Wow, pledges wearing letter?? Damn, haven't seen that before. Our pledges wear their pledge pins and that's it. They can't wear anything with our letters on it. What would be the point? They want to join our family and what good is it if they are already wearing the letter?

Our Ladies aren't allowed to wear letters until the day the finish , but if we have an event or an activity then they can wear a greek letter shirt but it's wore inside out.
But they can wear it if it's spelled out in words
DGPhoney~

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"Simply the Best, Delta Gamma Pi"
http://everythingblack.websitenow.com/citron

In the Gamma Zeta chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon's bylaws, there is a rule about how the prospective members (pledges)cannot wear letters, badges or the crest until after initiation. I think it is because according to PSE's point of view, wearing the letters is a right that has to be earned.--except for the recruitment t shirt (they can wear that and the letters appear on the upper left hand corner) Although the prospective members get presents in the beginning of hand painted picture frames and cups that have PSE on it.after initiation, they get presents like the shirts, sweaters, lavalieres etc....but i think no matter how your organization does it, wearing the letters is something to be proud of, no matter how early you did it!

our new members can wear anything but stiched on Greek letters letters, including any t-shirt with our lettes on it, or any stiched t-shirt that spells out SDT (as an S, D, and T)our pledge jerseys are commonly stiched "sig delt".

I guess it comes down to your campus. We have Panhellenic events and we have to wear letters to participate, so we cannot get around it. We also need as much PR as possible so it helps if one day out of the week 700 women are wearing stiched letters.
We have 9 NPC groups and we all comply so I guess our groups don't have the same regulations as many out there or maybe each chapter can regulate that differently.
Our groups are:
KD
DZ
AOPi
ADPi
AZD
Alpha Phi
Sigma Sigma Sigma
ZTA
Chi O

You got to look at the big picture. Pledging or New Member Period is a trial period. Giving them letters(stiched on or even event shirts in my opinion) wouldn't be the right thing to do. If they wore letters at all during their new member period they wouldnt understand what they earned. Pledge Pins and dressing up to represent the organization you desire to be a part of is an honor in itself.

I guess I have a different view on "earning" my letters. The actual jersey makes no difference to me, I mean we all know that your invisible jersey is always apparent so everyone knows who you represent anyway.

I feel like new members deserve the option to wear letters, pins and party shirts are not really important in the big picture, but big letters across your chest makes you more aware of what's going on and the impact you have as a small part of the bigger picture. I know we did things for PR in my chapter because we were a colony and needed publicity, but I still feel like it is very cute when our ECU chapters give matching letters to littles and bigs, it makes it all feel more together.

I guess it varies on your campus and point of view. I still think pins or dressing up is the same as wearing letters because you still represent the same group without fully understanding the meaning of the organization. When it comes down to 6-8 week new member periods it really doesn't matter, but Chi O holds their new gilrs until the next semester so I think they need the recognition.(by the way, I wish everyones new member period is longer!)

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Lexi

There is no such general consensus. In Phi Kappa Psi, we have some chapters (U. Kansas, U. Iowa) who never wear letters at all, but wear "Phi Psi", not "Phi Kappa Psi" in script. Some of our chapters allow pledges to wear letters. My chapter only allows brothers to wear letters, so event t-shirts will say "Phi Psi", yet for homecoming and greek week, we allow FKY to be listed along side all of the other GLOs.

I'll speak up for my local here.
If a pledge was seen wearing letters of any sort..well..they'd have the letters ripped off of them so quick it'd make their head spin :p The only time they are allowed to wear letters is during "hell week" in which the shirt says:
(front)LOY
Pledge
Fall 2003
(back)Lambda Omicron Psi
(sleeves) Big & Little sis

There is no consensus.

My personal beliefs differ from KD policy.
KD policy is that new members may wear letters, and it is hazing to deny them that right.
My personal belief is that someone isn't really truly a member until they are initiated, and therefore shouldn't be entitled to wear the letters of the org.

Da, just what is wrong with a New Associate wearing Letters?

Is she wearing the Creast? No. Dont You want to let other people on campus to know that these Women Associated with Your Orgaization?

If you will pardon me, but how friggin stupid!:o

When we got New Associates, the Actives let them wear a shirt that had our letters on it. Well untill they got their own!

This as we called it in Marketing. Advertising, and Merchandising, called it selling!

You are not Proud enough to have Your New Associate members wear YOU LETTERS!:o :eek: :(


Is this Your Self importance or Your National?:confused:

Some of us believe that it is more important to attach value to the meaning of our letters, then to treat it our values as wholesale merchandise that needs to be marketed. But, that's simply a matter of perspective and values.

I didn't say they shouldn't wear anything with the greek letters on it or with the name spelled out. I'm talking about the jersey, sewn letters that most people mean when they say they're wearing their "letters", at least at my school. My letters have a special significance to me.

