I'm honestly a little appalled.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This is why I always pitched a bitch when people would say things like "we are a dry sorority/fraternity." Maybe your HOUSE is a dry environment, but to be TRULY dry, a group would have to prohibit drinking by all members at all times. That doesn't exist in the NIC or NPC. This is another reason I pull my hair out over people using the term "house" when you mean "chapter" or "group." The physical structure =/= the chapter. (There ARE local/regional groups out there that are truly "dry.")

The shirt in question doesn't say that any alcohol is being served in AXO housing, or bought or consumed or even contemplated by AXO.

Most of the NPCs have tepidly worded rules like "members shall not act in a distasteful manner" or something of the like. As we've seen in this thread, that varies GREATLY from campus to campus. Chapters might try and have rules against drinking in letters, but I honestly question how they would hold up. There are NO NPC rules against drinking in letters - that would assume that the NPC as a freestanding unit knows the meaning of every group's letters and can legislate members' conduct when wearing them. Which of course isn't the case.

I think a beer pong set up and play on "pre game" is pretty clear. It's super tacky, but like many have said, even if it did have a written reference to alcohol it very well might be totally "sorority legal" since it depends on the organization/chapter. I don't find it surprising that this is fine on some campuses. I suspect the small size of the school and the student body's attitude towards Greek life is why this would never, ever happen on my campus. At larger schools where "everyone" is partying and Greeks don't have to watch their backs as much, there's no real repercussions.

The rules chapters have about drinking in letters hold up just fine, and honestly I don't see a problem with these rules. We (at my chapter) weren't supposed to smoke/drink/curse in letters...and while the cussing was always a problem for me (I tried, but occasionally it would slip out) smoking and drinking never were. The other chapters on campus have similar rules. Campus culture.

[33girl]

No carnation, that's the word I wanted to use. LOL.

By "hold up" I mean that I seriously doubt that a member or a chapter could be disciplined or dismissed for something like that alone - kind of like the law we have here, that they can't pull you over for not wearing your seat belt when you're doing everything else OK, but if you're speeding or something else you can also get an additional fine if you're not wearing your seatbelt. In other words if you send a termination into your HQ with the sole reason being that Sally was smoking and drinking in letters, and she's doing everything else right, it's highly doubtful it will be approved. Ditto if the chapter wants to "discipline" her on it.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

No carnation, that's the word I wanted to use. LOL.

By "hold up" I mean that I seriously doubt that a member or a chapter could be disciplined or dismissed for something like that alone - kind of like the law we have here, that they can't pull you over for not wearing your seat belt when you're doing everything else OK, but if you're speeding or something else you can also get an additional fine if you're not wearing your seatbelt. In other words if you send a termination into your HQ with the sole reason being that Sally was smoking and drinking in letters, and she's doing everything else right, it's highly doubtful it will be approved. Ditto if the chapter wants to "discipline" her on it.

Personally I've never heard of that happening. I've never even heard of everyone being punished in any way besides dirty looks for drinking in letters...it's just having the decency to respect the chapter's rules.

[33girl]

My point exactly. Rules that have no consequences for breaking them are silly IMO.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

My point exactly. Rules that have no consequences for breaking them are silly IMO.

It's more about having respect for your letters and sisters than punishments and rewards. Sometimes people have more complex reasons for their actions than "this is good/this is bad".

[33girl]

But that's just it and that's what this whole thread is about. It's not coming from the top down that wearing letters while drinking is "disrespectful." It's a campus culture issue. It could be that at some campi, putting across a social, partying image is good for a chapter's reputation and helps to increase campus cachet & numbers, and therefore ultimately is a "respectful" gesture.

To sum it up, different strokes for different folks. The only problem comes when people get it twisted and think that chapter rules are national rules...or that customs (on any level) are the same thing as rules.

[Alumiyum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

But that's just it and that's what this whole thread is about. It's not coming from the top down that wearing letters while drinking is "disrespectful." It's a campus culture issue. It could be that at some campi, putting across a social, partying image is good for a chapter's reputation and helps to increase campus cachet & numbers, and therefore ultimately is a "respectful" gesture.

To sum it up, different strokes for different folks. The only problem comes when people get it twisted and think that chapter rules are national rules...or that customs (on any level) are the same thing as rules.

The point I was making is that it's perfectly legitimate for that to be a chapter's rule. Just because you don't get a spanking for combining letters and alcohol doesn't mean it's "ok" if the chapter decides it's inappropriate. It's up to the chapter to figure out what works on their own campus.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by 33girl

No carnation, that's the word I wanted to use. LOL.

Just checking! I was the SGA Director of Public Relations when I was a senior and managed to send out a letter to all the freshman parents about campus safety with my name and "Director of Pubic Relations" at the bottom.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by carnation

Just checking! I was the SGA Director of Public Relations when I was a senior and managed to send out a letter to all the freshman parents about campus safety with my name and "Director of Pubic Relations" at the bottom.

That's embarrassing.

[ree-Xi]

I'm wondering, can a person be a "little" appalled? Does the word really need a qualifier? Or is like coincidences? There are no "big" coincidences or "little" coincidences, there are just coincidences.

(Thank you Seinfeld for that argument.)