Doo doo DOOOOO dooo dooo doo doo doo....thanks, I now have that stuck in my head, not that that is a bad thing.

I never said that MY CHAPTER or anyone's chapter on here would act in the manner that GoneGreek described. What it sounded like she was talking about was a huge chapter with a huge house that HAS to fill that house or have people pay if they don't move in, or they'll be very broke very fast. When you have a house that large, you are going to have more of a business aspect than if you have 8 girls living in a little house off campus. That's just a fact.

If this chapter wouldn't even help with a payment plan, that was wrong. But you have to consider also, in some NPC groups, there is no "financially inactive" or "special status" - you are either in the whole way, or you're out. Plenty of people have stated that on here. They may have been constrained by national policies as to what they could do.

As far as the original topic of the thread, well, I can think of two very different circumstances:

1. Johanna left G Phi B under bad terms and is wearing the shirts on air as a big middle finger to her chapter and the org in general.

2. Johanna left G Phi B for something her chapter sisters considered relatively minor, like failure to make grades repeatedly or inability to pay dues or just being too busy, and her chapter sisters still consider her part of the chapter and could care less if she wears letters on the air.

But the bottom line is, she is no longer an official national member of G Phi B and shouldn't be representing herself as such on a national TV show.

There are plenty of members of my organization who misrepresent what our letters stand for and they are still allowed to wear them. IMO, someone who lives our ritual but isn't a member is more welcome to wear a crush party tee shirt than someone who is a member but doesn't live up to what the organization's about. (And personally, at least with my chapter, and I HOPE this is true of my sorority on the national level, the organization is NOT about making those going through rough personal or financial situations feeling worse about themselves by ostracizing them from the chapter and demanding that they give you stuff that they bought with their own money.)

Wearing a shirt doesn't make you a member. As long as you aren't misrepresenting yourself (i.e., someone says "I didn't know you're an ABC!" -- as long as you answer, "I'm not, but I used to be" I'm fine with it) I have no problem with it. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I don't see how you have any right to take another person's belongings even if they acquiesce -- unless, of course, they sign a contract stating that they will follow those guidelines upon termination of membership.

i'm under the impression that this chick is NOT a member. am i wrong? i'm clueless as to why this is even this is a debate.

"permission to gain enlightenment!!!"

Most people seem to agree that 1) she's not a member, 2) wearing the letters seems tacky, and 3) the GLO's nationals aren't happy about it.
One of the questions that emerged was whether nationals could actually do anything about non-members wearing their letters, given that anyone can buy letters/nalia.

aren't letters copyrighted, thus their improper use is illegal?

Granted. And perhaps the enlightenment could be shared with the rest of us who are also in the dark.

A GLO's letters might be protected as a trademark or something else. However, these laws usually govern people who are selling merchandise with a logo. For example, selling fake Oakley sunglasses is illegal. The problem in this case is that anyone can legally buy merchandise with Greek letters - there's no effort to restrict that. So the debate was about whether the GLOs had any control over whether nonmembers wore their letters. This is a little different than companies trying to protect their IP. Going back to the Oakley example, the company's not going after the consumers who wear the fakes - they're interested in people who are selling them.

Don't you pay for the ritual items with your own money?

Gamma Phi Beta IHQ is taking action on this.

what are y'alls options?

I believe they are contacting MTV to let them know that she is no longer a member and requesting that our letters be blocked out in all future episodes that are aired.

SmartBlondeGPhB is a Gamma Phi bigwig compared to me and may know more about the situation.

We do have methods of reactivating your membership if you resigned from the sorority in good standing, so if Johanna is really interesting in becoming a Gamma Phi Beta again, that is certainly something she could consider pursuing.

Just curious, but is it possible that this chic was a member of this org while taping the show, and then resigned the letters. If my memory serves me correctly, these shows are taped about 18 to 24 months before they reach the air. So if she resigned in 2004 she may have been legit in wearing the letters.

Also, as MTV is a third party to any agreement between G Phi B and Jo, how could they be forced to incur the expense of blurring letters in EVERY episode? In order for that to happen, would some relationship have to exist between the network and the National Office.

Obviously.

You're welcome. :)

Bring in the violins, Johnny. :p