First off, I would never tell anyone from another org that he/she is in the wrong not letting someone wear letters/crests/colors before initiation. They know the meanings behind them, I don't. By the same token, I wouldn't say someone is wrong TO let their pledges wear them.

I don't know, it just seems like the more we stress no hazing, the more rules like this pop up. During Derby Days, we (as in all the sororities on my campus) let the Sigma Chis who were our coaches wear our jackets. No one thought a thing of it. There's even a pic in our yearbook of 2 sororities wearing each others' coats at Greek Week. From the sounds of things, that would provoke a full-scale riot today.

it is a neat tradition and certainly today is much easier to comply with than when i was a pledge and letter jerseys were the only things that we had. can you tell that i am jealous of all the cute t-shirts that sororities have now?

Letters on Bid Day...
 

My sister was so excited that I pledged ZTA she gave me a lavalier on bid day! So, while other ladies were waiting for t-shirts, I wore my letters every day! In fact, I still have my same lavalier 15 years later. :)

And... the day after initiation I went out and bought something with the crest on it!

It's not as big a deal as I guess I made it sound! Wow, didn't mean for this thread to get so heated! My chapter just placed more meaning on wearing letters than others and so we made it easy for the NMs to not wear them until initiation. It gave us something to look forward to besides just the ritual of initiaton because wearing letters was a big deal at my school. We all understood and agreed with the tradition of waiting. It was by no means a rule and we just felt as strongly as our older sisters did about it.

Sigma Kappa NMs also wear the letters on their NM pin so it makes sense to me that there's no prohibition on wearing letters before initiation.

Realistically, many times when you join an organization you get something that labels you a member, a T-shirt, a membership card, etc. How many new members know what it really means to be a member of their new organization? How much work will be involved? What it stands for? Not knowing secrets of a sorority don't mean you don't want to yourself up to the highest standards in its name. Wearing the pin or the letters serves as a reminder of that.

I agree with a previous comment that a pledge class just doesn't go along with tradition unknowingly. Actives pass that along.

As for lavaliers, my family tradition was for the big to buy one for her little and give it to her little in her basket at big sis revealing, but other families did it differently I think. The tradition before me was for another sister close to your big, your Berry Buddy who was chosen by your big to be another guiding source for you in her absence who bought it for you and preseneted it to you after big sis revealing. Somehow, the lavalier didn't hold as much meaning as stiched letters. So, I wore my lavalier all the time (before initation) and when I graduated, I gave my lavalier to my new little that I took that Spring and I started wearing a crown instead.

The Zeta pledge pin does not have letters on it, so I can't go along with that. But I do agree with you in that initiated sisters are the people that pass along traditions and history and secrets of an org. But there are other things you can display that also remind you of the standards you are holding yourself up to in that org's name besides stitched letters, crest, etc., such as I <3 ZTA pins, ribbons, bid day t-shirt (among others), etc.

sidebar: it gets much more 'heated' than this here at GC - this is just a bunch of people sharing their opinions and personal experiences...

- m

It's been a while since I've posted, I forgot how heated it can get, lol. :eek:

The thing is that, IMO, one chapter shouldn't be putting "more meaning on wearing letters than others." Particularly when it edges really close to violating (Inter)National policy.

In Alpha Phi Omega, new members cannot wear the Greek Letters or have them on anything other than their Pledge Pin. Our paddles had Phi spelled out. Our pledge class t-shirt only had the pledge class name.

So you bet I got a Greek letter T-shirt once I was initiated.

In fact, I got 3 of them. And people everywhere would ask me "what sorority was I in". Even at work nowadays they do when I wear one of my A Phi O Greek letter tees.

Drole, I agree that one chapter "shouldn't" put more meaning on letters than others, but that's just one more thing that makes each chapter different. Certain things are more important to its members than others. For example, A-Phi's little AOE thing they use at the end of messages is important enough to them that its meaning is secret, while everyone knows what ZLAM means for Zetas.

Back in the Ice Age, when I pledged, our pledge pins had the letters on them. We were not allowed to wear any other letters until initiation, but could wear anything that said Alpha Gam.

I think that was a chapter rule and not an international rule.

I had a roommate that was an APO my senior year and I remember what a big deal initiation was for her and wearing letters (which she did a lot afterwards) and it made me remember mine :)

That's a different organization though, not a different chapter. I'm referring to different chapters of the same organization. (Your chapter of ZTA vs. another chapter of ZTA that has no "tradition" of NMs not wearing letters for example)