I'm not a believer in wearing things that you don't know the meaning of. Kinda like that Chinese symbol fad a while back..... I swear, half those things probably translated to say "i'm a dumbjack@ss who spent too much money on this to try to look cool"

And as I clearly stated- it's my personal belief (one which a lot of other greeks hold as well), NOT MY ORGANIZATIONS. I respect the rules and decisions of my GLO.

WOAH! WOAH, EASY TIGER! :eek:

I never said there was anything wrong with it! Iwas just interested in other's views! I asked the question as I have seen debate on here before about what's okay and what's not, how much can be worn, etc. Both with HBGLO's which I (on GC) have seen to particularly focus on the problems of 'perps', and other orgs.
I also AGREE with you that getting your name out there is good! I was just trying to find out whether it would be generally FROWNED UPON by the Greek community if people who were not actives of a GLO were freely allowed to wear a) the name in English of the org. b) the Greek letters c) Crest also on T-shirt. What's ok and what's not. For example, I've seen posts where people have said XYZ (might've been the Pikes?) on their campus allows girls to wear their letters as it always does them good to have beautful girls sporting their letters.

Also, hope springs eternal, but I do not have a national. We're a petitioning group, (who're only interested in one 'national).

ETA: Ohh sorry..... you didn't mean me :o :o. Okay, feeling stupid now...

dec, i started another thread that may better provide an answer to your specific question, as an interest group is much different than a new member:

Interest Group Using Letters

The start date on this thread was in 2001. At some point, starting a new thread becomes acceptable:D

We allow candidates to wear and possess anything but the crest. This varies from chapter to chapter. In no way has HQ set this in stone. One expansion advisor advised us one way on it and another said it didn't really matter..

Re: Re: Flame post (IMO)
 

I don't think it's appropriate for you to infer/suggest that I made an assertion that Tom Earp doesn't attach values to his letters. I believe that we all have different value sets, and that each are equally valid, in the context of our individual organizations. Where I disagreed with Tom is that he asserted his value set onto that of a different GLO.

Dec, of course did not mean you!:)

Just saying, OH Golly Gee Whizeer, the Newbies dont know the TRUe MANY of the Letters! Hell NO they dont, they have not been Initiated yet.

But to deny them the fact that they have Pledged themselves to s certain Orgaization and CANNOT wear The Fraterity/Soroity Letters!?

Oh, give me a damn break!:eek:

How course is the sand that some of you place your head in!

ARRRRG!

Yes, We are Secret Societys, but dont be silly, We aint the Skull and Bones!:rolleyes:

We're allowed to wear letters as pledges. Our formal jersey has "Gamma Phi" spelled out, but when my sister-mom gave me my family letters (we have family jerseys), I wore them. Another girl in my pledge class made her own! We also made pledge class jerseys, which were the letters and our pledge nick. The only thing we couldn't wear was the formal jersey with our formal nick until after we got initiated.

I don't think any AEPhis have posted on this thread yet...

Only initiated sisters are allowed to wear the Greek letters or use items that display the letters (keychains, bags, etc). New members can wear shirts that say "AEPhi" or "Alpha Epsilon Phi" spelled out.

New members "shouldn't" order letters or buy lettered items before initiation, but nobody really complained if a NM did so as long as she didn't wear/use them.

Delta Gammas are allowed to wear letters before initiation...our girls got their jerseys (stiched letters) before initiation.

We could wear letters as long as they were iron on, screen printed, or spelled out. We couldn't wear stitched or embroidered until initiation, and most of us got stitched letter hoodies from our big sister as an initiation gift.

Our pledges can wear the name spelled out, but no letters until they are activated. We activate our newest class this Friday!

Pledges wearing letters
 

In my sorority, pledges are not allowed to wear letters at all. They are also not allowed to wear the colors of the sorority. I think the system is different in my sorority because when pledges are "on line" no one know until they have crossed and become sisters.

It is a tradition at my school that you do not wear letters until initiation. You can wear anything with the Fraternity or sororitys letters spelled out but nothing with the greek letters. Then as you start tos ee the new members wearing letters you know who just got in. My sorority has one tradition that goes against that which is the big always buys her little a stitched letter tote for the big little revealing, I know that the not wearing letters before initiation is a campus tradition not a Delta Zeta one though because when we were still a colony last year and our consultants came down she couldn't believe that we didn't wear letters.

Every now & again, this discussion flares up, and our EO policy is that only the crest is forbidden for use of a New Member. Sometimes a chapter will be a little stricter and not allow their New Members to wear the letters until they're initiated.

I did get a huge laugh out of it, though, at our 150th anniversary a couple years back. The very same sister who was terribly in your face about not wanting New Members to wear letters ordered glasses with the crest on them for favors - for members, alumnae, New Members, and sundry husbands/boyfriends that were there!!! Thankfully, common sense prevailed and the New Members' glasses were kept for their initiation, and the men were smart enough to not tussle with by-the-book alumnae!!




edited for grammar!

