Drinking in Letters
 

I was wondering what everyone's take on drinking in letters was. I saw a LOT of it over spring break, and I was totally shocked and taken aback. I don't think Kappa or my chapter has a specific written rule on it (but I could be wrong, and please correct me if you know otherwise), but it's always been something strictly prohibited in my school's NPC culture. Fraternities here seem to feel differently, and I see them drinking in letters rather frequently. While I was on vacation, it seemed like EVERYONE was drinking in shirts from their sororities... and even in some cases stitched letters. In my opinion at least there is nothing less flattering and more disrespectful to a GLO than being so drunk you can barely stand up while wearing your letters; I was honestly embarassed for some of the girls (thankfully none were Kappas :)) Is this something that other schools don't consider an issue? I was just wondering if it was just my campus where the attitude is strictly "no drinking in letters, ever, period" or if that's a common feeling.

It's a sanctionable offense for us.

We don't do it.

We're allowed to technically, but no one ever does.
All of the sororities on campus prohobit drinking in stiched letters, but only a few ban drinking in party shirts.

Pretty much a no-no. If you had your lavalier on, you should kinda tuck it in your shirt. And no drinking in the letters on a shirt. They didn't even want the girls that smoked to smoke with their letters on.

I know for sure we are not under any circumstances supposed to drink in our letters. Nothing connecting us to our sorority is supposed to be on or around us when drinking.

It wasn't allowed as a chapter rule, but is not a national policy. I don't even know for sure if it was written down as a chapter rule anymore, but it 'wasn't done' by sororities, and 'who cares' was the fraternities' attitude as a whole. Individual chapters may have had different reactions.

There are a number of threads on this, including this one, this one and others listed in the "Similar Threads" box you'll find if you scroll down (or the ones you'll find if you search). This is an interesting related thread.

Meanwhile, we are not prohibited from drinking in letters.

Thanks for the links. I didn't want to drag up the ones from '02 or '04 since I was thinking it might be a little redundant. It seems like the attitudes change every couple of years too, and since it's spring break I thought it might be something to mention.

I don't know if it's still the way it's done, but even if we weren't in letters, and we had someone at a party taking pictures, we had to hide the drink in the photo.

To this day, if I have a drink in my hand at a party, my first reflex is to put the solo cup, wine glass, etc. behind my back when the cameras come out.

I'm 36.

It was a massive no-no back in my active days, but i think that was more of a chapter rule rather anything from national. I personally just find it a little tacky and disrespectful.

We have a rule against it. So much in fact, when I went on a cruise one SB, I left all my letters at home so I wouldnt "accidentally" be wearing letters and having a drink.

There were a TON of fraternity and sorority members from other schools there, busting out in letters and drinking at the pool on the ship.

Another thread ... http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...2C+ASTalumna06

Serious, not-trying-to-pick-a-fight question: Why do you find it tacky and disrespectful?

I can see having a problem with people getting trashed in letters. But, assuming there's no other issue at play (like underage drinking), why would it be tacky and disrespectful to have a glass of wine with dinner while simultaneously wearing your letters?

I'm with you. Solo cups and being trashed is not the same as being of age and drinking responsibly.

.. which I can agree with, as well. The problem is always that gray area in between. Let's face it... a night out for one or two drinks can easily turn into a night you don’t remember, especially when you’re young.

Or.. let’s say your organization decides that alumnae can drink in their letters, but collegiate members can’t, and a girl transfers to another campus but doesn’t affiliate with the chapter there… now she’s still in college, around her sisters, and she can drink but they can’t? Or does it depend on whether or not you're taking classes?

Or maybe some alumni are out at the bar wearing their letters, and they're pretty drunk (not all alumni drink responsibly ALL the time), and the active brothers don't see why they can't wear their letters while drinking. Either that, or they become upset because their alumni members are making them look bad in front of other fraternities on campus.

I think that for these national organizations, it has to be all or nothing. To say you can do it sometimes but not others would probably cause more trouble than it's worth.

Not quite the same, but still relevant...we don't do it because we don't want alcohol/cigarettes/sex/what-have-you associated with the Sorority. All of our events are dry, although there are certain limited exceptions that require contracts, insurance polices and the like.

I know I don't want anyone to associate alcohol with us in any way shape or form.

Yes, ma'am.

I think you may be right. (I personally also think that's a shame.)

But if that's the case, then drinking in letters is prohibited as a risk management issue, not because it's inherently disrespectful, right? It's the feeling that drinking in letters is disrespectful that I'm trying to get a handle on.

Thing is we've shown that this ban on alcohol in letters is, for most if not all NPC orgs, done on a campus by campus basis and not a national thing at all. And it seems to work out just fine.

Letter shirts, party shirts and/or lavaliers are a big no no at parties even if you aren't drinking (just to be on the safe side!). My chapter also doesn't allow sweatpants/leggings/athletic shorts to be worn with letters so you can imagine how it would be if we were caught drinking in our letters.

^^^ You are also a member of a fraternity that is dry nationally right?

This topic again? LOL.

Before people run around correcting members, they need to understand the difference between a norm or accepted practice versus an official policy and procedure. Find out whether all collegiate and graduate chapters are expected to abide by it. If it's on a chapter-by-chapter basis, it isn't something to get bent out of shape over.

