Just like many other college campuses, The University of Colorado Boulder is pretty involved in Greek Life. A recent event that has changed the direction and perception of the Greek Community is Alpha Chi Omegas transition into accepting transgender women. As of February 17th, National President Angela Costley Harris announced ecstatically that all Chapters of Alpha Chi Omega will be ‘adapting a new mindset’ and by making this decision we will be able to “more fully reflect the reality of today’s women in today’s world”.
A transition as such is not easy, but it allows the sorority of Alpha Chi Omega to ‘stay relevant’ in our changing world. When making these measures Alpha Chi is accepting inclusivity “of all who live and identify as women, regardless of their gender assigned at birth”.
To many, this may seem as a concept that is way out of line. Since the beginning, sororities have been viewed as groups of women and fraternities have been groups of men. However, this was way before there was a need to resolve the inquiry of transgender people.
Now, what does transgender mean? “Transgender is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate” (glaad.org). A person’s gender identity differs from a person’s sexual orientation. Sexual orientation refers to a person’s “enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to another person (for example: straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual)” (glaad.org) while gender identity is the internal sense of being a man or a woman.
As an advancing sorority, Alpha Chi Omega has been “challenged to reexamine the concepts of sisterhood and sorority” (Official Letter of notice). Due to an increased interest from the transgender community, Alpha Chi has felt the need to cater a sorority that meets the needs of ALL those whom identify as women.
Through the Title IX law it is required that organizations remain ‘single sex’ organizations. In this instance, allowing transgender women to join sororities does not break any rules because the individuals who are joining the sororities identify as women despite what their birth certificate says.
Nationally, change like this only goes to prove that Alpha Chi Omega truly is a sorority for ‘real strong women’.
In a community such as Boulder, a transition like this is huge. The Nu Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega is all for ‘seeking the heights together’ (open motto). Since the day that the great news was received, positivity and enlightenment has been expresses throughout the chapter. Alpha Chi is serious and dedicated to the transition and what may come of it. Members of the exec board have already reached out to the chapter as a whole, in the sense to educated and give insight of what should be expected. Megan McDonald, a current member of The Nu Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega at CU Boulder expressed that she is “truly proud and awestruck by this decision made by our executive council and national president”.
Nothing but good vibes and insight have been shown as a result of the national decision. As part of its mission, Alpha Chi seeks to ‘empower strong women’ , and a transition as such does just that. In order to gain more insight on how the current members of Nu Chapter felt I spoke to Priya Robb. Priya to me that she feels “very proud to be a part of an organization that strives to be inclusive. I think our national president made the right decision to ensure that Alpha Chi Omega changes with the world we live in. We are a women’s organization, and this decision ensures that we truly are for all women.” In the future, Priya expressed that she would “hope one day this is not seen as something to be praised for. Opening up membership to transgender women should not be seen as anything other than normal, because transgender women are women.”
Watch the original video of AXO’s announcement here!