non greeks posing as greeks
 

I know there was a thread on this but don't remember where it is. I went out of town this weekend and a girl that I know had on an XYZ letter shirt. I went and talked to her about this because I hadn't seen her wear XYZ letters before. I asked her when she had joined and I don't remember what she said and she said somthing about she hadn't been able to get a lot of lettered stuff yet then she asked me about my sorority and what kind of sorority we were and I mentioned we were an NPC sorority and she asked me what NPC was so I told her and she was like "oh yeah!". Now I don't know about every sorority but in ASA we are taught what the NPC is pretty early on. My question is should I contact the respective chapter and see if she is a sister or if shes not let them know they've got someone posing as a sister or should I do nothing. I would think they would try to collect the letters from her if shes not a sister.

The thread you're looking for! :)

Re: non greeks posing as greeks
 

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about the NPC thing- could it have just been a temporary memory glitch? especially if the girl is a new member........it happens

Just a little update, I called her respective national headquarters and it turns out that the chapter closed last fall and the girl had been a new member but never initiated so the headquarters sent her an email stating that wearing XYZ letters was un acceptable. I'm now just hoping that me and the girl can stay aquaintances and that she doesn't put two and two together.

Question relating to that. If an NM decides to drop the sorority before initiation, what happens to the letters that she's given? The reason I'm asking is because one of my housemates is pledging a sorority on campus now, and for a long time, she was unhappy with it and thought she was going to drop. The sorority got letters for their NM's to wear, only because their NM dues weren't in yet, the NM's had to pay for the letters themselves out of pocket. So if she had decided to drop, what would have happened to those letters? The sorority wouldn't have wanted her to have them if she's not a part of it, yet she would have probably wanted to keep them because she did pay for them.

This is one of the reasons I don't think it's a good idea to wear letters before initiation. Anyway, I would suspect that the sorority would ask her not to wear the letters, but they couldn't take them away. Her best option would be to sell the letters to a sorority member. I think if a member bought the letters, it would show a great deal of maturity (hey, you didn't join but we appreciate that you had the courtesy to want to return the letters).

:)

I actually think wearing letters as a new member is a beneficial way to promote your chapter, making it more prominent and top of mind in the campus population because you have more and more people in letters. It's also making new members acclimated to the organization and not feeling segregated, leading to cliques within pledge years, leading to divided chapters ... All members should be allowed to wear letters to embody the concept that that recruitment is a 365 day-a-year process.

Imagine not being able to wear your university emblems until you graduated... they want to make sure you get a degree first and truly represent the university, after all! I understand a university is not a secret society, but you understand the similiarities here.

I DO believe in good risk management to avoid your letters falling into the wrong hands. It does happen where members drop out or cancel their memberships, and it is unfortunate, but I think it is the chapter's responsibility to educate members on the etiquette of letters and to instill in sisters/brothers that if they leave the organization, they are to return all lettered items with no expectation of compensation. For example, if you quit ADPi, you are expected to return your badge to HQ. New members and initiated members alike should be reminded of the importance of letters, and that letters shouldn't be donated to charities, given to non-members, etc, and that if a member leaves the org, all letter items stay with the organization.

^ That was an awesome post. Very well said.:)

Actually, it's more like not wearing the university emblems until you get into the university. But since, as you said, a university is not a secret society, it doesn't really matter.

There's no guarantee that you'll act right or even graduate when you don sorority letters or university emblems.

We aren't allowed to wear anything with our letters on them, our pledge shirts must have our chapter name written out. When we become active, it's a big deal to get your first set of letters.

We had two girls deactivate this year. One did during pledging, so she just gave all her letters to the house and whoever fit them got them. Well, this girls shirt got given to another sister, who deactivated last quarter of last year. so the letters got recycled yet again. Now one of my sisters has this particular set of letters, and we joke that they're cursed. If she ever starts talking about deactivating, we're going to burn these letters!!! ( a shame, considering they're really cute).

This is why I don't understand the NPC practice (at least as I have seen it described on GC) giving new members letters before initiation. Not criticizing -- just stating why I don't understand it.

Nope. I can't imagine any circumstances where the GLO would have legal title to items given to the new member by the sorority or bought by the new member. If the GLO/chapter said "we're giving you these, but if you're not initiated you have to give them back/we ask you to give them back," there might be some ethical obligation to return them, but no legal obligation.

Again, with such a small segment of a pledge class leaving the orgnization either prior to or post-initiation, it becomes more of a chapter education issue about returning letters once you are no longer a member. Remember that positive self-promotion is the best way for Greeks to earn a strong campus and community reputation-- the more (legitimate) people wearing your letters, the more visible and prominent your organization... and the more membership privileges a new member is afforded, the more acclimated and proud they are to represent the organization... keeping them around for more than just a semester.

I'm for newly bidded Greeks and initiated Greeks in letters, and chapters educating members on the consequences and expectations of what it means to own those letters. B/c if the majority of the chapter is canceling their memberships, there are bigger problems than concerns over non-members in letter shirts!

I'm gonna have to cosign on that!

It comes down to a legal issue, really. NPC regulated that telling a new member (new = non-initiated person going through the pledging period of education) that they can NOT wear the organization's letters is considered "hazing". And since NPC & the greek community is on a big push to stop the public opinion of hazing...........

I personally don't agree with it either. I hate the idea of someone who has not been initiated representing my group in such a public manner until they are initiated.

But legally.... it is considered hazing.