Plegdes wearing letters???

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

I'm with you all the way on this one, SWTX. I love it when a Chi Omega chapter uses this argument and I just say, "What does their pledge (read: new member) pin say?"

LOL, nut. I had to look it up myself. BTW, I really like Chi Omega's New Member website. I've learned a lot about XO as a result of that.

I know there are several HQs that prohibit their NMs from wearing the Greek Letters and I definitely respect that. However, when you have a sorority that allows their NMs to wear the letters and an individual chapter makes up rules of their own, I can't help but question their motives for doing so. NMs think they have to earn their letters, and collegians continue that "tradition" because that's how they did it.

Personally, I'm glad that I was allowed to wear letters starting from Bid Day.

[SWTXBelle]

Here's my take on it, FWIW - a new member can wear the letters because they represent being a member of the organization. That is what the letters mean to most of the world - but to the initiated members, they mean far more. When a non-Gamma Phi sees our letters, they think "Hey! There's a member of Gamma Phi" or, "Hey!That's the Gamma Phi house."

Same with pledges/new members. They wear the letters to say "Hey! I'm a member of Gamma Phi." After initiation, they take on the additional, secret meaning.

Hey!

eta - and if a group just doesn't want their new members to wear their letters, that's fine by me. Just don't try to justify it logically with an illogical argument.

[aephi alum]

AEPhi is one of those NPC orgs that does not allow new members to wear letters. Why? Unless you're an initiated sister, you don't know the full meaning of the letters, nor have you made a full lifetime commitment to the sorority. New members can represent by wearing their ribbons, NM pins, or items that read "AEPhi" or "Alpha Epsilon Phi", but no Greek letters until initiation. So we welcome our NMs, but we also ask them to wait until initiation for the privilege of wearing the Greek letters.

Most NPC orgs don't let new members wear or own anything with the crest. AEPhi's NM pin actually is the crest, minus the Greek letters.

You say tomayto, I say tomahto.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

AEPhi is one of those NPC orgs that does not allow new members to wear letters. Why? Unless you're an initiated sister, you don't know the full meaning of the letters

Sigh.

eta - I'm all for AEPhi handling their business anyway they wish - more power to them. But I still have to wonder (see below). Also, is this AEPhi HQ policy, or your chapter? I find many chapters have rules that are more strict than the inter/national GLO's policies.
Upon reflection, the fact that the crest IS the new member pin, minus the letters, is probably the strongest argument for AEPhi's policy. The letters are what distinguishes the new member pin from the initiated member's crest. So to over-logical me, that makes sense.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by OTW

However, when you have a sorority that allows their NMs to wear the letters and an individual chapter makes up rules of their own, I can't help but question their motives for doing so.

I think what happens is either 1) they are carrying over the tradition from when they were a local group or 2) there was a national sorority on campus who WASN'T allowed to wear letters, and that became the campus norm.

It's kind of like frilly rush - maybe there is a chapter who thinks the "no letters before initiation" thing is silly (and their HQ says it is too), but if there are other chapters on campus who do it - especially the "top" chapters - they're not going to buck the system. I mean if a chapter, or the pledge class, says that wearing letters before initiation will make them a subject of campus ridicule, I'm not about to say they HAVE to wear letters. That's like hazing in reverse.

And like I've said a lot of times, the more that pledgeship has become about presents and self-esteem and the less about learning and working, the more arbitrary rules have been placed on things like letters. At least that's my experience.