ebay...

[dever860]

Originally Posted by GammaZeta

Dever, I don't try to put off a good image in Amherst. I put off a true image, but I don't try to bend it or distort anything. There is nothing in Amherst, and probably won't be for many years considering the state of the greek community. I just tell it like it is.

Yeah, I see your point about politics and parents, staff, administration, etc. But will a shirt really make a difference? Where I come from, any type of letters, slogan or not, was cause for discrimination and ridicule.

It boils down to marketing, simple. Beer commercials use women in bikinis for a reason. Do they care about the Christian Right Wing groups?

If it was ONLY greek organizations using the slogans, I would say it may be problematic. But it's not. These type of t-shirts are everywhere. I remember at Mt. Holyoke, the cheerleading team had a shirt with two pom-poms and a megaphone positioned to resemble male genetalia with the slogan "practicing perfect mounting since 1997" or something like that.

20 years ago I would say the shirts are inappropriate. But in today's college environment, I don't really see it.

I'll concede to the point that maybe I was focusing too much on the whole shirt thing, but that was just an example of a larger issue.

Shirts and beads aren't the problem, is where you decide to show them that is going to be the issue. I wear my raunchy shirts sometimes when I am around the house, but I would never ever wear them to work, or to a meeting with my professors. Shirts are great marketing tools, but they have their time and place, which is what I was getting at. Unfortunately not everyone can be responsible for how they decide to display their letters. I have a LCA hat, the black and green with the women in the shape of LXA, I try not to wear it in places that I know that it would offend people. Meaning I rarely ever wear it outside of the house.

Now the whole issue with the beads is totally different. My problem with the beads unless it is decided that all college students are ignorant, beads are synonymous with drinking. This is a bit different than shot glasses and whatnot, but usually you try not to take your own expensive glassware out for a night at the bars. I guess my whole point is we expressly ban people wearing letters while drinking, because as everyone know alcohol makes people do real dumb stuff, trust me I know. And based on that, wearing letters at the bar leads to a horrible image. Some fraternities do it here, none of which I would consider the most respectable ones on campus. Beads are meant to be displayed while drinking, thats the entire idea which is why I have a problem with selling them with letters on them. We don't allow the wearing of letters while drinking in public, so there isn't a real need for drinking beads.

GZ I wasn't referring to the image you personally put off at Amherst, I was referring to how others perceive the image put off and the repercussions putting off that image involves. I wasn't making a personal attack on you personally, but referring to how the town of Amherst perceives greeks. There must be a reason for the bad blood, as broad as it may be. The fact of the matter is whatever that reason is it had to have come from someone. It just takes one person to ruin a good and sacred thing for everyone, as history has shown quite frequently, especially with GLOs.

I totally agree with the whole marketing thing. Perhaps I am a traditionalist on this matter and in some respects a hypocrite, but somethings should remain scared. Our letters being one of them. I have a shot glass with letters on it, and it is the very last one I would take out of my cupboard. Same goes with shirts, unless I have nothing else clean it's staying in the closet, and in most cases I will wear something thats dirty first.

Its all about image. There has to be some limit on what people can do to be funny and attract new members.