Pledge Pins On T-Shirts

[unarose]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Actually from my experience most NIC fraternities wear their pledge pins all the time. They just not be visible if they are worn on the innermost layer of clothing like we did in my chapter. They were also worn over the heart, not on the collar so it wasn't that uncomfortable.

Is it possible that this is mostly based on the campus? I could have just never noticed, but I honestly cannot say I saw the NIC fraternity guys (and the Kappa Sigma pledges) wear their pledge/associate pins with just anything—usually when I would notice it, the person in question was wearing at the very least a nice shirt and khakis or dress pants.

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Slight nit -- we're not NIC, but on some campuses our chapters are IFC.

Yes, I am aware of that. I'm just not used to it, as the local chapter is not a member of our campus IFC. I do think it's cool that individual chapters can make that decision, however.

[excelblue]

If I recall correctly, my fraternity lets individual chapters make decisions about when and how to wear pledge pins, but anything that's not in the spirit of almost 24/7 is basically against unwritten rules.

I wish I knew about the awesomeness of good polo shirts when I was a pledge. I was forced to wear them daily as part of a uniform back in middle school, and I found those cheap ones so uncomfortable that I vowed to never wear one again when I got out. It wasn't until a month ago before I put on another polo.

I'm wondering if it's reasonable to push for a certain dress code with the pin just to get pledges used to dressing for success.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by excelblue

If I recall correctly, my fraternity lets individual chapters make decisions about when and how to wear pledge pins, but anything that's not in the spirit of almost 24/7 is basically against unwritten rules.

I wish I knew about the awesomeness of good polo shirts when I was a pledge. I was forced to wear them daily as part of a uniform back in middle school, and I found those cheap ones so uncomfortable that I vowed to never wear one again when I got out. It wasn't until a month ago before I put on another polo.

I'm wondering if it's reasonable to push for a certain dress code with the pin just to get pledges used to dressing for success.

In both APO and ASA pledging, we were allowed to wear our pledge pins with casual attire (thank you, God). One of the sororities had a rule that they had to dress up when wearing their pledge pins - in effect, no jeans for 6 weeks, they had to wear 80s style dress pants or skirts and dressy shoes. And at a school where it rained or snowed 6.5 days out of 7. This was one of the things which caused me to mark them lower on my pref card and made me know I'd never really fit in with them.

If as brothers they will be dressing up regularly, then they should be doing the same as pledges. But forcing them to do it every day just because they have the pledge pin on can be a real turnoff for some people. How about designating one day of the week as dress up day?

I think aephi alum and I are kind of on the same page - pledge pin =/= the badge of the initiated member.

ETA: from what I remember, if guys were wearing t-shirts, they wore their pins over the heart. I don't remember guys putting it on collars of t-shirts. I think that's the part that looks bad, not that you're wearing a pin with a t-shirt.

[naraht]

Our pledge manual includes among the Pledging Standards

Wearing of insignia. An appropriate period of
pledging includes wearing an official pledge pin.
Rationale: Chapter image, on and off campus, is
a vital concern of all members, new and old. The
prominent and proud display of an Alpha Phi
Omega Pledge Pin instills pride through identity
with Alpha Phi Omega, signifies the chapter’s
presence on campus and in the community, and
may also habituate all members to proudly wear
Fraternity insignia.

However, they also have example of chapter pledging guides there as well, one of which doesn't require it while the pledge is inside their own dorm and bans it at any event where alcohol is served. I've known other chapters that quite openly use the 4, 5 or 6 (take your pick) S's in regards to when you don't have to wear the pledge pin. My undergrad chapter had a service project helping with youth at a Regional Mental Hospital where both brother pins and pledge pins had to be removed as well as all Jewelry. (The main APO brother pins are about the same level of fancy as the pledge pins).

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by 33girl

In both APO and ASA pledging, we were allowed to wear our pledge pins with casual attire (thank you, God). One of the sororities had a rule that they had to dress up when wearing their pledge pins - in effect, no jeans for 6 weeks, they had to wear 80s style dress pants or skirts and dressy shoes. And at a school where it rained or snowed 6.5 days out of 7. This was one of the things which caused me to mark them lower on my pref card and made me know I'd never really fit in with them.

If as brothers they will be dressing up regularly, then they should be doing the same as pledges. But forcing them to do it every day just because they have the pledge pin on can be a real turnoff for some people. How about designating one day of the week as dress up day?

I think aephi alum and I are kind of on the same page - pledge pin =/= the badge of the initiated member.

ETA: from what I remember, if guys were wearing t-shirts, they wore their pins over the heart. I don't remember guys putting it on collars of t-shirts. I think that's the part that looks bad, not that you're wearing a pin with a t-shirt.

We were told by a visiting LC that ASA's pledge pin policy was the same as the badge. We had been wearing them at all times "upon request" - since I pledged after forcing pledges to wear pledge pins was considered hazing by some. So, we only wore our pledge pins on badge days (Mondays) and whenever we happened to be dressed up. We still had our pledge ribbons that we could, and did, wear.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

We were told by a visiting LC that ASA's pledge pin policy was the same as the badge. We had been wearing them at all times "upon request" - since I pledged after forcing pledges to wear pledge pins was considered hazing by some. So, we only wore our pledge pins on badge days (Mondays) and whenever we happened to be dressed up. We still had our pledge ribbons that we could, and did, wear.

Yes, that was one of the changes made when we went to a national program. Wearing the ribbons without the pin was a pain in the ass and resulted in people losing pins all over the place.

We didn't have regular badge days. The weather was too sucky and we were too sensible.