If you were in a sorority, especially AOII...

[Deleted]

You need to read this.

Alpha Omicron Pi Drops Recognition of House Over Property Dispute

August 5, 2015


Alpha Omicron Pi will no longer recognize the University of California at Berkeley chapter's house, the women's fraternity announced Tuesday, saying it would strip the house of its letters, drop the house's insurance and bar any official activity from taking place there.


But the de-recognition is not because of any misconduct committed by the chapter's members. Rather, the house will lose recognition over an ongoing dispute between the chapter corporation's board and the international organization over who should control the property.


"This chapter was the first one west of the Mississippi and is one of the oldest still in existence," Sandy Jaeger, president of the Berkeley chapter's board, said. "And basically they're saying, 'we don't want you anymore.' We have been negotiating in good faith, but everything just comes back to that they want our property."


In 2005, Alpha Omicron Pi's Council voted to amend its governing documents to transfer the "property management responsibilities" of each chapter's house to the international organization. According to the organization, 134 of 135 Alpha Omicron Pi's corporations agreed to the new "coordinated management system." The lone holdout was the board at Berkeley, known as Sigma 1916.


After years of discussions, the international organization offered the Berkeley chapter a settlement proposal: the local chapter's corporation could keep the title for the house and local alumni could retain representation on the board, but it would have to yield majority control of the board to nonlocal representatives of the organization. After a chapter-wide vote, the local members declined the settlement in February, saying they did not want nonlocal representatives to make decisions about the house -- including about repairs and whether to mortgage the property.


This week, the chapter's members and alumni received an email from the organization's executive board announcing that the house would no longer be recognized as an Alpha Omicron Pi facility. In a statement Monday, Gayle Fitzpatrick, international president of Alpha Omicron Pi, said that the decision came after "more than 30 points of communication and many years of tireless efforts for resolution."


"We understand and appreciate the rich history of Sigma 1916, the Sigma collegiate chapter house and those who dedicated countless volunteer hours," Fitzpatrick stated. "However, by and through the AOII Executive Board, every corporation is obligated to uphold Council's decision to coordinate management for the benefit of the entire fraternal organization."


The statement noted that the other 134 chapter corporations "embraced" the coordinated management system. In 2013, however, the University of Minnesota corporation of Alpha Omicron Pi sued the international organization over similar issues. In that case, a federal judge ruled in a preliminary decision that the international organization could not "take over" the chapter's house.


The win was largely symbolic, as the corporation had already agreed to transfer management -- though not total ownership -- of the property to Alpha Omicron Pi. In June, the two groups agreed on a settlement, similar to what was offered to the Berkeley chapter.


"Some chapters have probably embraced this system because they don't have alumni who are willing to take on managing the property," Jaeger, president of the Berkeley chapter's board, said. "But this chapter built this house and have always managed this house, and there have always been very diligent alumni who are perfectly happy to give up their free to time to be in here making decisions and doing day-to-day stuff. They just want to use this property as a cash cow."

[rooster222]

I'm an AOIi alum but we didn't have houses on my campus so this is a little outside of my understanding. I guess I don't understand the motivation to take over the titles? How will they profit from that?

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2015 9:20:00 GMT -5 rooster222 said:

I'm an AOIi alum but we didn't have houses on my campus so this is a little outside of my understanding. I guess I don't understand the motivation to take over the titles? How will they profit from that?

There were three hold out properties: Montana State (property with no debt and valued at $3million), U of Minnesota (property wih no debt and valued at $2.8 million), and Cal-Berkley/ Sigma Chapter (property with no debt and valued at over $6million. They wanted to lump these valuable chapter houses into the AOI properties portfolio of real estate. This would make the portfio's numbers more attractive as an asset to loan against to finance aggressive expansion, including new chapters and new chapter houses. Think of all of the "new AOII chapter installed!" Posts you've seen...

[vtdiamond]

I am a sorority member, but not with AOPi I was pretty active as an alumnae member until recently. My experience in dealing with housing has been that it is incredibly frustrating and at times overwhelming to handle on a local level. In some areas it is really challenging to find alums to oversee the house and there is a lot of inconsistency in managing and updating properties. I can see the national organization wanting to make things more uniform by bringing all the houses under their control. There were times when I was on my house board that I wish we would have had more support like this!

