Mothers Pin

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

I'm scratching my head at the Pi Phi mother's pin. My understanding is it's a national rule that their NMs can't wear PBF though they can wear PF. Why would the rule be different for a mom???

Naturally I don't know the ins and outs of Pi Phi's rules, but I can think of some possibilities:

Mother:
1. pregnancy
2. labor
3. delivery
(OR: 1, 2, and 3: emotional, financial and legal complexities of adoption)
4. infant care
5. "terrible twos"
6. years of doctor's appointments, parent-teacher conferences, encouragement and transportation for activities, age-appropriate versions of "The Talk" over the years
7. the teen years

New Member (formerly Pledge):
1. went through formal recruitment or COB

So maybe letting a mother wear that beta isn't so bad (but as I say, what do I know?)

Much more seriously: I hope GCers will remember this thread in the fall when -- if history's any guide -- the usual new batch of comments, questions, and thinly-veiled putdowns about who can / can't wear letters and why, etc., begins to show up .

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by exlurker

Naturally I don't know the ins and outs of Pi Phi's rules, but I can think of some possibilities:

Mother:
1. pregnancy
2. labor
3. delivery
(OR: 1, 2, and 3: emotional, financial and legal complexities of adoption)
4. infant care
5. "terrible twos"
6. years of doctor's appointments, parent-teacher conferences, encouragement and transportation for activities, age-appropriate versions of "The Talk" over the years
7. the teen years

New Member (formerly Pledge):
1. went through formal recruitment or COB

So maybe letting a mother wear that beta isn't so bad (but as I say, what do I know?)

Much more seriously: I hope GCers will remember this thread in the fall when -- if history's any guide -- the usual new batch of comments, questions, and thinly-veiled putdowns about who can / can't wear letters and why, etc., begins to show up .

Sounds like a good set of reasons to me!

[cuteASAbug]

I'm confused- I thought the Pi Phi new member pin has a Beta on it?

[carnation]

It does and I've never heard that NMs can't wear the Greek Beta, just Pi and Phi. We weren't allowed to wear any of the 3 Greek letters as pledges, although dakareng says that now NMs can wear letters. I wonder how the Beta rumor got started?

And exlurker, those ought to be reasons for moms to get to do anything they want!

[SWTXBelle]

It does - which is why, I'm sure, it is okay for the mom to wear!

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

I'm confused- I thought the Pi Phi new member pin has a Beta on it?

Yep, it does.

What SoCalGirl was talking about (I think), however, is a national Pi Phi rule (or custom -- and apparently there isn't one) that new members can't wear the full set of three Greek letters (Pi Beta Phi). This usually comes up in discussions about t-shirts, hoodies, caps, and so on.

Instead, or so the legend / rumor goes (or went), NMs wear "Pi Phi." Of course they can wear their new member pin.

I kiddingly said what I did about mothers getting to wear the beta because their mother's pin has all three Greek letters on it, not just the pi and the phi.

I hope I haven't made things even cloudier. Usually I zone out fairly fast on the annual posts about letters and new members. Especially -- with all due respect -- when they get into campus intricacies like the Big Deal Difference between printed, embroidered, or stitched-on letters.