This summer at our Leadership Training School, we were told that new members are indeed allowed to wear letters. Of course, this was met with dissent, but what National says goes! :)

In my Alpha Phi Omega chapter, we were not allowed to wear letters or any APO paraphernalia as pledges. We could wear our pledge pins and that was it.

As for paddles, our chapter's tradition was to give paddles to the graduating seniors at our last meeting of the semester. The paddles were presented to each person by brothers who knew them pretty well, and talked about what that person brought to the organization and stuff. It was really meaningful. I still have my paddle hanging on the wall above my bed. :D

Wow, some of your chapters, no offense, have lots of rules. We allow our NMs to wear letters (stiched or printed) (spelled out or letters) but do not allow them to wear the crest until after initation. We give the new initiates our chapter shirt, with the crest on it, to them on that day. Otherwise you are watching what people wear, and making them uncomfortable. They may not understand the full signifigance, but they understand that it is something special and that they will eventually mean more, and when you do wear, that same shirt, it has a new meaning after initiation.

blah...don't like lots of rules about clothing, sounds too big brotherish for me. :)

eh... when I pledged our NM chair told us no letters before initiation... but the first TC that heard that told us that NM are to be allowed to wear letters. To be honest, it didn't meet much if any resistance... but that's just my chapter. :)

My chapter however does not encourage NM to wear letters before initiation (by buying them letters or anything). Since we're in Canada and getting letters often takes 6-8 weeks, it's not really an issue.

During our initation sleepover, the NM make their own 'getto' letter shirt/bags/hats/whatever... so it's nice to hype that up and then see them all come out where their very first set of letters right after initation.

As a new member who made it all the way to initiation without wearing letters, I must say, it does feel good to earn them.

And for the people who are concerned about how anyone will know which girls are pledging which sorority, most everyone who has posted that their new members don't wear letters has also explained that they can wear the name of their GLO spelled out. I'm sure people knew I was a Theta new member... I practically lived in my black and gold Bid day shirt!

As I said before I think a lot of it depends on your campus traditions. I can't think of any GLO (except the locals, who were looking to go national and therefore didn't have crests) who weren't allowed to wear letters before initiation. Crests however were a Big Big Deal and you didn't get them until after you initiated.

Weird Twist
 

My Chapter allowed us to wear letters (any type stitched, sewn, glued, screen printed... whatever), in fact they were handed out with zeal. If a new member wanted a set of letters or shirt all she had to do was ask and she was always welcome to barrow another sisters shirts till she got her own. We were the only organization on campus that allowed this practice, but here’s the twist, the members of my chapter don’t value their letters and in turn don’t always value organization they belong too.

At first I couldn’t figure out why the new members didn’t value the chapter as much as I did or the other women I joined with. We take the new members in treat them as equals (as it should be) and share our sisterhood with them, while at the same time educating them about our heritage. What I have realized over time is that there is a distinct difference between when I joined and the new members the chapter is now taking. I was a founding member, so I had to put a lot of work, heart and soul into the chapter, as a group the women I rushed and joined with had to prove to the Greek Community and to our National Organization that we were a Colony that was ready to become a Chapter.

The new members now go through all the same rituals, and wear the same letters, but I know when wore my letters across campus, I was proud. When I received my pin I cried during our ritual (and I don’t cry). I don’t think the new members now have this same feeling of pride, because what they have has been given, rather than earned. Handing out letters to new members in theory it seems like a great idea, but in my opinion if you do not have to live with out then you never learn to truly appreciate what you have.

We never let new members wear letters. What we will do is on certain occasions allow them to wear shirts with the Phi spelled out if we want to represent at Greek events like Greek Goddess or Greek Week but we don't even do that every semester.

Is that a new national policy or your chapter's policy? :confused:

When I was an active, we had letter days once a week. New members would either wear their bid day shirts or borrow an older bid day or event shirt from a sister (with "Alpha Epsilon Phi" or "AEPhi" on it, not the Greek letters). NMs could wear such shirts on other days of the week as well, if they so chose. We were the smallest chapter on campus, so we needed everyone, including our NMs, representing.

In TKE we allow them to wear letters, but not the crest and such. These insignia are open to our challenge to distingiush brothers.

I think it is up to the chapter in most cases.

Up until this semester, my chapter always discouraged girls from wearing letters until Initiation - we wouldn't stop them, but we preferred if they would wait. This semester each girl got one of our main lettered shirts (screenprinted shirts with our name inside our letters) to wear on Bid Day, and almost all of them put them on over their clothes and got really excited. We had one girl who was just traumatized she had to dress up to wear her nm pin because she wanted to wear it every day, it was super cute!

At my school no one (fraternities or sororities) allows their NM's to wear letters until after they get in. The only exception to this rule is Kappa which gives their NM's sweatpants with letters on the butt that they have to all wear on certain days. One of the other sororities here, their nationals told them they had to let NM's wear letters, so they bought the letters but I don't think that they were actually given them until after initiation. At my school it's the same thing as with Buttonz, you can tell exactly when everyone got in because that's when they're all wearing letters.