How do NPC/IFC differ from NPHC on the subject of "Perps"?

[peter_brenner]

I have lurked on this board for quite a while. I was talking to a friend this evening who is a member of an NPC fraternity. I told him that I am an interest for an NPHC organization to which he jokingly replied, "Why would you join after college? What's the point? And they sell paraphernalia online so you can always just buy it and wear it around." I told him that it is considered "perpetrating" and it is quite disrespectful to NPHC organization members to do this. Furthermore, he said that of course he would ask a person on the street wearing paraphernalia from his fraternity what chapter they are from, etc but he wouldn't be offended if the person was not really a member. (who knows how much truth is really behind this, but it got me to thinking...)

Maybe it is just my friend but how do other NPC/IFC organization members feel about this? I know that NPHC members get quite heated about perpetrators and make it their mission to figure out if people are telling the truth about being members. I am just curious and I apologize if my question offends anyone as I am not trying to perpetuate any stereotypes unnecessarily. Thank you in advance for your honesty... or hostility... whichever you prefer.

[Leslie Anne]

It is just your friend...and people like him who probably didn't take his membership seriously. I'll speak only for NPCs but perps are generally hunted down like the dogs they are and verbally tarred and feathered.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by peter_brenner

I have lurked on this board for quite a while. I was talking to a friend this evening who is a member of an NPC fraternity. I told him that I am an interest for an NPHC organization to which he jokingly replied, "Why would you join after college? What's the point? And they sell paraphernalia online so you can always just buy it and wear it around." I told him that it is considered "perpetrating" and it is quite disrespectful to NPHC organization members to do this. Furthermore, he said that of course he would ask a person on the street wearing paraphernalia from his fraternity what chapter they are from, etc but he wouldn't be offended if the person was not really a member. (who knows how much truth is really behind this, but it got me to thinking...)

Maybe it is just my friend but how do other NPC/IFC organization members feel about this? I know that NPHC members get quite heated about perpetrators and make it their mission to figure out if people are telling the truth about being members. I am just curious and I apologize if my question offends anyone as I am not trying to perpetuate any stereotypes unnecessarily. Thank you in advance for your honesty... or hostility... whichever you prefer.

just so you know NPC are Women Fraternities and Sororities and NIC is fraternities. And We hunt down perps with a passion.

[IrishLake]

Personal experience with a perp... I was in college, went bowling with my boyfriend in the nearest larger town. Saw a girl, about the age of 16 there, wearing an IDENTICAL black hoodie pullover windbreaker with Theta letters on it. Now, people who are familiar with Theta know that we do not allow anyone other than initiated sisters to wear our letters, because they do not know/understand/appreciate the meaning of them. We don't even allow our letters to go on all-greek t-shirts (for recruitment, greek week, joint parties, etc), it just says "Theta."

So approached the girl, friendly, and I assume her mom or sister is a Theta (I've heard from a few people that immediate female family members can wear our letters, I dont know if this is true or not, AzTheta would know). I show her my jacket, and we laugh at having the same one. So I ask "Which Theta chapter do you belong to?" She says, "Oh, I don't, I'm in high school." (I knew this). So then I said "Oh so do you have a sister or is your mom a Theta?" She replies, "No, I found this jacket in a lost and found at the mall. I thought it looked cute."

I was livid, because my Theta chapter was the only one in the area, which meant that jacket likely belonged to one of my sisters.

I paid the girl $10 for the jacket. She gave it to me. I never found the owner though, no one claimed it. Could have belonged to a senior who had graduated the year before.

So personally, I loath Perps.

[chickenoodle]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

Personal experience with a perp... I was in college, went bowling with my boyfriend in the nearest larger town. Saw a girl, about the age of 16 there, wearing an IDENTICAL black hoodie pullover windbreaker with Theta letters on it. Now, people who are familiar with Theta know that we do not allow anyone other than initiated sisters to wear our letters, because they do not know/understand/appreciate the meaning of them. We don't even allow our letters to go on all-greek t-shirts (for recruitment, greek week, joint parties, etc), it just says "Theta."

So approached the girl, friendly, and I assume her mom or sister is a Theta (I've heard from a few people that immediate female family members can wear our letters, I dont know if this is true or not, AzTheta would know). I show her my jacket, and we laugh at having the same one. So I ask "Which Theta chapter do you belong to?" She says, "Oh, I don't, I'm in high school." (I knew this). So then I said "Oh so do you have a sister or is your mom a Theta?" She replies, "No, I found this jacket in a lost and found at the mall. I thought it looked cute."

I was livid, because my Theta chapter was the only one in the area, which meant that jacket likely belonged to one of my sisters.

I paid the girl $10 for the jacket. She gave it to me. I never found the owner though, no one claimed it. Could have belonged to a senior who had graduated the year before.

So personally, I loath Perps.

I'm amazed she gave it to you cheap. I don't know if I would have handled that situation as well you.

My Fraternity does not belong to any of aforementioned councils, but I absolutely feel as strongly about "perps" wearing my letters as anyone else on here. My letters represent so much history and tradition and I have such respect for the Fraternity's purpose and vision.

I think I would try to take IrishLake's approach and try to buy the item back.

[IrishLake]

She was just a kid, in a down and out town. I would have given her more for it. But she bit on the 10 spot right away.

[tld221]

I think the majority of NPC/IFC/LMNOP members on GC feel moderately to very strongly against perps. Our letters mean a lot and have for years, and will continue to.

