Wearing Other Organizations Letters...

[LatinaAlumna]

I think I can safely say that LGLO members do not allow anyone else to wear their letters. I know that some of us will not even write another organization's symbols on a flyer or t-shirt (we'll usually just spell their name out, unless they give us permission). Everyone in my family knows that items with my letters are "off-limits." Also, in many of our organizations, one may not wear the letters until she/he is officially a brother or sister. Actually, I don't personally know of any LGLO that allows prospective new members/pledges/etc. to wear letters before crossing over. I could be wrong.

[kateshort]

Originally posted by DeltaBetaBaby
What about pledge moms/dads? On my campus, your pledge mom/dad traditionally gives you something with their letters on it. I have given Phi Mu shorts and hats to several guys (pledge husbands or pledge sons) as gifts. I dont' thyink it is any big deal, because obviously they are not phi mus, and it gets our letters out there.

I've never heard of a pledge [guy] before. Is it like a little sis org for frats, or the frat you party with on bid day?

I think they outlawed those kinds of orgs at my campus, but I don't know how much was nationals and how much was locals.

I've seen ABC Dad shirts on people's actual parents, and I've seen guys and girls wearing event shirts (parties, homecoming, formal, etc.), but not people who aren't related to an org or its events in some way.

FWIW, I got my Phi Mu Alpha (Sinfonia) letters when I was lavaliered. We picked them out together, though some couples on my campus would surprise the lavalier-ee with a set of letters and a lavalier all at once. I can't wear "Sinfonia", though, AFAIK.

(Odd note-- I pinned him before he pinned me, but I was in a local. Can girls in NPC sororities lavalier and pin guys?)

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by Zephyr
My grandmother was a Kappa Alpha Theta and had her sorority pin set as a necklace and gave it to my one aunt, who is a Sigma Kappa but wears the necklace. I know it was her mother's--but that's a SISTERHOOD pin!

Your grandmother probably did it, because she felt that the KAT badge was a thing of beauty and wanted her SK daughter to have it, not realizing it or perhaps forgetting that non-members aren't supposed to wear the badge. If she pledged many years ago, she might have forgotten this.

As for the aunt.....yeah, she should know better than to wear it.
My $0.02

[XOMichelle]

I don't think it matters. I'd be happy that someone else wanted to wear my letters because that meant they were interested in my org! Besides, it's publicity.
It's only wierd if you are in one glo and wear another same-gender glo's shirt (so it's cool if I wear a fraternity shirt, but not if I wear another sorority's letters).
-M

[wptw]

Originally posted by CutiePie2000
Your grandmother probably did it, because she felt that the KAT badge was a thing of beauty and wanted her SK daughter to have it, not realizing it or perhaps forgetting that non-members aren't supposed to wear the badge. If she pledged many years ago, she might have forgotten this.

As for the aunt.....yeah, she should know better than to wear it.
My $0.02

Give me a break. Maybe her grandmother simply grew up in an age where they weren't so uptight about every little policy and concentrated instead on the more important aspects of GLO membership like familial love and sisterhood.

Or maybe, like MY grandmother, she was just more worried about her husband and sons coming home from war in one piece. Perhaps she was writing letters overseas instead of studying her national bylaws.

Remember too that a lot of these rules and policies weren't in place way back when. The bureaucracy has crept in slowly over the years.

As I said before, I would be hesitant to second-guess the choices of an old woman who was probably wiser than I.

wptw

[pialpha92]

Only our new members and initiated members are supposed to wear our letters. There is the usual DAD, MOM, Legacy stuff of course.

Instead, we have a special distinction for spouses, etc - they are POA's. There is even an official T-shirt on our HQ's website for them. I think it originally grew out of some very active alumnae whose spouses were very involved as a way to recognize their contributions. I don't think it is very well known though, I don't see it used often.

[macmd]

I agree there is nothing wrong with wearing other organizations pins.

Originally posted by wptw
Give me a break. Maybe her grandmother simply grew up in an age where they weren't so uptight about every little policy and concentrated instead on the more important aspects of GLO membership like familial love and sisterhood.

Or maybe, like MY grandmother, she was just more worried about her husband and sons coming home from war in one piece. Perhaps she was writing letters overseas instead of studying her national bylaws.

Remember too that a lot of these rules and policies weren't in place way back when. The bureaucracy has crept in slowly over the years.

As I said before, I would be hesitant to second-guess the choices of an old woman who was probably wiser than I.

wptw

[Zephyr]

LOL!

The old woman.. *MY* grandmother, was 4 years old during the war.

She gave the pin to my Aunt adn said, "Do you want this cussed thing?"

LOL... It's an heirloom yes, but we're a 'fun' kind of family...

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by wptw
Give me a break. Maybe her grandmother simply grew up in an age where they weren't so uptight about every little policy and concentrated instead on the more important aspects of GLO membership like familial love and sisterhood.

Or maybe, like MY grandmother, she was just more worried about her husband and sons coming home from war in one piece. Perhaps she was writing letters overseas instead of studying her national bylaws.

Remember too that a lot of these rules and policies weren't in place way back when. The bureaucracy has crept in slowly over the years.

