I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way, but...

At one point, my chapter was known as the "prude" chapter, where noone drank and noone had fun. In fact, a couple of non-greeks thought we were one of the community service sororities. So, as a "PR" move, we started letting our letters "slip out" at parties. Nothing drastic, but maybe we'd make sure to mention we were in a sorority while drinking, or "accidentally" leave our keychains on our keyrings. It was nothing that other sororities hadn't been doing for years, but it helped us lose our reputation as the "non-fun" sorority.

Also, something that we always have said to our new members, and that was said to us is that as large as our school is (I went to U of S. Carolina), Greek Life is small, and for the most part everyone knows what sorority everyone is in, anyway. You should always act with your letters off as you would with them on.

I'm sorry if others don't agree with me, but I really don't see much wrong with this. If they were drinking responsibly and not acting like drunken idiots, then I personally don't see it as bad PR. I kinda see is as good. But, maybe I understand this because of the chapter that I came from.

In a perfect world, you would probably be right..... But in the incredibly cut-throat and superficial greek world that exists on some campuses, reputation means alot more than it should.

I think you need to find a balance between being the "prude" chapter and being "those stupid ABC's who are always making fools of themselves at parties".

I agree. I'm sick and tired of the idea that we have to be all holier-than-thou all the time. The average college girl drinks, so why can't the average sorority girl? While I certainly don't condone pulling down your pants to show everyone your thong with letters on it, I think there are bigger problemsin Greek life than drinking with a lavalier on.

I don't think the rule "no drinking in your letters" was made because of the girl that drinks responsibly while remaining ladylike and just happens to have on her lavalier or keychain. I agree that that may not be a huge deal or bad PR. When I hear "no drinking in letters" told to our pledges, I generally think of a girl getting drunk off her backside with letters plastered across her chest at a bar or fraternity party. One girl acting like an idiot can ruin the great reputation my chapter spent the last few years building up.

We did the exact same thing. And guess what, our rush numbers started to go up. No girl wants to join a chapter full of drunks, but no one wants to join the chapter full of prudes either. Of course neither "image" is true, but if it's gotten to the point where you are losing girls to other sororities and fraternties don't want to mix with you, one way or another, you have to do something. And no, it's not true that "the good girls won't care if you're non-fun." Many of them will because they don't want to pay hundreds of $$$ in dues to join a sorority that (from what they see) never mixes with fraternities and is judgemental of people who drink.

And for the gabillionth time, at a lot of schools it doesn't make a damned bit of difference if you are in letters or not, because everyone has seen you during the week in class wearing letters anyway. To piggyback off my other post, if you're worried about girls acting like idiots when they get too drunk, educate them about their limits and how to drink responsibly instead of having BS rules about wearing letters.

Around here, it's generally looked down on to drink in letters. We even have it in our bylaws saying that we are not allowed to drink in letters. I just think it helps us look more classy!

At my campus, it was pretty uncommon to see girls at parties (especially fraternity parties) wearing their letters. We also didn't see very many wearing letters at the bar.

Then, I came to Austin and here, sorority girls wear their letters to just about anything it seems. Every fraternity party I have been to, I have seen almost every girl wearing her letters. It is almost strange if you DON'T wear them.

I have also found that lots of times, people somehow know that you're in a sorority whether you're wearing letters or not.

i know a few phi mus with related tattoos but no badge, crest or letters. One has carnations, one has a quatrefoil outline, one has stars.

is that bad?

My personal opinion.... NO, that's not bad at all.

I plan on getting a tatoo of a violet to represent ADPi. :) I think something like a flower or diamonds or stars or something is a good idea if you want to get a sorority tatoo. Better than actual letters anyway. Not everyone will know exactly what it standa for, and it can probably be prettier. :)

I think getting letters tatooed is a pretty common thing in fraternities though.

I don't think these are letter equivalents - at our convention this summer we received some really cute crescent moon necklaces as a gift and I've worn mine to the bars. I think anybody who knows enough to say "Oh, she's wearing a crescent moon, she must be a Gamma Phi" would also know that I was a Gamma Phi without my having the necklace on.

I agree with GP. Just because you're wearing a kite/key/owl/anchor/arrow etc. doesn't mean you're necessarily a member of a sorority that has that as one of its symbols. One of my sisters has a rhinestone anchor necklace that she always wears and she's obviously not a DG or an AST.

Sigma Alpha can absolutely not drink in their letters....we're totally dry :-D

Shelley