question for fraternity members!
 

I am friends with four Pikes and I have NEVER seen them wear their badges (not sure if they even HAVE them), nor have I really seen ANY fraternity members on campus wear them, except for Sinfonians.

Is this common on all campuses? In SAI we wear our badge EVERY time we're dressed up, and I have seen all other sororities do the same. Personally, I love wearing mine and can't imagine why these fraternity men *wouldn't*. So, is it not mandatory for fraternity members to wear their badges? Do they even have to buy one? I'm a little confused. :confused:

While most fraternities can wear their pins when they are dressed up, most fraternities don't have times where they are required to wear their pins like sororities. Its an option if and when you want to wear it, because its your right as a brother.

I only wear mine during ritual meeting, initiation and semi-formal, formal. That was during my undergrad days, I don't wear them at all now cause my badge was handed down to my little and i'm too lazy to buy a new one.

I agree! I see sorority badges every single day, but I have rarely (and by that I mean like three times in three years) seen a guy wearing a fraternity badge (and about 80% of our campus is Greek). The only time I've seen guys wear pins is during pledgeship-- and only at some of the houses.

It just seems strange to me. I mean, I love my badge and what it stands for, and I'm always proud to wear it, and I would wear it every time I was dressed up even if I didn't "have to". I just don't understand why fraternities don't feel the same.

Well personally, I wore my badge evey chance I got, but alot of guys worried about it falling off and what not and wore it on special occasions only.

I know that the fraternities around here wear their badges when theyre dressed up for special events and always do if it is something to do with the fraternity or school function.


Nichole

In a lot of the fraternities at school #1, they weren't required to buy a badge and most of them didn't. Other men didn't wear them to much besides meetings and ritual because at banquets they were imbibing or being un-Sigmalike. Let's face it - a badge is jewelry, most men don't like jewelry.

HEEHEE! I wondered when "un-Sigma-like" was going to show up again.

At my school, guys don't wear them nearly as often as girls, but they do wear them. However, because you have to dress up to wear a badge and because most of the guys on my campus are given to laziness, they usually just wear letters.

The Customs Change
 

In our chapter every new member is given a plain badge when they are initiated. They tend to wear them only on coat lapels for dressy occasions. There's no standing rule. No one wants to wear their badge on a t-shirt, and the dress for class is so casual these days that pins are seldom seen. All it would take is for one leading fraternity to ask their members to wear a collared shirt once a week to class with their pin, and others would pick up on the trend. Might not be bad at all for the campus to see a lot of fraternity & sorority pins in class.

Almost everyone at my school has Chapter on Monday nights, so that's pretty much the only time you see the guys dressed up on my camus. Unless they are in the school on business, or have a presentation, but still, it's a rare event. And although not all the guys do dress up, the ones that do wear their badges. I'm usually sure to see at least one Greek guy in each of my classes, and on Monday, they are usually dressed up and wearing a badge, especially the pledges.

My chapter is a non-badge wearing chapter as well. We will where our badges for rituals and formal events( parents day, founders day,etc.) but not every day. One rule we have is that you can only wear your badge with a button up collared shirt, so it's only when we dress up do we wear our badges.

Our chapter never really had badges - a couple of members wore chapter-owned badges for special reasons, but besides that almost no one had them.

When I had mine, I wore it to chapter, formal, and for composite pictures. I also wore it during our Conclave (International Convention) to all of the sessions.

In the sixties, everyone wore their badges pretty much all the time.

It frustrates me that they don't anymore, and here is my theory why:

Standard dress for college men today is jeans and whatever goes with them (tees, etc.)

That dress is not appropriate for the display of a Delt (or most anyone else) badge.

We require collared shirts, etc.

I think it's a real shame.

Oh wow, so you guys never owned badges?

At our school once a week we dress up and wear our badge. last semester it was thursdays. It lets other see our presence in the school. Like i have seen many of you write, todays class dresscode is very laid back so dressing up in business attire once a week really catches peoples eye and once they see our badge, they know who we are. The only fraternity i have seen wear their badge are the Sigma Pi but only when they are also in business attire although i dont know their guidelines.

For us, it was never considered appropriate to wear our badge with anything less than shirt and tie, so usually they are only worn to chapter meetings, formals, etc. About 2x a semester the chapter would usually have a "dress-up day" and that was the only time brothers would wear their badges to class.

i may sound a little out of it but you are in a fraternity right? its just because we call ourselves phisig too and i hadnt seen a fraternity that did the same. just wondering what are your letters?

We have 2-3 formal/ritual meetings per month, and many of our guys don't really wear them. They either forget, or have already lost the plain badge they got at initiation.

The 'Phi Sig' fraternity is Phi Sigma Kappa. We have them on our campus and we love em!

As for badges, you'll see a few guys wearing them around. Sorority badges are more common. We have Panhellenic on Wednesdays so you have to be in badge attire to even get in the room. During the weeks leading up to recruitment we stick to letters every day except for Wednesday. New members can't really decipher badges so we try not to wear them unless it's madatory.

