Jusayan 1

Arianne Jusayan
Professor Tyler Branson
Writing 2
29 April 2016
Alpha Chi Omega: A Discourse Community
Part I
Alpha Chi Omega
An organization that I am apart that can be considered a discourse community is my
sorority, Alpha Chi Omega. A nationally recognized sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, also known as
Alpha Chi and AXO, was founded on October 16, 1885 at DePauw University in Indiana by
seven women attending the universitys school of music. Our mottos include Real Strong
Women and Together Let us Seek the Heights. Over 130 campuses throughout the nation are
home to Alpha Chi collegiate chapters and colonies, with 180,000 initiated members scattered
throughout the United States. On December 4, 1965, the Delta Psi Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega
was chartered at UC Santa Barbara. Alpha Chi Omega is truly about creating lifelong
friendships. It is through Alpha Chi Omega that we share such strong bonds and memories that
will forever shape the outcome of our lives.
Alpha Chi Omega embodies all of the characteristics of a discourse community that John
Swales specializes his studies in. According to Swales, there are six characteristics necessary for
identifying a group as a discourse community: a set of common goals, mechanisms of
intercommunication, information circulation, utilization of genres, acquired specialized
language, and level of expertise amongst a number of members (Swales 471-473). In the

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following analysis, I will illustrate how exactly Alpha Chi Omega follows Swales described
characteristics that make it a discourse community.
Defining Features
Common Goals
Alpha Chi Omega has a broadly agreed set of common public goals (Swales 471),
embodying the first characteristic of a discourse community. At Alpha Chi, every member
withholds herself to five values, which are academic interest; character; financial responsibility;
leadership; and personal development, that reflect the goals of the the Collegiate Panhellenic
Council (CPC) at UCSB. The CPC exists to promote the ideals of scholarship, leadership,
sisterhood, and service among our members, a goal every sorority at UCSB strives to follow.
Alpha Chi Omega, however, has a more unique objective, setting it apart from the rest of Greek
Life on campus: The objects of Alpha Chi Omega are to encourage the spirit of true sisterhood,
to develop through personal effort a high moral and mental standard, and to advance the
appreciation and practice of fine arts. All members of Alpha Chi Omega, as beneficiaries of the
heritage and history of the Fraternity, strive to be both true to, and worthy of, the legacy and
principles of Alpha Chi Omega. (Bylaws of Delta Psi Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega). Alpha Chi
Omega essentially exists to develop and grow as an individual through the bonds of sisterhood.
Mechanisms of Intercommunication
Alpha Chi Omega has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members (Swales
471) on various occasions, the primary mechanism being weekly chapter meetings on Monday
nights. Beforehand, members enjoy dinner provided by our chef and our kitchen staff, carrying
discussions amongst themselves in the dining room as people from different organizations and
other discourse communities can come and make announcements about their organization. These

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announcements, which include possible philanthropic events to participate in or possible
candidates to vote for during elections, enable us in AXO to expand our networking with other
discourse communities.
After dinner, members from the chapters Executive Board proceed into the living room,
with the rest of AXO following, for the meeting to begin. We have two distinct types of
meetings: formal and chapter. Chapter meetings are different from formal meetings because at
the very beginning and end of each meeting, active members alone know and participate in a
private opening and closing to the meeting. Meetings generally begin with our Chapter President
acknowledging the status of the previous week and certain events that are to follow. Other
members from the Executive Board proceed to make their announcements and expand further on
events or reminders mentioned previously by the chapter president. Executive members include
Vice President Chapter Relations & Standards, VP Finance, VP Risk Management, VP Ritual &
Fraternity Appreciation, VP Recruitment, VP New Member Education, VP PR & Marketing, VP
Membership Programming, Panhellenic Delegate, VP Intellectual Development, VP Facility
Operations, and VP Philanthropy. As these members relay important information to the chapter,
other members respond back by providing feedback to their questions or polls, demonstrating
how weekly meetings is an occasion that serves as one of Alpha Chis mechanisms of
intercommunication. Other occasions that are mechanisms of intercommunication include study
nights, workshops, and sisterhoods.
Circulation of Information by using Distinct Genres
Alpha Chi Omega circulates to its members various kinds of information that relates to
our goals of building strong life relationships and being real strong women by using its
participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback (Swales 472),

