Wearing letters
 

I've always been curious about this....

When can your organization's new members start wearing letters? As soon as they sign their bid card or after initiation? Or somewhere in between?

For example, pledges in Beta Sigma Phi can wear letters as soon as they sign their pledge agreement.

This is different for every GLO.

Ya know I was also wondering this... I'm considered a pledge, and I'd love to start supporting AKL, but in fear of breaking some rule of not wearing letters, I stay clear of sporting any gear whether it is the letters or just spells out the name...

However, if anyone knows whether or not AKL has a rule about this, please let me know... I'd ask one of the guys but its not really that big of a deal. I figure i'll find out sooner or later.

-Matt

As 33girl said, this is different for every GLO....

And, possibly each indivdual chapter of each GLO.

You're only way to know is to ask each spesific orginization.

Alpha Sigma Alpha, Beta Kappa Chapter was allowed to wear screen print/spelled out letters as soon as the bid was signed and block letters after the first ceramony, offically begining your pledging.

I'm pretty sure (about 95% or so) that ADPis can wear letters as soon as they've signed their bid card (our bid day shirts had the Greek letters on them, not Alpha Delta Pi spelled out, and we got a set of block letters at bid day that we were encouraged to wear the next day to classes), and I know that my first ceremony wasn't until the day after Bid Day.

GAO doesn't allow pledges, or as we call them PA's, to wear letters stitched, blocked, screen-printed until activation. As a PA you can only wear GAO or Gamma Alpha Omega until activation. That's on a National not just chapter level.

The only exception to this rule is Charters Groups. Those ladies that have been granted charter status during their process of becoming a Chapter can wear screenprinted or blocked, but not stitched. Stitched letters are reserved for activation and recieving Chapter status.

Our new girls can wear any types of letters right away!!

why wouldn't you be allowed to wear letters or the name spelled out? you'd think they'd encourage it. After all, wearing letters to class IS a form of advertising since potential greeks may see them and remember them when going through rush.

As others have said - depends on the org.

My sorority does not allow anyone except initiated sisters to wear the Greek letters. New members, boyfriends, moms, etc. can wear "AEPhi" or "Alpha Epsilon Phi" spelled out. That's set on a national level.

However, we are more than happy to have our new members sporting their new affiliation as long as it's spelled out. :)

In Alpha Gamma Delta, new members are allowed to wear our letters (in Greek and spelled out) as soon as Bid Day/Night.

The only things they are forbidden from wearing are our Badge and our Armorial Bearings (better known as a crest or coat of arms for some orgs.).

Again, this is just AGD's new member policy. Other sororities do not allow their new members to wear their letters simply because they will not know the meaning and the secrecy of their letters until Initiation day.

When I was a new member, we were "strongly discouraged" from wearing letters. Even though our nationals said it was okay, my particular chapter, like every chapter at my school, had adopted the practice of waiting until initiation. None of us had a problem with this, since that was the same w/ all GLO on my campus, so we didn't question it. But the same week I got initiated, our headquarters told us how much they disliked that we prevented us from letting our new members wear them, so we encouraged the class after mine to do so. It's hard, because no one else on campus does it, and some older sisters resented it, but its actually allowed us to have new members focus on more important things after initiation - like wearing our crest.:)

yeah, we're all about wearing letters, but i'm not sure how it was in the past? hmm i'll ask someone.

Hello-
I'm in Alpha Gamma Delta and my chapter does not allow new members to wear the greek letters until after Intiation, but we can wear the AGD letters and "Alpha Gamma Delta" and things like that before Intiation. However, as others have said, it varies from chapter to chapter. I think the other chapters in my state allow the new members to wear letters right away. It didn't really matter with my pledge class because we bought our shirts and what not and just didn't wear the one or two until later.

While I see the benefits of waiting till after Initiation to wear letters and being allowed to wear letters prior to that, I have a problem with chapters not keeping things uniform and adhering to NM policy set forth by IHQ.

In my "pledge manual" (since it was called that then), it said that we were "encouraged to show your pride in your chosen Fraternity by displaying the name of Alpha Gamma Delta. Pledges may wear our Greek letters on clothing and jewelry."

I think it's wrong for a chapter's rules to supercede the rules IHQ enforces.

Thoughts?

We were not allowed to wear Alpha Phi Omega letters until we were initiated...the only exception was our pledge pin.

Kappa Alpha Theta doesn't allow the members to wear the Greek letters until after they are initiated. Until that time, new members can where them written out.

If you do a search on this, you will find lots and lots of differing opinions. Every GLO, and really every chapter, is different.

