Letters on Bid Day???

[PiPhiERDoc]

It is actually NOT an international rule that Pi Phi's cannot wear letters until initiation. This was a tradition at many chapters for years, including my own - we could not wear letters or Beta (so just shirts that said Pi Phi spelled out). But that practice is discouraged now by our internationals.

[Scandia]

I was wondering about Pi Beta Phi's policy. The girl who used to live in my house before my family moved there pledged Pi Phi during her sophomore year (my junior). I saw her with a totebag that had the Greek letters "Pi Beta Phi" on it. I do not remember if I saw her wearing a t-shirt with the Greek letters- but the handbag certainly had them. So the UF chapter (Florida Delta) may not have been one who enforced this tradition.

Alpha Epsilon Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta were the two that I noticed that would not allow the Greek letters till initiation.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by PiPhiERDoc

It is actually NOT an international rule that Pi Phi's cannot wear letters until initiation. This was a tradition at many chapters for years, including my own - we could not wear letters or Beta (so just shirts that said Pi Phi spelled out). But that practice is discouraged now by our internationals.

Interesting, that rule is still enforced on my sister's campus as they had issues with a Greek Week shirt.

[AOII Angel]

In AOII we give new members letters immediately. There is no prohibition. They may not know the meaning of AOII yet, but by our selection process, we choose girls who unknowingly live it anyway! (I'm sure every other group does the same!!) We were not allowed to have lavaliers or roses until initiation, but I think that was a local tradition. I have not seen the new member manual in years, so I don't know what it says about this issue. Since we don't have a crest and our rose is usually substituted, my chapter reserved red roses for intiated sisters. I've seen other chapters do the same...giving PNMs pink roses at recruitment instead of red and wishing with them that the rose will turn red.

[angelove]

At least in the mid-80's when I was an active, it WAS Pi Phi's international policy not to allow pledges to wear letters, it said so in the pledge manual. I guess changed internationally a few years later. We also weren't allowed to wear the arrow (not just the badge, but any arrow) but I don't remember if that was just our chapter or an international thing. Time to get the old pledge manual out of the attic.

[cuteASAbug]

Originally Posted by angelove

At least in the mid-80's when I was an active, it WAS Pi Phi's international policy not to allow pledges to wear letters, it said so in the pledge manual. I guess changed internationally a few years later. We also weren't allowed to wear the arrow (not just the badge, but any arrow) but I don't remember if that was just our chapter or an international thing. Time to get the old pledge manual out of the attic.

was your new member different back then?

[angelove]

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

was your new member different back then?

Not sure exactly what you mean, but everything was different back then. Pledgeship (now known as "new member period") was at least a semester long, usually not initiated until Feb after pledging in August. Frills rush, scavenger hunts, initiation in the order of your gpa, etc.

We couldn't even write the greek letters or draw an arrow. I don't know if this was just our chapter, but we couldn't even have anything with letters or an arrow on it. Seems kind of harsh, but I never seemed to really mind as a pledge. I just looked forward to being able to wear them after initiation.

[cuteASAbug]

Originally Posted by angelove

Not sure exactly what you mean, but everything was different back then. Pledgeship (now known as "new member period") was at least a semester long, usually not initiated until Feb after pledging in August. Frills rush, scavenger hunts, initiation in the order of your gpa, etc.

We couldn't even write the greek letters or draw an arrow. I don't know if this was just our chapter, but we couldn't even have anything with letters or an arrow on it. Seems kind of harsh, but I never seemed to really mind as a pledge. I just looked forward to being able to wear them after initiation.

I thought the Pi Phi new member pin is an arrow?

[carnation]

Originally Posted by angelove

Not sure exactly what you mean, but everything was different back then. Pledgeship (now known as "new member period") was at least a semester long, usually not initiated until Feb after pledging in August. Frills rush, scavenger hunts, initiation in the order of your gpa, etc.

We couldn't even write the greek letters or draw an arrow. I don't know if this was just our chapter, but we couldn't even have anything with letters or an arrow on it. Seems kind of harsh, but I never seemed to really mind as a pledge. I just looked forward to being able to wear them after initiation.

I just remembered that for prefs, we were given an arrow lavaliere. But you're right, it was so wonderful to finally be able to wear the letters and crest! After initiation, we raced to our cars to slap on crest decals!

[carnation]

Originally Posted by angelove

At least in the mid-80's when I was an active, it WAS Pi Phi's international policy not to allow pledges to wear letters, it said so in the pledge manual. I guess changed internationally a few years later. We also weren't allowed to wear the arrow (not just the badge, but any arrow) but I don't remember if that was just our chapter or an international thing. Time to get the old pledge manual out of the attic.

Wow! Y'all couldn't wear arrows?

I had to have a T-shirt specially made that spelled out Pi Beta Phi because I wanted to shout out to the world that I was a Pi Phi! And back in the day, people usually wore their letter shirts only in their GLO's colors, so I remember when we ordered our first letter shirts right before initiation and it was a big deal:do I choose wine with light blue or blue with wine? Or maybe be really radical-haha!-and choose light blue with white!

One pledge sister accidentally bleached hers and she was the only girl in our chapter to sport a lavender letter shirt.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by PiPhiERDoc

It is actually NOT an international rule that Pi Phi's cannot wear letters until initiation. This was a tradition at many chapters for years, including my own - we could not wear letters or Beta (so just shirts that said Pi Phi spelled out). But that practice is discouraged now by our internationals.

We were told there were 2 rules when we pledged: don't wear letters or the crest before initiation and don't come onto a sister's boyfriend. A lot of people on GC have asked me about the "don't wear Beta" rule and I never heard of that rule until I came to GC. I can't even figure out why we would have it.

[texas*princess]

At my alma mater, new Pi Phis could have the greek PI PHI letters on their shirts, but not the Beta.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

At my alma mater, new Pi Phis could have the greek PI PHI letters on their shirts, but not the Beta.

When a friend of mine was a Pi Beta Phi pledge (yes, this was back when sorority women were pledges) at Kentucky, they too were suppose to only wear either the words spelled out (Pi Phi) or the greek letters (P F). One time, on a lark (ok, I may have suggested it), she put her pledge pin in the middle of her letters.

It looked something like this but with the letters being much larger than the pin.

P F

As I recall, she got a talking to from an active (though it seemed to me that the the active was suppressing a smile) about the proper way to wear her pledge pin.

[adpiucf]

Originally Posted by PiPhiERDoc

It is actually NOT an international rule that Pi Phi's cannot wear letters until initiation. This was a tradition at many chapters for years, including my own - we could not wear letters or Beta (so just shirts that said Pi Phi spelled out). But that practice is discouraged now by our internationals.

Wow! I thought this was a national policy! Thanks for the clarification. The Pi Phi Angels at my school weren't allowed to wear letters or the Beta until initiation, either.

[adpiucf]

ADPi new members are allowed to wear letters on Bid Day. They may not wear or own the crest until initiation.

ADPi new members are also allowed to attend regular chapter meetings (they are excused during any ritual that involves a requirement to be an initiated member), they vote and can hold chapter offices that don't require knowledge of ritual that would learned at initiation.

I think wearing letters, Greek or Roman characters, is a wonderful way to get excited about your chapter, promote your chapter and aid in new member retention.

It does depend on how the campus does things, but some traditions that were considered kosher 10 years ago might now be viewed as walking a fine line or hazing today. It isn't that the acts are dangerous or unwanted in many cases; it is more that some unreasonable person ruined things for everyone.

I give a big thumbs up to letters of any kind: it shows the whole world that you are proud to represent your organization.