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exhibiting how the sorority incorporates the third characteristic of a discourse community. As a
social organization, we provide information about social events and social gatherings in order for
our members to build connections with those both inside and outside of our own community.
In order to distribute this information, Alpha Chi Omega utilizes and hence possesses
one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims (Swales 472) and to respond to
our recurring rhetorical social needs as a discourse community. In Part II of my analysis, I will
discuss one important genre Alpha Chi uses, the social calendar, that provides insight into our
role as a social organization. Besides this calendar, we use other genres: Facebook, Instagram,
GroupMe, My Chapter Room, text messages, and so much more. Most of these genres are social
media outlets and social media mediums that are used to respond to the social needs we embody.
Lexicon
Sororities and fraternities are prime examples of discourse communities that use specific
lexis daily, another vital characteristic as described by Swales. Alpha Chi Omega uses
specialized language familiar in Greek Life as well as lexis unique to Alpha Chi alone. One term
sororities use throughout the nation is Potential New Member, or PNM, which refers to a
prospective woman interested in joining a sorority and goes through the recruitment process.
With bids, a formal invitation to join a sorority, PNMs can join Alpha Chi Omega or any other
sorority after rush week, another term for recruitment week. On the other hand, an active is an
initiated member who already pays dues to the chapter and is enrolled in the university. Big is the
nickname given to an active for big sister, serving as a mentor assigned to a new member, who
is then, in turn, referred to as little.
A chapter is the collegiate branch of a national sorority. Every Panhellenic sorority here
at UCSB also maintains a chapter house with residential and dining facilities for its members.

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Continuous Open Bidding (COB) is an opportunity for chapters that do not reach quota during
initial recruitment during the fall to bid to quota. AXO participated in COB, and through this
process, welcomed a new class referred to as Winter 16. Class, or new member class, is the
term used to name new members of a Panhellenic Council organization who all joined during the
same semester. I am apart of the Fall 15 class in AXO.
One term unique to Alpha Chi alone is LITB, or Love in the Bond. We use LITB to
express our love and gratitude for our sisters instead of the typical phrase I love you,
illustrating the close bond Alpha Chi ensures among all its members. We also refer to each other
as Supportive Sis as another way to express appreciation for our sisters, especially during a time
of need. Another term, PACE, which is an acronym reminding AXOs to Promote Alpha Chi
Every day, also illustrates bond AXOs share.
Membership
Through its dependence on a ratio between novice and expert members for the
organizations existence, Alpha Chi Omega has a threshold level of members with a suitable
degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales 473), which, in accordance with the
final characteristic, further exemplifies AXO as a discourse community. As seniors leave after
graduation, new members, having recently offered a bid, come and join the chapter. New faces
and different personalities enlighten the house, adding to the already diverse group of girls at
Alpha Chi. There are many different ways that exemplify the novice-and-expert mentorship
relationship. Bigs and littles, for example, illustrate the mentorship role expert members embody
towards new members. Another example would be what we call seniority: the idea in which
upperclassmen, especially seniors, have more authority, privileges, and priorities over novice

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members. The Executive Board of the chapter has a more authoritative role as well, and thus
illustrates another example of the novice and expert member relationship.

Discourse Community and Literacy

Tony Mirabelli believes that literacy extends beyond individual experiences of reading
and writing to include the various modes of communication and situations of any socially
meaningful group or network where language is used in multiple ways (Mirabelli 145). Because
our modes of communication also extend beyond a members experience with reading and
writing, Alpha Chi Omega possesses a social relationship with literacy, just like how Mirabelli
views it. Members of AXO recognize the different needs and concerns accordingly of different
members or different organizations that we are addressing. For example, we would not talk to
upperclassmen with the same manner that we talk to individuals in our own pledge class. We
participate in other sororities and fraternities philanthropies, meeting their needs of attendance,
as a way to persuade them into attending our own philanthropic events. To preserve the bond that
we share as sisters, we at AXO read into social cues amongst ourselves to act accordingly with
one another. Usage of such verbal communication allows Alpha Chi Omega to thrive as a social
sorority.