More importantly, only concern yourself with your letters and your GLO. Do not go around worrying about and trying to correct what members of other GLOs are doing in their letters. That applies to college campuses and at the graduate level. I respect the NPHC but don't give a damn what other NPHCers do in their letters. I might notice it and joke about it if it's someone I know, but I'm not laying down the law on others' letters. Mindayadamnbidness.

Me, too!

I just reread my post and I didn't make myself clear at all. Sorry :)

When the OP mentioned that she had seen girls in letters smashed out of their faces, this is what I thought was tacky and disrespectful.

I totally agree that a wine with dinner (as long as its in moderation) is perfectly acceptable, its something that we were allowed to partake in for things like formal dinners/special occasions.

Gotcha. Thanks.

This is the thing that kills me nowadays. Letters are letters. I don't know when the fact that some of them are one piece of fabric stitched onto another piece of fabric gave them Holy Virgin Mary status.

As for this whole discussion, that tired old chestnut "you are always wearing your letters" is actually useful here, only sort of in reverse. If (insert behaviour here) is tacky/disrespectful/RM risk, why on earth does it matter whether you're in letters or not? You shouldn't be doing it at all.

Best post of the week.

I never drink in LXA letters, when I drink its in Theta Kappa Nu letters haha

In my sorority, drinking while wearing letters is not allowed, even if the sister is of legal drinking age. Alcohol is forbidden in chapter houses, even if the sister who has it is of legal drinking age. Sisters and new members are expected to abide by all applicable laws regarding alcohol, i.e. no drinking at all until you're of legal age. Violation = a little chat with the standards board.

That said, if I were dressed up and wearing my badge and went out to dinner and wanted a glass of wine, I wouldn't fall apart and say "OMG I can't have this glass of wine because I'm wearing my badge!" The idea isn't to forbid a sister from having a glass of wine with her dinner, it's to prevent sisters from getting falling-down-drunk while wearing anything that would identify them as AEPhis. So I have zero problem with having a beer or glass of wine while wearing my badge, but that's A beer or glass of wine, and then I stop. (There are practical reasons too. You have to drive to get ANYWHERE in this damn state. So even if I'm not a designated driver, I still won't get falling-down-drunk.)

Actually after thinking about it, I guess we could be considered dry because we aren't allowed to have drinking at our events or in our house. Are all NPC considered dry? I've never really asked before.

Why should I take my letters off to drink? My alumni say it best: "Don't do anything in your letters that you wouldn't do out of them."

If I get trashed right now, every soul at this school knows I'm a SigEp. Doesn't make a difference.

No matter the age, though, I don't let drinks get in my pictures. I need to look presentable to corporate FB creepers, duh! On top of that, I'm an employee of the University.

All NPC facilities are supposed to be dry. As for the organizations themselves, no, none of them are. If chapters choose to pass chapter policies prohibiting any members to drink at any function, that's their business (although I've never heard of such a thing).

Yeah, that's why this whole debate is really ridiculous to most people from small schools.

Yea, that's definitely a big part of it.

My alma mater had ~25k students (33k now), so lots of non-Greeks had no idea what was going on in our bubble.

On top of that -- as much as I love my organization, I did/do have a life outside of it. Because I had to represent other things at non-Greek functions, it wasn't a big deal for me to "not be ODPhi" from time to time, and as such, I wasn't wearing letters 24/7. Unless I was at a specific Greek social function, I was just "k_s," not "odphi_k_s"

I know in Knoxville whenever the girls bring out cameras, the solo cup disappears

And that has more to do with not being able to use the picture for any recruitment videos, websites, (Inter)National magazines, etc if it turnsout to be a cute picture. The solo cup is assumed to be holding alcohol even if it just holds water so our organizations won't publish pictures including them in our magazines. No use ruining a perfectly good picture because of a stupid solo cup!

haha definitely. It was more just a joke. I very rarely see girls consuming in their letters, though. Only a couple times do I remember it, and they were hammered to the point they just didn't care.

Before a competition we were warming up with a sorority in full costume. There was a gatorade jug of water and solo cups. As soon as the cameras came out, every cup found a table.

LOL. We had lots of weird chapter rules about drinks when I was in school. Couldn't dance with a drink in your hand. It was helpful to not slosh drinks on people while you did the "YMCA" dance, but the rush of AOIIs to a table to dump their drinks when they heard the refrains of a favorite song was like a stampede!

Ha at this thread and its redundancy. Are folks still drinking liquor out of solo cups post-graduation? I hope not.

I'm all for being responsible drinkers. If you are teetering on the line of enjoying a glass of wine and letting EVERYONE know you're enjoying it in mass quantities, you (or another member) should aim to remove said letters/badges and/or tell you to have a seat.

I totally get the RM side of it, and the gray area of allowing exceptions. However, greek members on the undergraduate level are undergraduates. Generally, college students drink, some more than others. It shouldn't shock and awe anyone if a group of girls/guys walk into a bar in 6" XYZ letters.

That's why everyone should just start drinking straight vodka out of Evian water bottles. ;)

Even if you're at a big school, drinking in letters communicates a message about the whole Greek system to those who aren't Greek, especially when there's an acrimonious attitude towards Greek life in the first place.