Gotta protect what's yours-regardless of if you rep AB Sorority or XYZ Fraternity, Incorporated.

[Barbie's_Rush]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

She was just a kid, in a down and out town. I would have given her more for it. But she bit on the 10 spot right away.

There's definitely a difference between someone deliberately perping your organization and someone like this who needed a jacket, didn't have money and thought the one with your letters was pretty and nice.

[DTD Alum]

I think we (for the most part) feel very strongly about perps. I know a person who joined a local sorority whose nickname is also Theta (the letters of the GLO are Alpha Theta Psi or Phi) and anytime she meets a real Theta she is quick to tell them she is a Theta too. If it was an innocent mistake I wouldn't have a problem with, but she has even admitted she knows exactly what she is doing and it drives me crazy.

[als463]

Originally Posted by Barbie's_Rush

There's definitely a difference between someone deliberately perping your organization and someone like this who needed a jacket, didn't have money and thought the one with your letters was pretty and nice.

Someone who "shops" in the lost and found isn't necessarily poor. They are just being weird. I know this because in junior high, when Champion was the big thing, I decided to go "shopping" in the lost and found and found myself a champion sweatshirt that I claimed to be mine. It wasn't. I negated to look at the big black lettering on the tag that spelled out one of my best friend's name on it. I learned a long time ago that "shopping" at the lost and found was not a good idea. Even if you get something from the thrift store, before I was Greek, I would never have picked up a jacket, shirt or hoodie with letters on it, especially if I didn't know what they were. For all I know, I could have been rockin' some fraternity letters.

[IrishLake]

Like I said, she was a kid, I was friendly (not rude), and had she said that her mom or her sister was a Theta, I would have left it at that, and told her to tell them she met one while out that night. But as soon as she said she got it at the Lost n Found and thought it was cute ... sorry, but I've gotta act, because my chapter was the only one within a 100 mile radius, and that meant that jacket most likely belonged to one of my sisters. She might not have been a traditional perp, but it didn't mean she didn't pretend or wear it to make herself seem older and in college versus in high school (some of the guys in her little group looked older than my boyfriend). She was far from "poor," as well.

[Barbie's_Rush]

Originally Posted by als463

Someone who "shops" in the lost and found isn't necessarily poor. They are just being weird. I know this because in junior high, when Champion was the big thing, I decided to go "shopping" in the lost and found and found myself a champion sweatshirt that I claimed to be mine. It wasn't. I negated to look at the big black lettering on the tag that spelled out one of my best friend's name on it. I learned a long time ago that "shopping" at the lost and found was not a good idea. Even if you get something from the thrift store, before I was Greek, I would never have picked up a jacket, shirt or hoodie with letters on it, especially if I didn't know what they were. For all I know, I could have been rockin' some fraternity letters.

Just because you were morally bankrupt in junior high doesn't mean everyone was. It was a poor town and the girl may have been cold and needed a jacket. We don't know. My point is she obviously didn't know or care about the significance of the letters on it. To her it was simply a jacket. That's very different from wearing letters and announcing "Look at meeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm a Thetaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

[als463]

Originally Posted by Barbie's_Rush

Just because you were morally bankrupt in junior high doesn't mean everyone was. It was a poor town and the girl may have been cold and needed a jacket. We don't know. My point is she obviously didn't know or care about the significance of the letters on it. To her it was simply a jacket. That's very different from wearing letters and announcing "Look at meeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm a Thetaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Hey now...I didn't say I was morally bankrupt. I was a weird kid. My parents wouldn't pay $30. for a sweatshirt with a little "C" on it. Now, when I think back, I can't really blame them, even though $30. for a sweatshirt doesn't seem like much anymore. I agree with what IrishLakes said. I haven't found anyone perping my letters (except that one girl on GC who said she belonged to Phi Mu and AGD, as well as Delta Gamma, I think). I don't think she sounded like she was being rude by giving the girl money for the jacket.

I do have to say, however, I do think it is weird when people want to wear letters that don't belong to them. Even in high school, where only a small number of people even went to college and an even smaller number went Greek, I always knew what sororities and fraternities were. I would have felt weird wearing letters, not knowing if I was representing a men's fraternity or an honor society I did not belong to. That would be just weird. I want to also add, I grew up in a small/ poor town, too. I still wouldn't have done what that young girl did.

[carnation]

Somewhere on GC in the past, I posted about going down the main drag with a tiny and elderly AKA alumna who saw some guys wearing her letters. Three of us had to grab her to keep her from jumping out of a moving car and going after them..you should have heard her screaming at them. She's been in the city chapter here for over 50 years--a super lady.

[IrishLake]

Barbie, you're looking too much into it. The girl wasn't freezing, it was a cool September night. It wasn't a winter coat, it was a nylon pullover. She was young and desperately trying to look older. You're right, she didn't know or care about the significance of the letters, but greek orgs are very active in that community. The odds of her NOT knowing they were greek letters and belonged to a sorority or fraternity member are slim. She knew exactly what I was talking about when I asked her. If she didn't, she would have said "chapter of what? what's a Theta?" Instead of saying "Oh, I'm not, I'm in high school." She might not have been a traditional perp, but still a perp nonetheless. She made ten bucks off something she got for free, and was happy to sell it. At the age of 16 eleven years ago, that was a decent deal. Had I seen a homeless person, or someone in a womens shelter, wearing my letters, I wouldnt have said a word. There's a difference. Guess you had to be there.