Phi Sigma Sigma's official policy is that NM can start wearing letters, words spelled out, etc as soon as they sign their bid card and start the new member period. The only thing NMs can not wear is our badge and our crest, they are allowed to wear these once initiated. All this is stated in our NM manuals

I think the problem is that some of these "letter wearing" policys have changed relatively recently. Adpi's offical policy is alphas can wear anything but the Crest, but, at least when I was a Delta, my chapter still had "old school girls" who remembed the "good ol' days" (hazing) and they really resented the changes so the things they could get away with stayed the same. There was still the old sentiment of having to "earn" your letters (or in the absence of earning wait a really long time). I personally waited till initation but I diddn't mind I couldn't really afford to buy letters at the time so my diamond sister presenting them to me was great! I think you'll find less varience as fewer sisters who remember hazing are still active in chapters its the " the new girls have everything handed to them" atttiude that makes them cling to older policys.

Delta Phi Epsilon allows new members to wear letters, words, etc. on the day they sign their bid cards. The only item they may not wear is the crest and sister badge.

We could wear anything but the crest. We didn't make any differentiation between stitched letters, screenprints, whatever. But your big bought you a crest sweatshirt for initiation. I think this practice went by the wayside when the Greek store stopped having crest iron-ons and the only crests available were the super expensive ones you got through ASA national. My guess is that's when all the stitched/iron-on stuff came into play.

Even if your national policy is that the women can wear anything before initiation, I think it's important to not force them to just to show you're not hazing, because that's hazing too. (confusing sentence) That is, if none of the other sororities on campus let their members wear letters for whatever reason and you're the only ones who do, the pledges might not want to feel "set apart" from the rest of the campus. It's their choice whether they WANT to wear letters - if they decide they don't want to (without hearing "we all chose to wait" or something similar) that should be honored.

And no, if the other chapters beat their pledges to a bloody pulp every night I don't think you should too.

There has already been a lengthy thread on this topic.

http://forums.greekchat.com/gcforums...threadid=37442

Yes, I agree! For instance, SAI's national policy is no letters or spelled out or ANYTHING until Initiation. Our fraternity, as a whole, feels that since our members-in-training do not yet know the meaning of our letters, they should not wear them yet. Therefore, if there were chapters out there (though I haven't heard of any who do) that DO let their MITs wear letters, well, that would be going against what nationals said. And the purpose of national policies is not only to stop hazing but to create uniformity.

I understand that each GLO has their own policy about wearing letters, and that is fine. However, whatever each group says as a whole...I think ALL chapters should adhere to that.

Ok I've already posted on this thread and after reading all of the posts I have a question?

NM's are allowed to wear letters but not the crest or badge, because the don't know the meaning behind the crest or the badge, correct?

So my next question is are NM's told the meaning behind XYZ's letters when they sign their bid or is that information withheld until after initation?

And if that information is withheld until initiation, how can they wear their letters with pride not knowing the special meaning behind them?

So what's the difference?

Why not let them wear both as soon as they sign their bid?

In my sorority, as I have stated before, we cannot wear letters until after activation(initiation) because we DO NOT KNOW the meaning behind the letters or our CREST and for us that is a NATIONAL RULE that ALL chapters have to follow and as far as I know ALL CHAPTERS of GAO FOLLOW that rule.

I know that for me waiting until activation to be able to wear my letters made it much more special, because then I knew the meaning behind my letters and I wear them with the utmost respect and pride.

My chapter lets guys wear our greek letters and get liscence plates and all that as soon as you're a pledge. We do have a rule against wearing the shield until your a member, though. I'm not sure what our national policy is on the situation.
I know I really enjoyed wearing letters when I was a pledge. It was my first semester at school as a Freshmen, and wearing letters got me noticed, and it was just cool to be a Pike, and the letters were just a reminder. Our chapter's theory is that wearing letters is great publicity for the fraternity, and we're all proud of our fraternity, members and pledges, so we wanted people to know that.
Like most people have said, it's pretty much whatever your GLO's policy is. I think it's cool that some people wait 'till initiation, because it has a special meaning to them, but I like the way my chapter did it.

What about Non-Members wearing letters? I'm talking about Non-Members and Non-Pledges. Does your GLO have specific rules about this? I'm not sure what our national policy is (I'll have to look it up). I know at my chapter, Girls wear our letters all the time on different T-shirts and Pike-Girl shirts and stuff. We also let legacies wear letters, but that's really up to their father or brother getting them a t-shirt or something. My sister used to get me Pike T-Shirts when I was still in High School. I'm a legacy Pike, and my sis was dating a Pike, so I had some connections in getting T-Shirts.