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2015 9:35:05 GMT -5 vtdiamond said:

I am a sorority member, but not with AOPi I was pretty active as an alumnae member until recently. My experience in dealing with housing has been that it is incredibly frustrating and at times overwhelming to handle on a local level. In some areas it is really challenging to find alums to oversee the house and there is a lot of inconsistency in managing and updating properties. I can see the national organization wanting to make things more uniform by bringing all the houses under their control. There were times when I was on my house board that I wish we would have had more support like this!

I don't disagree with you. It can be difficult to have consistent, successful management of a sorority property by local volunteers. It's a good idea for the overall organization to have an option, or back up plan, for property management.

In this case, however, the three hold outs had been local managed for nearly 100 years with great success. The international organization is forcing them, through alumnae member suspensions (six members of the U of MN alumnae advisory board and corporation board had their membership suspended when they voted not to transfer the property) and chapter closures. Over property. What a waste of resources!

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2015 9:35:03 GMT -5 @this said:

I was in a sorority and I am helplessly confused by all of this.

I'm such a cliche.

:::head pat:::

[rooster222]

Aug 6, 2015 9:32:39 GMT -5 @idaholakelady said:

Aug 6, 2015 9:20:00 GMT -5 rooster222 said:

I'm an AOIi alum but we didn't have houses on my campus so this is a little outside of my understanding. I guess I don't understand the motivation to take over the titles? How will they profit from that?

There were three hold out properties: Montana State (property with no debt and valued at $3million), U of Minnesota (property wih no debt and valued at $2.8 million), and Cal-Berkley/ Sigma Chapter (property with no debt and valued at over $6million. They wanted to lump these valuable chapter houses into the AOI properties portfolio of real estate. This would make the portfio's numbers more attractive as an asset to loan against to finance aggressive expansion, including new chapters and new chapter houses. Think of all of the "new AOII chapter installed!" Posts you've seen...

Thanks for the explanation. I mostly feel bad for the girls that are active right now. What will happen to them?

[vtdiamond]

Aug 6, 2015 10:07:55 GMT -5 @idaholakelady said:

Aug 6, 2015 9:35:05 GMT -5 vtdiamond said:

I am a sorority member, but not with AOPi I was pretty active as an alumnae member until recently. My experience in dealing with housing has been that it is incredibly frustrating and at times overwhelming to handle on a local level. In some areas it is really challenging to find alums to oversee the house and there is a lot of inconsistency in managing and updating properties. I can see the national organization wanting to make things more uniform by bringing all the houses under their control. There were times when I was on my house board that I wish we would have had more support like this!

I don't disagree with you. It can be difficult to have consistent, successful management of a sorority property by local volunteers. It's a good idea for the overall organization to have an option, or back up plan, for property management.

In this case, however, the three hold outs had been local managed for nearly 100 years with great success. The international organization is forcing them, through alumnae member suspensions (six members of the U of MN alumnae advisory board and corporation board had their membership suspended when they voted not to transfer the property) and chapter closures. Over property. What a waste of resources!

Yup, I agree, it would have been better to make it more of an option, especially for house corporations which were running well on their own.  It also seems really unfair to close a chapter due to this.

I know in our organization we've had situations where a chapter was closed or a house was sold and then the local house corporation retained the money from the sale or rental of the house which in some cases was a large sum of money. I can see the national organization being a bit nervous in those situations and to want a way to claim that money which may be part of the reason for this change.

[bronxgirl]

 I remember my senior year we (ADPi)had some issues between our House Corp and nationals. although I don't remeber the details. Eventually we lost the house and the chapter closed. 

[bowies]

That's a rough situation. There has to be some middle ground. I believe housing for my sorority is owned by headquarters, but managed by local alumni housing corps. It seemed to work out well. There was autonomy in the day-to-day decisions (repairs, hiring a house mother, food et al) but major decisions were overseen and financed by a larger body (building of a new wing). It was nice to have some weight behind us too. One year a fraternity broke in and destroyed the house - tens of thousands of dollars of damage. HQ hired a lawyer and sued the fraternity. It was handled in a matter of months. If we'd only had a local housing board, I'm sure that would have dragged on for years.

It's a shame that the AOPi central office revoked their charter over this. It seems that one bad decision (allowing some chapters to self-finance their houses) begat another. I can't fault the Berkeley chapter for not gifting $6M of property to HQ. I wonder if they'll try to form a local sorority and reapply for recognition with the university.

[Marmee]

So who owns the house now that they've lost their charter? Since its on Univ propert (I assume) do they need to reform and get a recognized sorority in there asap? I guess I'm wondering what is next?

