stealing pledge pins
 

i just want to clarify something and i figured i would start this thread here cuz i don't know where else to put it...

At my school... stealing pledge pins seems to be a big deal... among all greeks. basically if you see a NM in a fraternity or sorority wearing her pin and you are an active member in either a fraternity or sorority, you have the "option" (I suppose) of stealing his or her pledge pin and the poor new member has to do something (within reason) to get it back. To clarify... fraternities go after sorority pins and vice versa. You won't see a sorority active going after another sorority's NM.
Usually if our girls steal a fraternity pin, we make them read a poem to us in our meeting, or have them seranade us or bring us flowers. One girl had some guy wash her car. And the guys do it.

I have always found this tradition to be... well... odd. People get hurt! I was just wondering if it is just our school that engages in this madness or is pledge pin stealing popular at other schools as well? Just an informal poll. And if you have had your pin taken... what was the craziest thing you had to do to get it back?

My father once told me of stuff like that they used to do in the late 60's.. Sounds as if it's hazing... If any organizations that participate in this are NPC or NIC they run the risk of losing their charters or getting in trouble for hazing.

Eh, I'm not sure I'd call it hazing.

We don't do it at my school. Kinda sounds like fun though.

Phi Mu... If you told a New Member to wash your car it wouldn't be hazing???

I'm pretty sure that if Phi Mu's definition of hazing is anything like what Sigma Nu's is than it would certainly be....

I guess there's a grey area when it comes to other chapter's new members...

However, I think that it was said best in Animal House when they said "Hey! Only we can do that to our pledges!!"

At my school, it was pledge books. . .it was rumored that any pledge who stole a book from the pledge of another organization would get extra incentives. But we never did it though.

There were three fraternities with pledge books: APO, Delta Sigma Pi, and Delta Phi Epsilon Professional Foreign Service Frat. APO was the only one who had to carry our pledgebooks in our hands at all times. The others carried them in their bags.

We pretty much left each other alone.

At my school it isnt mandatory or anything, but many a time the new members try to steal the big wooden letters that the fraternities keep in there windows, and vice versa. To get them back people usually serenade one another. This is completly optional, and many a time active members get involved too. It is always a lot of fun, and many a time sororities try to steal the letters of certain fraternities cause they will bring you flowers also.

Pi Beta Phi would consider that hazing so we don't do that. However, we do steal things from the only fraternity on campus (we only have one Fraternity and one sorority). They might steal something from our house, and in turn we steal something from their house. Just having some fun playing practical joke.


PPL

definitely
 

Yeah I'd have to say I've heard around here that if you steal a pledge pin from a fraternity they "have" to serenade the sorority whose member took it. Here sorority girls don't have to wear their pledge pins all the time but most of the fraternities do as far as I know... so it makes it harder to steal something when it's ON most of the time. So I guess the "justice" in making them do something to get it back is in the fact that they shouldn't have had it off or just laying around where someone else could get to it? I'm not saying that that's not hazing... because in a way it's just "hazing" of a sort to reinforce hazing of some other sort (if you want to go as far as to consider being required to wear a certain pin 24/7 hazing).

I think it's generally considered "all in good fun" though, as at many schools I'm sure.

At least as far as that goes, with the definition of hazing that I am familiar with this would not be considered hazing. You just can't require someone to wear clothing or other items that would not normally be in good taste.

That actually does happen at my school, but it is only new member girls stealing the guy's pledge pins. The guys never take the girls' pins.

Normally a guy will "accidentally" leave his pin on his backpack or take off his suit jacket and leave it on the chair, or he will leave it on his dresser in his dorm room or something...then the girl takes the pin. Of course, the guy has done this on purpose, knowing what will happen. Sometimes though, a girl will manage to get it detached from his shirt while he is wearing it, which is MUCH harder, so it is really rare.

Then the guy will ask what she would like for him to do to get it back and it is usually bake cookies, wash her car, serenade, buy her lunch, etc. If the guy is not willing though, you have to give it back when he asks for it but like I said, this is normally something that is sort of mutually planned, so the guy knows what he is doing when he leaves the pin around.

I think this is just a silly tradition. If the new member were actually stealing the guy's pledge pin or if she required payment to give it back or humiliated him, then I think it would be hazing.

Of course, Phi Mu doesn't haze. My chapter or otherwise. And yes, having a new member wash my car would be hazing.

I just think it's a shame that some of the old stuff that used to be fun has to get crossed off the list in the interest of eliminating all possible forms of hazing. I'm talking here about the mutually "agreed" upon stuff -- like with the guy who leaves out his pin purposely to give a girl an opportunity to steal it.

I think that people are getting a little overboard saying that this is hazing. Pin stealing is a tradition at Wayne State. All of the sorority girls try to get the pledges pins. And to get them back the guy has to do something for the girl, usually washing a car or cooking dinner. Now for the guys, one thing that we can do is take the girls pledge book. When the girls ask you to sign their book, they make you say "YES". That way you cant take it. If they ask you to sign it and you say " yeah, sure, ok," or anything else you can take it. We dont see it as hazing, it's all done in good taste and it's fun.

We used to do this with pledge books, but unfortunately it was deemed hazing here as well. I'm glad I pledged before all these stupid rules came into place... :(

Fraternities at my school were notorious for stealing pledge pins and trying to get the girls to do something for them to get them back. It got to the point where it was way out of control and it was extremely annoying. The used to steal them to get our girls in trouble so I went and talked to the guys and told them that the pledges would not be punished if they stole their pins and they would simply be furnished with a new pledge pin. Pins stealing is practically non-existent now...which is kind of sad because it used to be fun.

The fraternity guys carry around spoons and matchbooks. We gave them a little taste of their own medicine. Let's just say now they nail their spoons to their belts.

We do this at my school, but girls pins never get stolen. What usually happens is a girl takes the pin from the boys room when they're hanging out or whatever and then the pledge class for that house comes to chapter and serenades us. It's pretty fun! :D