Page 24 - 1925 November - To Dragma

104 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

A DEFENSE

During the years since the war, every fraternity has had
the experience of a badge tendered by some member on the
ground that the wearing of it was "not Christ-like." Such
action usually followed some one of the various religious
gatherings held for students under the auspices of the Y . M .
C. A . , the Y . W . C. A . , or a church. The letter quoted l>elow,
written by Mrs. Barbara Wild Whitaker, of Alpha Chi Omega,
is an unusually fine answer to those who react in this fashion
to religious teachers. Every fraternity man and woman should
read it. The next step needed to clarify this subject is an accurate
stating of the motives of religious leaders who do not sense the
dangers to society through stimulating to the point of self-abase-
ment, the submissive impulse of which everyone has a share,
particularly when they seek to give a dominant position to weakly
sentimental beliefs. •

M Y DEAR SISTER:

I received your letter some time ago. Y o u requested an imme-
diate reply. L p o n second thought, you surely must have realized,
however, that an immediate answer to such a letter was almost
impossible. This matter, of course, is a very difficult one to
discuss on paper. I t would be so much easier to talk to y o u ;
but that is impossible, so I must write.

Your letter was the first intimation I had received of any
disaffection existing in the chapter. From your letter I learn
that after having attended a number of religious student con-
ferences, you have decided that you wish to be released f r o m
membership in Alpha Chi Omega, because you think you do
not approve of fraternities and, therefore, are not in sympathy
with them for the following reasons:

A. Broadly speaking—

1. Fraternities are undemocratic.

a) They do not offer open membership to all.
2. Fraternities are un-Christ-like.

a) They do not include all human relations.
b) They create unhappiness.
c) They produce an "inferiority complex."

B. Particularly speaking—Re: fraternities in your college—
1. Fraternities raise barriers between fraternity and non-
fraternity women.