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Amanda Howard
November 6th, 2014
UWRIT-1101 (T/TH)
Mini Ethnography
Oh My Alpha Chi
I.

Research

Alpha Chi Omega is a sorority formed on October 15th, 1885 by a group of seven women
attending DePauw University in Indiana. According to the Alpha Chi Omega headquarters
website, these women felt as if there was a lack of social opportunities on campus and wanted to
find something that would give them a close companionship. They founded this sorority on the
basis of music and required their members to be enrolled in the School of Music but that
requirement was later changed to any liberal arts student taking a music class. This requirement
was eventually changed again to any major.
Before Alpha Chi Omega came out as a new organization to the public, they wanted to be
fully organized. To get totally organized, the women came up with the basic attributes of the
sorority. The first steps were to create the sororitys name, colors, flower, and motto. The name
Alpha Chi Omega was created by taking the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet (Alpha
and Omega), in hopes that Alpha Chi Omega would be the first and the last musical sorority.
Next they used Chi as a connecting and word, thus the name Alpha Chi Omega was born. For
the colors the founding women chose scarlet and olive green, for the flower they chose a red
carnation, and finally for the motto they chose Together let us seek the heights. One last thing

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they had to choose is their philanthropy. They decided on domestic violence awareness and
prevention education.
According to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Fraternity and Sorority Life
webpage, Alpha Chi Omega was brought to UNC Charlotte in 2014. All of the girls to join this
year are considered founding sisters and will have their name put on a plaque in their new Greek
house that will be coming to campus next year. As of now they do not fit into the University
setting. First, all of the members must be initiated and the chapter installed before the sorority is
recognized as a panhellenic chapter at UNC Charlotte. After they become a panhellenic chapter,
they must work hard all year to build up their reputation on campus and begin to fit into the
university setting.
II.

Observations

Every Sunday in the late afternoon Alpha Chi Omega has a ritual of meeting in the Fretwell
building for chapter. Chapter is a mandatory meeting that the women have each week where they
discuss previous and future philanthropy/social events, funds and budgeting, and also supporting
other Greeks on campus. Before attending chapter, the women of Alpha Chi Omega must first
get dressed into their pin attire which means anything business casual. This includes dresses,
dress pants and a blouse, high heels, skirts etc. But there are limitations when it comes to dress
code. The women are not allowed to wear anything backless or strapless that may show their
shoulders. Also the women must at all times be wearing their pin on the left side of their chest
while in pin attire.

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As the women arrive to Fretwell, they must line up in alphabetical order by last name, so that
attendance can be taken. After they have lined up, they walk into a standard classroom calling
out their name to the vice president of Public Relations and Marketing to make sure that they are
counted present on the attendance. The classroom is a large lecture hall that has enough seating
for all 160 women. All of the seats are in rows, divided into 3 sections with chairs that are
connected to the table and swing out. At the front of the classroom, there is a large chalkboard
underneath a screen that is used for the projector connected on the ceiling above. As the women
walk into the room, they remain silent and then stand behind their chair until the meeting is
called to order. After the meeting has been called to order by the president, the women all recite
the symphony in unison. The women then remain standing until all of the guest speakers (if any)
have left.
The women have several types of body language that they use throughout the chapter
meeting. The type that is the most common is the snaps. They use snaps to welcome/greet
visitors to the meeting, congratulate a sister on a success, or to show excitement for an important
announcement. Another use if body language shown by Alpha Chi Omega is sitting up straight
during the entire chapter and being fully engaged and listening to whoever is speaking.
As the meeting continues, a person who represents each committee (PR and Marketing,
Finance, etc.) will stand up on stage and make any announcements that they have for the week.
After a person from each committee has made their announcements, the president will ask the
women if they have anything for the good of the order. This is the time where any sorority
member can stand up and make an announcement that they may have like Im having a birthday
party this weekend, or I need someone to watch my dog, or maybe even My job is hiring if

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anyone is looking for a job! After any members who have announcements make them, the
president ends the meeting.
At the end of each meeting the women divide up into committees and have their smaller
committee meetings. There are 7 committees with about 10-20 members in each one. In this
smaller and much shorter meeting, the women discuss topic specific to their smaller committee
and plan future and upcoming things for that committee to do.
After interviewing a PR and Marketing member of Alpha Chi Omega, I got to see what
its like being part of such an organization through a members eyes. I feel so honored and
blessed to have an opportunity to be a part of Alpha Chi Omega she says. Being part of an
organization like this truly brings a group of amazing women with common morals and values
together into one big family. People have the stereotype that we are ditzy blondes that sit around
and do our nails and throw parties. Thats not us at all. We are here to be real strong women and
to better the community and help the people within in. We are also here to uphold our standards
with domestic violence awareness and prevention education. The new chapter of Alpha Chi
Omega just needs to show the community what a powerful and strong group of women we are as
we seek the heights.
III.

Interpretation

When you hang around any number of Alpha Chi Omegas for a long enough period of time,
you may catch yourself snapping or responding to Hey Alpha Chi with Hey what? The snaps
are an Alpha Chi ritual to do when anything exciting happens or is announced, or even when
someone is being introduced. It can even be used sometimes to go as far as a thank you. The
other common body language, sitting up straight, is used to honor the higher powers and to show

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them respect when they are talking. Also whenever there is to be an announcement made and the
members are having lots of side conversations, a person of a higher power will shout Hey Alpha
Chi and then the members will shout back Hey what? followed by dead silence. This is so
that the women will be able to hear any announcement made and also to show respect to the
speakers.
Alpha Chi Omega is an exclusive sorority on campus with a goal and uphold their motto
which is to show what Real. Strong. Women are like. These women dont meet each week to
plan parties, or talk about boys, or even go shopping. They meet to make plans to find ways to
give back to the community and ways to work with their philanthropy. Being a member does not
just get you a pin or Greek letter shirts. It gets you a bond with 160 women and 160 new sisters
that you get to have for the rest of your life.
Part of the reason that these women are in a sorority together is that they all have similar
morals and values. They feel very strongly and passionate about domestic violence awareness
and prevention education. Also they feel as if they should present themselves as real strong
women and represent the sorority well. When in situations when representing the sorority, they
feel as if they should act like proper women with high morals and standards for themselves.
Most of them also have common interests and very similar personalities. They enjoy listening to
the same music, playing the same sports, or maybe even hanging out with the same people.
When around each other, the women of Alpha Chi Omega act as if they are sisters in one
big family who have known each other for a very long time. They fight, they argue, but at the
end of the day they are family and they love each other. If they were in any other circumstance

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(class, a restaurant, etc.) they would still act the same way towards each other as they would in
any other setting. They act as one big unified family who are always there for each other.
Alpha Chi Omega is an exclusive sorority that is rich in history. It is full of 160 women
that are trying to raise awareness for domestic violence and provided education on domestic
violence prevention. They will continue to try to better the community through various types of
volunteer and domestic violence awareness work. Being the new sorority on campus, they will
continue to build their reputation throughout the year and begin to build relationships with other
greek organizations on campus.