[mcfelix]

That's crazy. I wasn't in AOPi but we had one on campus. I can't speak to their house specifically, but I know the case for my sorority house and I believe most of the of other houses was that the University owned them and each chapter leased their house from the University. I can't imagine a local chapter and alumnae (not sure the correct spelling there) having to property manage a huge house though - seems like a lot of work.

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2015 12:50:59 GMT -5 Marmee said:

So who owns the house now that they've lost their charter? Since its on Univ propert (I assume) do they need to reform and get a recognized sorority in there asap? I guess I'm wondering what is next?

The physical property is owned by Sigma 1916, a California corporation that worked in tandem with Sigma chapter of AOII to provide housing. Sigma 1916 now has no tennants for their property.

There are some mis-statements in the AOII press release. Not all corporations went willingly. Also, it's rich with irony that they're committed to honoring the housing contracts *of a property for which they do not own, lease or otherwise control!*

In 2005 AOII International voted to change their bylaws to say they owned all properties. Tau chapter, at the University of Minnesota, had a similar legal set up and called bull shit ended up in court. They judge's ruling was that AOII international no more owned the Tau chapter house than they owned Disneyland by claiming they owned Disneyland.

[thatgirl2478]

Ok - ignore my follow ups in the MM thread - this one gives more information and would incense me.

So essentially, AOII International (ie - 'national' aka 'overlords') are forcing the local chapters to give them their houses (that presumably have been paid for by the local chapters along the way) so that they can make themselves look uber wealthy & thus open new chapters - which they will own and mortgage out. SO if they were to go bankrupt in 20 years, they would potentially have to sell off these properties to pay back their debts. And because these 3 chapters disagreed with their overlordish plans to dominate the world, they were punished by having their status revoked.

IF that's the gist of what's happening - that's not cool and I would be pissed about that too. I'm not sure what you (general you - all AOII) can do here, but I would be very upset about the organization using this tactic to control behaviors.

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2015 13:51:10 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

Ok - ignore my follow ups in the MM thread - this one gives more information and would incense me.

So essentially, AOII International (ie - 'national' aka 'overlords') are forcing the local chapters to give them their houses (that presumably have been paid for by the local chapters along the way) so that they can make themselves look uber wealthy & thus open new chapters - which they will own and mortgage out. SO if they were to go bankrupt in 20 years, they would potentially have to sell off these properties to pay back their debts. And because these 3 chapters disagreed with their overlordish plans to dominate the world, they were punished by having their status revoked.

IF that's the gist of what's happening - that's not cool and I would be pissed about that too. I'm not sure what you (general you - all AOII) can do here, but I would be very upset about the organization using this tactic to control behaviors.

You nailed the heart of it! And, add in there super shady communication (or non-communication), gas-lighting and bullshit tactics, it's generally something that makes me want to portray in front of the national headquarters. Or protest in front of the chapters trying to recruit this fall.

I despised our national organization as a collegiate and this just backs up my initial impression. I'm incredibly loyal to my chapter. Past that, I don't give a rats ass.

[thatgirl2478]

Aug 6, 2015 14:09:28 GMT -5 @idaholakelady said:

Aug 6, 2015 13:51:10 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

Ok - ignore my follow ups in the MM thread - this one gives more information and would incense me.

So essentially, AOII International (ie - 'national' aka 'overlords') are forcing the local chapters to give them their houses (that presumably have been paid for by the local chapters along the way) so that they can make themselves look uber wealthy & thus open new chapters - which they will own and mortgage out. SO if they were to go bankrupt in 20 years, they would potentially have to sell off these properties to pay back their debts. And because these 3 chapters disagreed with their overlordish plans to dominate the world, they were punished by having their status revoked.

IF that's the gist of what's happening - that's not cool and I would be pissed about that too. I'm not sure what you (general you - all AOII) can do here, but I would be very upset about the organization using this tactic to control behaviors.

You nailed the heart of it! And, add in there super shady communication (or non-communication), gas-lighting and bullshit tactics, it's generally something that makes me want to portray in front of the national headquarters. Or protest in front of the chapters trying to recruit this fall.

I despised our national organization as a collegiate and this just backs up my initial impression. I'm incredibly loyal to my chapter. Past that, I don't give a rats ass.

This was my feeling about our national as well... There was only 1 time I actually agreed with them and that was when they told us that a totally bogus change to the constitution was 'illegal' (one group of people wanted to make the 3 step discipline process a 4 step process by giving two warnings instead of one). 

Other than that they were a pain in our asses collectively.