Wearing your letters?

[The_Grip]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Thats great. However, i'm going to be alot more concerned about being a good attorney than making sure everyone knows I pledged a fraternity in college.

A wise approach.

[PeppyGPhiB]

I don't actually think school size or popularity of greek life has much to do with wearing letters. I think it's just based on tradition.

Chapters at my school decided for themselves when they wanted to wear letters. It just so happened that Wednesday was the day most chose because it was a day that offered the most visability. It certainly wasn't hard to coordinate...all it took was someone saying to the chapter, "Hey, everyone wear your letters to convo this week!"

Although my school has only about 3,100 undergrads, greek life is pretty popular. About 30% of the students are greek (a higher percentage than at most large schools), and the administration supports it. So when I mentioned that wearing letters was an easy way to show unity, I wasn't really meaning greek unity. It could be seen that way, too, but I was really talking about chapter unity. On my campus you couldn't tell who was greek and who wasn't (or which sorority/fraternity they were in) by just looking at them, so wearing your letters was an easy way to tell people who you are.

[suebarton]

Back in the dark ages, when I was in college (mid sixties) people dressed up more for school, so you usually didn't see lettered t-shirts or sweatshirts except for things like Sigma Chi Derby Day or similar events. Instead, the sorority members all had uniforms that they wore one day each week. Most of these consisted of a dress and jacket, or a suit. Gamma Sigs wore ours on Monday, NPC sororities wore theirs on Wednesday, and members of Sparks (women) and Spirits (men) wore theirs on Friday. Sparks and Spirits were organizations that promoted the sports teams and ushered the football team onto the field at home games.

Some of our members, if they also belonged to an NPC sorority and Sparks, wore uniforms three days a week. We used to joke about it and say they got to spend less money on clothes.