| February 6th, 2018

Misconceptions of Omega Psi Phi

By: journeymagazine

By| Ricardo Brown

Manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and to uplift are the adopted cardinal principles of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. They have stood by these principles since being established in 1911 on the campus of Howard University. Unfortunately, on the campus of Florida A&M, there are those that don’t associate these men with their fundamental truths.

The Mighty Melodic Bloody Up Upsilon Psi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi, chartered  May 13, 1932 on FAMU’s campus, have become known as “nasty dawgs” to the student body. This is mainly attributed to one of the Fraternity’s symbols being a bulldog and them barking anytime they see another member. Them being referred to as nasty dawgs has built the idea that they are simple minded, over the top, and all they want to do is have sex with women. “The ques are really extra in my eyes, they want to be seen as mature, but they’re actually really childish,” said Shay Plumlee, sophomore biology student. Nick Folmar, a senior music education student says, “To be real, they just seem overrated to me. Everybody thinks they are players and they get all the girls, but all they really do is prey on all the freshmen girls.”

However, after looking into the chapter’s activities on and off campus these ideas may not be the whole story. The men of Omega Psi Phi have made community service an enormous focus of their daily lives. They have served as mentors to the Omega Lamplighters, a program focused on helping and developing young minority men, for the last 10 years. Along with that, Uplison Psi has been voted “Chapter of the Year” for three years in a row now. “Yeah, we do some of the things people say that we do, but we do so much more. You can check yourself, we, as a chapter, maintain a 3.0 GPA. We do all we can to hold on to our founding principles,” said Jamal Noble, current President of the Uplison Psi Chapter.

Most people only talk about what they see at Set Friday or parties on the weekend, but they fail to mention the amount of work these men put in in Coleman Library and around campus. Many can argue the perception of the men of Omega Psi Phi, but no one can argue their commitment to service and impact on the community.