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Originally Posted by 33girl
Not always true.
Alpha Sigma Alpha and Alpha Sigma Tau both have open mottoes that correspond to their Greek letters, so you can't say that pledges "don't know what they mean." Anyone looking at the banner below the crests would know what the letters mean. (Whether they mean MORE than that may or may not be another story.) There may be other groups that have open mottos too, but those are the two I thought of off the top of my head.
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Very true, and I should have (1) remembered that, and (2) qualified my bafflement as relating only to those organizations where pledges do not know any meaning for the letters -- in other words, where the letters and the coat of arms are on equal footing in terms of pledges not knowing what they mean and in terms of that information not coming until initiation. That's what I was really getting at --
if pledges do not know either the meaning of the letters or the meaning of the coat of arms (or whatever other symbol), I'm a little baffled when some people say it's wrong, or even hazing, to tell them they can't wear one (letters) but accept telling them they can't wear the other (arms).
To be clear, absolutely any group can and should have whatever policy they think is appropriate, and no other GLO, campus or non-member should question or criticize that. What raises my eyebrows a little is when it's described as "hazing" not to let pledges/NMs wear letters. It raises my eyebrows both because I think it can imply that those groups who do things differently might be hazing, and because if it's hazing not to let pledges wear letters, why isn't it also hazing not to let them wear the coat of arms? There just seems to be a logical inconsistency there -- again,
if the justification about not wearing the arms is that pledges don't know what they mean and
if letters and arms are the same in terms of what pledges do or don't know about them.
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To look at it in a purely practical sense, there is usually too much imagery on a crest to explain what it all means on bid day/whenever you pin in your pledges.
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Sure, but on top of that, the explanation is often part of the initiation ritual that only initiated brothers/sisters know. It's always been my sense that's how it is for most groups.
Back on topic, I do feel the need to point out that my own fraternity did in the early days informally call new members (and new chapters) "kittens." It was all part of the pervasive cat symbolism reflected in my username.
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