Stealing Items...

[emily0325]

Me and one of my roommates have a little stealing wore with 2 guys from another fraternity. We always get the stuff back though.. it's a fun game. I think it's okay to do this stuff if it's done in good fun and nothing gets damaged.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by LoggerTheta

Personally I don't mind a prank, but when it goes into the realm of vandalism, it really frosts my cookies if you catch my drift. Last fall, we had our brand new composite stolen, painted all over with acrylic paint so thick that you couldn't tell what was underneath it, and returned to us. Our chapter president thought it was one of our sister's abstract art projects. We also had about 7 or 8 of our older composites stolen that we still haven't gotten back. So... in conclusion, don't be mean.

We had something similar happen to my chapter. My sophomore or junior year, one of our composites was taken off the wall during a party. The next time we saw it, it was on the wall of another house, with many of the members' photos "doodled" on or cut out. Turns out it wasn't even a fraternity that took it...it was members of the baseball team! Apparently they thought we'd find the humor in it, but we were PISSED...it was one of our first composites (we were a young chapter) and anyone who's greek knows how expensive they are. Not to mention that the vandalized composite was displayed for hundreds of other students to see whenever they were in the house. We got it back, but what were we supposed to do with it?

[lenoxxx]

Common sense is needed for a less kind world.

Try using 3" wood screws if their is a stud or T-111 you can drive into, or look for screws with drywall hangers if you have drywall. Other alternatives are adhesives, and some framing companies sell "theft proof" wall hangers for pictures to go on.

More theft of these kind of items occurs late night on weekends with alcohol/drugs involved with the offenders. If you have a charter hanging from a wire, where anyone can take it, trust me it will disappear. However if you need a set of tools or a drill, chances are 99% of would be thieves will try to steal it and give up, since now there is an extra level of planning and risk of getting caught involved.

If you are a sorority and dont know how to use tools, call a carpenter from the local yellow pages, it would be worth the time to get your items installed so they can be displayed with a reasonable chance of them not getting stolen. The days when you could trust the local community and students to respect your stuff are long gone.

Take a look at a Campus Old Main or Union style building, go and see if you can even move any "framed" items from the walls, you probably cant, they have it all locked down already, get wise and get it done right.

Lenox
Lambda Chi Alpha Alum

[PhoenixAzul]

This story was told to us by the alumni this year...
My house has these fairly heavy statues of our mascot in the living room of our house. About 3 or 4 years ago, someway, somehow, a fraternity TOOK one of the LIFESIZED statues out of the living room without anyone noticing for about 2 days. It showed up on our doorstep with it's face painted kinda "KISS" style and the fraternity's letters on the side. What was so weird is that the guys had been invited to the house for some reason (maybe a pre switch day meeting or something of the like) and took it out of a room full of sisters!

But the main thing that gets taken, and that certain people make it a MISSION to take, are pledge books. Most houses have gotten wise and made them look just like regular folders. Of course, carrying your book everywhere makes it vunerable. There are rules to book stealing though. 1) Active members cannot (should not) take books. 2) if it is under/in/covered by anything or anyone, it cannot be taken. It must be blatently neglected in the open. The cafeteria tends to be the spot of many a book steal. 3) if a book is taken, you're under oath to not read it, it's a mutal respect thing. 4) you may steal your book back. 5) You cannot CANNOT steal a book while giving/recieving a signature from a man or a woman. It doesn't happen often. If my book was stolen, I'd be HORRIFIED.To be fair, I'd never try to steal anyone's book, just because I know I'd be upset if that happened to me.

[PhoenixAzul]

OH! some of the fraternities go and request certain items from sororities (usualy things like letter blocks, or a stuffed mascot or a shirt of some sort). Usually the house is alerted to the arrival of said pledges and have something ready for them. Usually it's given at the price of a song ("we love you xyz oh yes we doooo...") and returned within 24 hours (sometimes the same night).

[rufio]

one time, my house stole a big stone lion bench from ADPi, we left a ransom note written in our colors with a little rubber duckie on top of it. a few days pass by and no retaliation. we were starting to feel a little guilty. however, ADPi's philanthropy was that week and when they sent there coaches over, we showed them their bench and it was absoultely hilarious to see their faces. come time of the philanthropy we show up with the bench and set it up infront of the judges with the biggest shit-eating grins on our faces.

[TSteven]

Back in the day - when this wasn't considered hazing or considered a risk management issue - it wasn't unusual for a fraternity's pledge class to "borrow" a sorority's composite and bring it back to the fraternity house. Usually with the help (consent) of either the sorority's president, the sorority's social chair or the sorority's pledge trainer (new member educator). I recall one time when a sorority's House Mother helped. That was classic!

Basically, these were more or less supervised pranks. A "ransom note" with clues would be left usually for the sorority's pledge class. It was up to them to figure out which fraternity took it. The idea being that once the sorority's pledge class figured out which fraternity took the composite, the pledges would come to the fraternity's house with the "ransom" which was usually something like having to serenade the fraternity. The fraternity would then host the sorority at an informal mixer (exchange). This is why planning ahead with the sorority social chair helped. And if the pledge class was caught, then the pledges normally had to serenade the sorority. And to "make up for their mischief", they were instructed to invite the sorority over a mixer. All in all, a kind of "planned spontaneity".