You let pledges wear letters?!!?! OMG!!! Hell NO! You can't even write the letters PiKA until you're an active, I mean write them on a piece of paper. For my chapter, the only people that can wear our letters are:

1. Actives
2. Dreamgirls
3. Girls that have been pinned(girls that bros have married or engaged to and have given the girl their pins)
4. Mothers or female relatives of actives

Anyone else wearing our letters has an open invitation for an ass beating!
i.e. If a bro is kicked out of our chapter and he still wears our letters we can beat his ass.

Hmmm, guess I'd get an ass beating in your chapter, then. LOL Cause I have at least 2 or 3 Pike shirts.

Seriously, though, many chapters vary (in all GLOs) their policy on that, and I guess if it doesn't go against a national policy it should be OK.

NO ONE but initiated sisters of SAI can wear our letters. Not even Members-in-Training. We aren't allowed to have lil bros/sweethearts/etc so that rules that out.

I think music Greeks tend to be more strict about this policy. I know Phi Mu Alpha here, NO ONE but the initiated brothers can wear the letters; not even sweethearts. A few girls got dropped by their PMA boyfriends and there was even a stir about that, although I think it's OK. I also know TBS won't allow pledges/non-members to wear letters.

Our Pledges cannot use or wear the letters.
There are exeptions, if they r using a brothers car........come to think of it thats the only exeption i know of.

Nah, but we don't make shirts with our letters on it. I know that chapters vary, but NO pledge is wearing letters!

We wouldn't beat your ass btw....

That's cool. I can understand that, because our pledges aren't allowed to wear letters either. :)

Quote:

We wouldn't beat your ass btw.. ..

LOL that's good to hear. ;) (I know you wouldn't, I was just teasing in my previous post)

I stole this post from the TKE Forum

Since they are associated with TKE pledges are encouraged to wear letters, put them on thier car and permote TKE in a positive way.

They are not allowed to wear the Badge or The Coat of Arms.

We do have set days were the pledeges wear thier Pledge pin, bid day shirt and pledge class shirt (shirt they design and have made) and I was thinking about trying the earn your sewn on letters at our chapter.

.

Actually, while some chapters may not allow new members to wear letters, that is an old tradition that we are trying to eliminate. Pi Beta Phi does allow new members to wear the Greek letters, spelled out letters and crest. The only thing that a new member may not wear is the arrow badge. The concept of "earning" letters unfortunately can lead to more serious hazing because it encourages the separation of new members from members.

with us, we werent allowed to wear letters until we were lettered..thats how it is with every glo on my campus..lettering is a huge deal and it feels so good to go to class the next day after being lettered sporting the hot jersey:D

Well, this is my personal view: my sorority has an open motto that corresponds to our letters (Aspire, Seek, Attain). So I don't have a problem with pledges wearing letters. There ARE things on the crest and the badge that you don't "get" until initiation, which is why those have to wait.

I can understand, though, why people whose letters don't correspond to anything that is open or viewable until initiaition would say "you should wait till you know what the letters mean to wear them." I'm not in those shoes though, so I don't feel I should question whatever their decision on that may be.

On the Pi Kappa Alpha pledge pin you are given the PI, as on the pledge pin there is only a PI. As an active you are given the PI, KAPPA and ALPHA. If you want to have a letters with a fat PI on them then a pledge is allowed, but plain and simple pledges shoudn't be able to wear letters. Letters are something that you do earn and you make a life long commitment to your GLO therefore you represent the organization, as a pledge you can DP at anytime...There should be a certain amount of pride and earning involved in getting your letters and wearing them....

No letters until they are intitiated but we do require shirts in our colors (but in any design and they can buy it anywhere) with our name spelled out........ the girls like that choice that they can choose between a long sleeve or tank top or whatever....
but the point is, why dont we let them wear letters.......cuz if they DROP one its embarrasing to us and to them (since people will be like how come you are not with ABC anymore) and two its expensive.......I pity the people who bought letters then dropped lol...............and the people would know who are official members and who represent the sorority. If everyone is wearing letters, it makes it confusing for other people.......also it make it special when we give them letters on initiation!!

we were told a couple years ago that new members could wear letters, but my NM class was discouraged from wearing letters until initiation just out of practice...i do agree that it's something to look forward to as a NM and i think that members could preserve this tradition without going against their nationals by doing what my chapter does and just avoid giving letters as presents until after initiation. because letters are so expensive, a lot of sisters don't buy them for themselves and instead get them through their big-bigs when they graduate or as xmas/birthday presents...i didn't get my disk until initiation but i got lots of other cool alpha chi stuff beforehand, so it's not like i felt like i wasn't representing my chapter merchandise-wise.

Our Sinfonians give their letters out at will (espeically to Mu Phi Epsilon, our music co-ed fraternity)....BUT their pledges can't wear letters (???)

It's only lavaliers that they worry about (if a guy wants to lavalier his GF, it's voted on by the chapter whether he can or not)....but that's a totally different thread...