eh... when I pledged our NM chair told us no
letters before initiation... but the first TC that heard that told us that NM are to be allowed to wear
letters. To be honest, it didn't meet much if any resistance... but that's just my chapter.
My chapter however does not encourage NM to wear
letters before initiation (by buying them
letters or anything). Since we're in Canada and getting
letters often takes 6-8 weeks, it's not really an issue.
During our initation sleepover, the NM make their own 'getto' letter shirt/bags/hats/whatever... so it's nice to hype that up and then see them all come out where their very first set of
letters right after initation.