legacies wearing letters in HS??

hannahgirl · #1 06-12-2003, 10:30 PM

Hey ladies!

I didn't know if your nationals had any rules about who wears your letters, but what are they for legacies who are still in high school and have obviously not pledged or been initiated?

Heres the story.....I work at my former high school over the summer and a girl I graduated with is an Alpha Xi Delta (we worked together there 2 years ago)....well, her little sister is an office worker in my mom's office (and a junior) and I just happened to walk in one day and she had letters on (really cute shirt by the way....blue and white baseball tee with embroidered blue and yellow letters).

What does anyone think about this? I was just wondering because they were actual letters! I would have understood if it was a social or formal shirt or something with it written out, but it wasn't.....just wanted to see what your rules on that situation are.

PinkRose1098 · #2 06-13-2003, 12:07 AM

I don't know what the offical policy is but I bought my little sister who just graduated from high school a shirt from our philanthropy event because it was really cute and we sold it to the public. Does that make sense? She wore it to school sometime b/c it was just cute. Another situation though, one of her friends sisters is also an Alpha Xi and she wore her sisters shirt to school all the time. Tiffany (my sister) didn't feel comfortable doing that b/c she realized how much my letters mean to me and didn't want to do anything to mislead people. I think I would be fine with my sister wearing my greek week or social shirts but not my sisterhood ones. It's just kinda weird.

FuzzieAlum · #3 06-13-2003, 05:56 PM

That is inappropriate. I'm even a little nervous about the philanthropy one. Non-members can wear shirts with letters if they are clearly event shirts, but I personally feel they should have attended the event to earn it! (Interestingly, the coat of arms can be put on non-member event favors - but only initiated members can wear it. Per the bylaws.) But regular old letters, no no no.

On the other hand, why is it OK for babies to wear "AXD" bibs and whatnot? I mean, it must be OK, or FHQ wouldn't link to BabyGreek from their website. But the babies clearly aren't members. And geez, talk about legacy pressure.

I can't actually find a prohibition against non-members wearing letters in the constitution and bylaws. So ... maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we don't have any rules that prevent non-members from wearing letters. It is certainly informally frowned upon, though.

PhiMuJulia · #4 06-13-2003, 05:59 PM

no i can totally see the philatnthropy one, i used to wear my ex's zeta psi shirts way before i was greek...but letters is highly innapropriate, how does that look to other pnm's its makes them feel like they have to work for letters and this girl doesn't need to do anything.

AlphaFrog · #5 06-13-2003, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FuzzieAlum

On the other hand, why is it OK for babies to wear "AXD" bibs and whatnot? I mean, it must be OK, or FHQ wouldn't link to BabyGreek from their website. But the babies clearly aren't members.

Sorry to crash your board, but I think you kinda answered your own question...I think NPC soroities allow babygreek stuff because, as you said, babies clearly aren't memebers. However I do think it's innapropriate for those in high school and older to wear sewn on letters regardless of which soroity it is, unless they are members for one simple reason: They appear to be members and anything they do (wrong) while wearing the letters could misrepresent the soroity.

sigmadiva · #6 06-13-2003, 06:51 PM

Sorry to crash your forum too, but for NPHC it is considered a BIG NO-NO to wear letters that you have not earned. Legacy or not.

aephi alum · #7 06-13-2003, 07:06 PM

Apologies for forum-crashing

AEPhi's rule is that no one except initiated sisters may wear the Greek letters - whether sewn-on, screenprinted, embroidered, whatever. Others (including new members) can wear "AEPhi" or "Alpha Epsilon Phi" written out.

I personally don't feel you should be wearing sewn-on letters of a GLO unless you are either an initiated member, new member (if your org allows it), or a sweetheart (again, if the org allows it). Certainly someone's little sister who's still in high school shouldn't be running around in them.

AchtungBaby80 · #8 06-13-2003, 08:08 PM

I'm gonna crash this board, too, because I just don't really think it's right for someone to wear letters that aren't theirs if there's a chance of that person being taken for a member. What I mean is, a high school girl is close enough in age that she could pass as a member of a sorority whose letters she's wearing to the general public, so she shouldn't wear them.

I'm thinking about taking away this DZ shirt that my younger sister has (she's 12), just because I'm afraid my older sister might think I'm trying to influence the younger one, since my older sister is a Chi Omega. It doesn't have letters on it--it just has Delta Zeta written out, and she ended up with it because it's a baby tee and I hate those things. Maybe I'll just tell her not to wear it when our older sister is around!

This is kinda out of left field, but one day a few months ago I was looking through my 6th-grade yearbook just for kicks, and I noticed a girl in my grade wearing a DZ shirt. The letters were really prominent. I was like

, because this girl is in no way someone I would want in my sorority, and I just wonder where in the heck she got that shirt.

tcsparky · #9 06-13-2003, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by FuzzieAlum
(Interestingly, the coat of arms can be put on non-member event favors - but only initiated members can wear it. Per the bylaws.)

Fuzzie, I read that a little while ago myself, and thought I must have read it wrong, was not understanding it clearly, or there was a typo, because it doesn't make sense to me. I was planning to ask someone at Convention to explain it to me! I, too, thought that someone had to wait until after Initiation to use/wear/possess the crest.

Babies- OK, you're using the baby to reflect your own pride in your org. It's a way of saying "Hey, I'm an ABC" without you having to wear the letters yourself (did that make sense?). Babies, toddlers, maybe even little kids......... However, I think that older girls wearing letters is not "right", after all they are almost old enough to be members, and who can tell the difference between a 18-year-old HS student and an 18-year-old collegian? Also, keep in mind that anything the HS girl does in org shirts will reflect on the org. No one will know that she is only wearing her older sister's event and is not a member.

Just my $.02.

FuzzieAlum · #10 06-16-2003, 11:26 AM

We used the crest on a lot of date party glassware favors and the like, I know, and all the guys got to keep one. So I'm assuming it would be okay for a new member to own something like that - as long as it wasn't wearable. (I guess you could put a string through the handle of the crest stein I have and wear it around your neck, but that's a stretch!) But in practice I know our chapter was careful never to give gift to a new member that had the crest on it.

AEPHi alum: Alpha Xi Delta's rules state very explicitly that new members are allowed and in fact encouraged to wear our letters. These rules are not the same for all orgs! What is appropriate is for a new member to follow the rules of her organization, whatever they may be.

doubleblue&gold · #11 06-16-2003, 11:33 AM

I think the only way family members----babies included----should be wearing our letters should have "legacy," "mom," "dad," etc listed on the item. Also, there are too many event T-shirts around to be able to stop anyone from wearing them----heck, you can find all sorts on eBay.

I received letters the day I pledged and I still think new members should have letters to wear. However we weren't supposed to even have possession of the crest or quill in any form until initiation. (and this was when you had to wait util the following semester and make grades before initation!) I will admit that a pledge sister and I bought each other crested plaques as initiation gifts to each other and wrapped them up prior to it so we wouldn't violate the rule.

A side note....,.I also read in old natl. bylaws that you were not to link a fraternity pin by chain to the Quill. You were to wear it separately under our pin. I haven't looked to see if it's still in the bylaws.