[Salamandar]

a few years ago, I hear our guys used to be great at pranking the girls with stuff like this...I have heard stories about a few guys taking a composite from ZTA and then when they went to return it, one guy returned it while 2 more pulled a truck up to their drive way and took their big letters (they were returned) and when we used to be super close with DZ A few guys "went shopping", like, rang the doorbell and when the girls answered walked into their house with a shopping cart, filled it up in their chapter room and left...and when I was a pledge, we came back from our pledge retreat and DZ had come into our house (the doors didn't lock...oh yeah, classy house eh?) and took our Delta and Zeta class letters and as soon as the guys saw this, within 5 mins (cuz they lived right around the corner from us) the letters were taken off the front of the DZ house and put in the class letters place till we got the class letter back. It doesn't really happen anymore in our greek community...except for when ADPi sends their seniors on a raid of the row every spring, but thats just plain comedy! I'd say if its all in fun and games keep it all in fun and games B&E is not cool and you NEVER fuck with a charter...

[GtownGirl98]

I think that pranks are apart of college and greek life... pranks meant in fun, not out to hurt person or property. BUT there is a time and place and for it to be a prank the other party must get the items back.

I know that in college my roommates and I stole a stuff animal from a sister. The french movie with the roaming gnome was big at this time. So we took the animal to various spots and took pictures. We had the animal sitting in trees and falling out another sorority's window. We sent the pictures to her for weeks without her knowing who was sending her the pictures. She hated it at first but then started to love getting the pictures... it was FUN. But we didn't hold onto the item for months and years. THAT IS A PRANK.

What isn't a prank, is stealing an item and not letting the group have the item back within a desent period of time (a few weeks, not years or months). Or giving them "clues" to figure it out and get it back eventually.
WHY WOULD YOU WANT SOMEONE'S FLAG or COMPOSITE PICTURES??????????????? That is just stupid and petty and pointless.

[SurfinDBeach]

When I was a pledge, we found out about a tradition a certain sorority on our campus does to fraternity pledges who come for "items."

The sorority, which will remain un-named, has a nice house a block from the ocean... LOL...

The house has a courtyard, and has a bunch of windows overlooking the courtyard...

When pledges arrive, a girl would come out as if she had been awaken... She'll take a picture with them, or give whatever it is they needed...

Then the house manager (sometimes the house mom) would open one of those windows above the courtyard and scold the boys for being so loud, and to hurry up and leave...

So the boys turn to leave the court yard............

Then.... WHEEEEEEW... BOOM....

All windows upstairs are open, and there are dozens of girls hurling water balloons at the fraternity pledges...

Heck, we even got a "DRIVE BY ballooning!" Yes, a truck, girls, and water balloons...

Boy was that fun!

GO BEACH!!!

[Wine&SilverBlue]

once we had a mission where we had to "steal" things from the frats on frat row... any item from each house, but they had to include at least one toothbrush, a pool ball, and a roll of toilet paper. we weren't allowed to drink, and we had to sort of convince the brothers into giving us these items (or letting us take them -- this was a sat night, we weren't breaking in to the houses or anything) but couldn't tell them why. (we then returned everything a few hours later)

we wouldn't even think of taking anything important.. we took things like a sock, a comb, a plunger (which had a guy from that frat yelling out the window "ewww you girls are so sketchy!" -- this being from the sketchiest frat on campus ). it was fun having 2 girls go in.. one pretending to be really drunk and needing to use the bathroom and the other apologizing for the "drunk friend" while the first girl grabbed a toothbrush and shoved it down her shirt.

i agree that stealing is stealing and we prob should not have done this... but its a tradition and we return everything and no harm is done

[KDMafia]

I have mixed issues about stealing. My campus is small and sororities each have a corridor in a dorm building. Due to this there is a mutual rule about stealing. Usually if it is done it is done by sorority girls at fraternity houses grabbing like a glass or something like that. Sometimes more serious stuff is taken. The entire greek community seems to take it pretty well, however there are things which is understood to be off limits. Once our founding members composite was stolen but after a week it was returned. This usualy happens if something important to the sorority is stolen. I dont see some of it as a big deal, but i dont agree with breaking and entering or manipulating people. It's usually just being at a frat party and seeing a semi formal cup laying around or other such things with letters on and stealing it. It is also understood that if you are careless enough to leave something like your letters or pledge book laying around and unguarded you're not respecting them and fraternity guys feel less bad about taking them.

[Tom Earp]

The problemo is it can get out of hand. When it does, there can be serious problems as it escalates over a period of time. People can get harmed and there We go again.

Fun at the time? But just stop and figure how the legal system is becomeing.

Sad But True!

[KDMafia]

I agree that it can get out of hand and it has calmed down alot from what it used to be and you are right about the legal system. I just look at some of it as pranks rather than stealing. There is a specific sign my sorority owns and it had a past habit of being stolen by a fraternity on campus, if it was missing we knew they had it, and we would get it back. It became a game between us and thankfully that is how it is all usually viewed on campus.

[lyrica9]

we have a huge Pi in our entrance way because our Alpha and Delta got stolen from in front of our house.ever since the sorority row was built, all the sororities get pranked on an almost weekly basis.

i think the stealing thing gets really old after the 10th or so time.