A group of students began working last fall and are continuing this winter quarter to start a chapter of Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a co-ed, service-oriented fraternity at DU
APO would serve as a philanthropic fraternity and would not have a house. Rather, it would function more as a service-oriented interest group that also includes social events.
“It is a fraternity that relies on friendships like all other Greek organizations,” said Elspeth Sweatman, a female student member of the APO interest group. “Apart from doing service together, we would also go out for dinner or ice cream afterwards. So there is a social component.”
APO has chapters on about 350 college campuses, including University of Colorado-Boulder and Colorado State University.
“APO is always looking to expand, and with metro Denver right here, DU is the perfect place,” said Sweatman.
APO is not under the jurisdiction of the national Greek organizations such as the Interfraternity Council (IFC), the Panhellenic Council (PHC) and the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC), which encompass most other sororities and fraternities.
“It is more like a business fraternity, minus the requirement of being a business student,” said Olivia Hails, president of the PHC portion of DU’s Greek council.
“Alpha Phi Omega is an organization that focuses on developing leadership through coordinating and providing service to the campus, local community and nation as a whole,” said APO field representative Meagan Savage. “It offers many social, professional, and academic
benefits, largely due to the diversity of its membership.”
The APO interest group currently is working to raise interest among students so that the new chapter can become officially recognize. In order to receive an official charter, the group must have at least 25 members. Approximately 5-10 people come to the meetings on a regular basis, but there are many people that are interested, according to Sweatman.
“We hope that this number continues to grow as more people learn about APO,” she said.
In addition, APO must complete at least 12 service projects to become chartered.
“The great thing is that any service projects we do while we are becoming a petitioning group count towards the number we need to become a charter,” said Sweatman.
Sweatman said the group doesn’t think that raising enough interest will be a problem.
“We think that a lot of people come to college having done a lot of service work during high school only to discover that their workload and other activities make it difficult,” said Sweatman. “APO would provide the means for students to do service here on campus and in the community.”
Right now, Sweatman said she isn’t sure how long it will take to become an official fraternity.
“Recruitment is happening all the time and will until we become an official charter,” she said. “After that, we will have an official recruitment process like any other fraternity. It’s all up in the air at the moment. That’s the beauty of creating this chapter – DU students get to decide all of these things.”
The APO interest group meets on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Driscoll 1880. The meetings function to plan recruitment and service events, as well as information sessions for new members.
