Paddles "Traditional size" vs. current.

[GreekOne]

Originally Posted by naraht

So this leads to two questions...
1) Did the Sororities ever use the "traditional" 2+ foot long "paddling size" paddles
2) If the Sororities did, when did they go away?

Basically, at this point I'm trying to connect the Fraternity 2+ foot long paddles used until the early 1960s with the Sorority "Decoration" paddles of the 1980s.

Our chapter did not have a house. So, therefore not adequate storage for large size paddles as decoration. I know the fraternities on our campus did have the larger paddles on display representing each pledge class hanging throughout the house. So, perhaps it's not an issue of era as much as it is an issue of places to display larger paddles. Today, our chapters aren't permitted to use any paddles for decoration or otherwise, considered as symbols of hazing, but then they were just a symbol of Greek tradition.

[navane]

Originally Posted by naraht

So this leads to two questions...
1) Did the Sororities ever use the "traditional" 2+ foot long "paddling size" paddles
2) If the Sororities did, when did they go away?

Basically, at this point I'm trying to connect the Fraternity 2+ foot long paddles used until the early 1960s with the Sorority "Decoration" paddles of the 1980s.

I did a Google search for "vintage sorority paddle". Lots of pictures turn up for those 2ft long paddles for NPCs. The general date range appears to be for the 1950s, '60s and '70s. There were a couple paddles that came up that were dated for the 1980s. So, just from that perspective, one could speculate that they began to fall out of favor in the 1980s. I went to college in the mid to late '90s and decorated paddles were the "thing" in my area.