identify as men are not eligible for membership." Per the Alpha Chi Omega website, "Diversity, equity and inclusion are unequivocally essential. But we know they have been challenging for us, for the entire sorority/ fraternity industry and for our world as a whole. We acknowledge that we haven't always lived up to these principles throughout our history. It is in the trying and the striving to do better that we learn more about what is at the core of Alpha Chi Omega—our values of wisdom, devotion and achievement—and we define and redefine what it means to be a real, strong woman. "We know our work in this space is never done. Our intention in this work is to facilitate the hard conversations that members, leaders and our national organization want, and need, to have. We continue to learn and explore new avenues to increase diversity and create inclusive and equitable environments where members can feel safe and confident to connect, lead, grow and serve as real, strong women. "Alpha Chi Omega is committed to being on the forefront of the challenging conversations and the hard work necessary to achieve this goal." As shared in an email to all members on July 7, 2020, "Alpha Chi Omega has two desired outcomes from our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work: 1. to increase diversity in our membership throughout every level of the organization and 2. to nurture and develop a membership experience that is increasingly equitable and inclusive for members, volunteers and staff." Alpha Chi has developed a project list which represents the organization's highest priorities at this time and is not meant to be all inclusive. • Create a volunteer committee comprised of collegians and alumnae to advise on national policies, practices, programming and DEI initiatives. • Establish a clear statement on diversity that articulates the organizational aspirations and telegraphs the importance to members and campuses; include a clear definition of diversity for data collection purposes. • Create a collegiate chapter executive board DEI officer position; develop resources for this position. • Establish a task force to review membership selection practices and the legacy policy to evaluate barriers to membership. • Manage a comprehensive strategy for board recruitment and development for future Black, indigenous and people of color board members to diversify the four Enterprise boards. • Charge boards and individual board members to commit to their own board educational process and hold one another accountable for increasing their knowledge and awareness. • Create an internal staff DEI advisory committee to steward action plans for employee training and development. • Develop educational programming on difficult conversations for collegians and alumnae about race, inclusion, class exclusion and beyond, and about how to have difficult conversations with honesty, civility and respect. • Develop DEI training and education for advisors and volunteers, with initial focus on chapter advisors and recruitment advisors. • Transition REPRESENT, one of the four rotational programs, to a social justice focused rotational program. • End the Global Service Initiative and consider replacement with a social justice focused initiative. • Launch a module in the Dedication, the new member education program, on social identity development for all new members. • Develop and implement a bias reporting incident process for chapters, volunteers and staff. • Amend the recommendations process to afford more access and remove barriers to entry. • Collect identity data for members and volunteers consistent with the organizational definition of diversity. • Charge a Ritual Task Force with the responsibility for evaluating ceremonies and programming for inclusivity and making recommendations for changes. • Design and execute a communications strategy that shares transparently where we are, what we have done, what we realize is not working and what we plan to do next. Members who wish to know more about Alpha Chi's Statements of Position and DEI initiatives will find details at www.alphachiomega.org/ about-us/real-strong-women/diversity,- equity-and-inclusion. There is much work to be done. Together Let Us Seek the Heights. Alpha Chi Omega Makes Deeper Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion "To see and appreciate all that is noble in another…" - The Symphony of Alpha Chi Omega

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