Phi Sigma Kappa is correct! I wonder if anywhere they've had an all-Phi Sig party? We didn't have Phi Sigma Sigma on my campus, so we didn't have much confusion with that.

I don't like wearing mine for fear of losing it.
 

I am sure this applies to many other fraternities as well, but for my chapter of Pikes, we have strict rules for wearing the badge. For instance, wearing a badge on the lapel of a sportscoat is not allowed *with 1 exception i believe but I'm not sure what the exception is. Also, as someone else mentioned, in order to wear the badge you must be wearing a collared, button-down shirt. If it is ever neccessary to display the badge while wearing letters, it must be placed on the inside of the letter "A". Another rule that my chapter is a stickler for is that you can NEVER be wearing the badge(and in some instances, letters) while consuming alcohol. In general, there just aren't that many opportunities in our daily routine to wear it, but that doesn't mean we have any less pride in our organization.

thanks for the information.

Re: I don't like wearing mine for fear of losing it.
 

Get a bubble guard. You can get them from www.burrpatt.com for about 50¢.What a great idea. I should suggest that to my Panhellenic President little sis.

I wear mine whenever I put on a tie. I even wore my pin when on formal night on my last cruise.

Because we have formal dinner once a week, I'd say everyone in my chapter wears their badge at least once every two weeks.

I always thought it odd that members weren't required to buy their pins. In Beta part of our Pledging/initiation fees went towards teh purchase of a standard badge. As for losing them, our standard badge is only $10 to replace (b/c it's gold plated with a cubic zirc.)

The only time that any of the brothers in my chapter wear badges are at house meeting and our formals. A lot of guys are afraid to lose them, which has happened in the past.

Re: I don't like wearing mine for fear of losing it.
 

What he said. :)

Have to agree with DelataAlum! Back in the old days the dress was much different!

We as a new local, we all dressed and wore our Badges.

Being the Business Dept. I had to wear tie and slacks.

But LXA has strict rules on wearing Badges. No patch pockets, t-shirts, shorts, etc. Slacks, shirt and tie.

Unfortunuatly by todays standard wear what the hell you like! Many campuses dont wear letters/colors!

What the Hell! Arent you proud enuff of your Org to show who you are??

This had really pissed me off to no end over the last years.:mad:

A member from the Old School!:cool:

we all get ours as part as out initiation fee, but no one really wheres them to our formal meetings except our executive board. just laziness really

Re: Re: I don't like wearing mine for fear of losing it.
 

What on earth is a bubble guard?



When I was in college, I only really saw the Phi Psi's wearing their badges anywhere but formal meetings, lavaliering/pinning ceremonies, formals, etc., because they would have badge day once or twice a month. Pretty much the only time you see fraternity pins worn around campus are when guys pin their girlfriends. I wore my boyfriend's pin much more than he ever did. ;)

Re: Re: Re: I don't like wearing mine for fear of losing it.
 

It's a teeny tiny "bulbous' looking bead like thing that you slide onto the sharp part of the pin, just before you do up the clasp. That way, if the pin pops open, the badge will not be lost. The "bubble guard" keeps it from sliding out of the fabric (it basically anchors it to the fabric, even if the clasp should open).

Not sure if I explained it that well, but I tried! :o

I just bought one of our old, pearl pins on eBay a couple of months ago, and I'm looking forward to an occasion to wear it!

That makes sense. Thanks, CutiePie! :)

That is why each badge should have a guard. Why do you think they call it a "guard"? I have found my badge hanging by the chain to the guard several times. If it hadn't been for the guard, I would have lost a very expensive jeweled badge!

Re: Re: Re: Re: I don't like wearing mine for fear of losing it.
 

Oh! I believe our newer badges come standard with these, they are really nice. The badge I borrowed most of last semester had a bubble guard on it and I'm glad it did - otherwise I would have lost it in Indianapolis. :) I think it looks sort of like a small earring back, if CP2k's description didn't work for you.

Exactly, GeekyPenguin. Those of us who don't want actual chapter guards on chains make sure to wear them. And I know lots of alumnae who actually do use earring backs. I tend to lose the bubble guard-- drop it on the floor and it's almost impossible to find-- so I keep a whole stash of them in my jewelry box so that I'll always have one.

I dropped my roomies bubble guard on the hardwood floor in our room once - it took me hours to find. :( They really are great if you don't want a chapter guard though - we get enough questions about having a badge that we don't even want to try and explain a guard too.

Our badges come with "bubble guards"... if they didn't I would have probably lost about a week after Initiation!

It really does depend on the fraternity, on whether they wear thierpin or not. In Beta Theta Pi, there are strict rules about the wearing of the Pin, and for this reason we are only allowed to wear it on certain occassions or when wearing specific attire. I am sure this rule is the same amoung many other fraternities.



BETA THETA PI

It is standard practice for my chapter to wear a shirt, tie, and badge every Wednesday. In fact, we now refer to this as STB attire. Some wear it more than that.

Many members also upgrade their badges to the jeweled version, so that's a big incentive to wear it more often.

As an alum, I really only wear it on Founders Day and to appropriate Pike events.