Alpha Chi Omega Joins the Ole Miss Panhellenic Community
In the Fall of 2022, the university’s college panhellenic community welcomed Alpha Chi Omega to its campus. Since its intended installation date of Fall 2020, Ole Miss has been patiently awaiting the arrival of AXO. Now, the AXO community is being embraced with positivity and excitement by everyone in the Greek community.
Alpha Chi Omega was founded on October 15, 1885, at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana as the nation’s 10th women’s fraternity. Since then, AXO has expanded to have over 140 collegiate chapters with over 300,000 members. Ole Miss is now happy to be included in the numbers stated above.
Their philanthropy is domestic violence awareness, where each chapter focuses on reinforcing the community of women that suffer from domestic violence. Each chapter partners with local women’s shelters in order to establish a solid relationship.
Anna Dale Franks, a sophomore political science major from Houston, Miss., went through recruitment to become a founding member of the Alpha Chi Omega chapter at Ole Miss. Franks didn’t go through traditional recruitment as most women do at Ole Miss. Instead, she took interest in AXO in the spring of 2022 and began seeking more information about their chapter.
“I chose Alpha Chi Omega because of our philanthropy: domestic violence awareness,” Franks said. “It spoke volumes to me and stood out as something I wanted to be a part of. Also, the opportunity to be a founding member was incredible because it truly has been a whole process of us learning together and creating our own chapter. We get to start our own traditions and have so many opportunities to grow together overall. Being able to make a real difference in my community is a real attraction to me. I have always felt so strongly about this cause and being able to incite change is very exciting to both me and all of my sisters.”
In July of 2022, the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation launched a $25 million campaign to support their endeavors with domestic violence awareness. In efforts to support this cause and create a difference in Oxford, AXO is hosting “Love Should be Sweet” where those in the Oxford community will be able to create care bags for the Oxford women’s shelters.
“I want people to know that it is such a fun and exciting experience,” Franks said. “If anyone is thinking about getting involved or seeking out more information, absolutely do it! It is one of the best decisions I have made since being at Ole Miss. It has totally changed my college experience and allowed me to make some of my best friends before we even got bids!”
Alpha Chi Omega at Ole Miss is hopeful and eager to make an impact in the Ole Miss community and intends to grow as their membership follows in the years