As I said before, I would be hesitant to second-guess the choices of an old woman who was probably wiser than I.

wptw

I agree. Come on, who cares if somebody's wearing her mom's sorority pin? Some of us are way too uptight about the bylaws of our organizations and fail to apply them on a case-by-case basis. There's a huge difference between giving your badge away to some random lady on the street and some mother giving the pin to her daughter because it's a meaningful piece of jewelry that she wants her to have. I honestly don't even think that Theta HQ would care about this particular instance.

If you guys see some kid fall through the ice, you pull him out and he's got hypothermia and the only thing you have to wrap around him is your sorority letter sweatshirt, are you going to say, "Oops, I can't let non-initiated members wear my letters, I guess you'll have to freeze"? Of course not.

Personally I feel that:

- event shirts are okay for anybody to wear
- letters are fine for your girlfriend/boyfriend to wear if you're serious (pinned/lavaliered or more, or the equivalent thereof if one of you is not Greek)
- articles of clothing with the words spelled out or the nickname instead of the greek symbols should be okay for anybody to wear
- articles of clothing that make it pretty clear that you're not in the group ("ABC Mom" or things like that -- my friend who's a Delta Upsilon gave me an "I [heart] DU shirt" and I don't think anybody's going to mistake me for a DU) are fine in all cases
- if there's any significant meaning behind it -- such as you like to wear your deceased grandma's ABC pin on a necklace occasionally because it reminds you of stories about her college days that she used to tell you when she was little -- as long as they don't wear it as a pin itself, I see no problem with this

I don't think we have to be so uptight about every little policy, and I bet all of our nationals would agree that there are always exceptions to the bylaws.

[shadowstar]

i think a lot depends on the campus and the chapters. here, it's a big deal for a guy to give a girl his letters. i know a couple guys in Phi Tau who got in big trouble because they let their girlriends sleep in bid day shirts before they'd been lavaliered. but, Sigma Nu guys can give letters to as many girls as they want. my boyfriend used to wear his ex's ZTA shirt and no one in her house ever said anything of it. i have a friend who is a DZ at Ohio State and i saw her wearing a frat's letters and i was like "oh, are you lavaliered?" and she just laughed and said it was no big deal down there to just wear letters of your friends in a frat. i think letters are special to people and you have to exercise discretion before letting others wear them, and i think it would just be plain weird to have a girl in ABC wear letters of XYZ or whatever, but i think it depends more on the campus or chapter's interpretation of wearing others letters/badges/whatever.

[aephi alum]

AEPhi's rule is that nobody except initiated sisters may wear the Greek letters. That goes for shirts, hats, lavaliers, keychains, everything. New members and non-members can wear things where at least the letter Phi is spelled out, e.g. "AEPhi" or "Alpha Epsilon Phi". A badge cannot be given to, or worn by, a family member unless she is also an AEPhi.

I don't have a problem with the idea of wearing other orgs' letters as long as it's clear that you're not representing yourself as a member of that org. Things like event shirts, "XYZ Mom", "ABC Legacy" etc are ok in my book. Block letters are not, if you could reasonably be taken for a member of the org (e.g. a girl wearing her older sister's sorority letters would be bad; a girl wearing her S.O.'s fraternity letters would be ok).

[valpogal99]

Originally posted by kateshort
Odd note-- I pinned him before he pinned me, but I was in a local. Can girls in NPC sororities lavalier and pin guys?

Kate, I think most sororities let you lavalier/pin your boyfriend. I know we did. If they are in a fraternity and lavalier/pin you, I am pretty sure that it is automatic that you also lavalier/pin them by accepting their offer. Is this true with other GLOs?

[Betarulz!]

This is an issue that I'm really divided on.

I think I'd be upset if I ran into someone who was wearing a Beta shirt that was obviously something other than an event shirt ( so no pride week shirts, no brotherhood shirts, no "lettered" shirts). But that would come more from the aspect of me feeling like they were lying to me.

On the other hand, I know that the shirt wouldn't really mean anything to them, like it does for me. So on that note I dont' really mind. As for the arguement of earning letters...I tend to think that pledging should not be a period of showing worthiness, if you recruit well you should have worthy members. Therefore pledging should be the pledge showing their desire to become a member, and to learn about the organization of which they are going to be a part of so that they can be good members once they initiate.

As for members of the opposite sex wearing my letters...no big deal here. I've given party shirts to girls before, and will do so in the future. I've also given my little brother Beta party shirts and I hope he enjoys wearing them, while also teaching others about Greek life (I gave him a big lecture about the fraternity/frat thing).

In the end I think every thing comes down to your perspective. Is anything absolutely horrible likely to happen by someone else wearing your letters? Granted anything is possible, and you'd prefer not to have someone doing something bad be identified as part of your GLO, but overall is there likely to be a lot of harm done?

Further, is you accosting a person wearing your letters going to come off as anything but elitest..."You can't wear those because they belong to me!!!" Not necessarily an attitude I think most greeks are trying to promote.

[cash78mere]

although i don't think anyone should wear a pin of an org they don't belong to, i know that i hold dear everything my grandma gave me before she died. even though she didn't go to college....if she did and was a member of a glo and gave me her pin as a necklace, i would wear it in memory of her. but only if that's what she wanted. i wouldn't just wear it cause i felt like it. in that case i wouldn't care about bylaws and such.

my grandma meant everything to me and i would have done anything she wanted to help remember her.

in zephyr's case...since her grandma gave it away since she didn't want it, i don't think her aunt should wear it. but it's nothing to get crazy about since it is family.