Honor Society Question

[jennie3576]

I was just wondering....is it customary to wear letters of your honor society? For instance, I am a sister of Alpha Sigma Tau, and obviously wear those letters Anyway, I also am a member of Lambda Alpha Sigma Honor Society, but would never think to get those letters! But, I do know some people that do. Am I missing the boat?

[KSUViolet06]

At my alma mater, people never wore honor society letters. I'm in a couple societies (Mortar Board-leadership honorary, Sigma Tau Delta - English majors) and we only paid induction fees and had meetings once a month or so. They were really just resume builders for most people, so nobody wore letters or anything. So no, you didn't miss the boat.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

You can... down here many members of Psi Chi (Psychology) wear the same stitched shirts and bags as sorority members do. Also AKPSi (finance) is HUGE On letters they all have jerseys like every IFC and NPC on campus do. Kappa Delta Pi (teaching) has screen printed shirts. A few other groups have it too, I just can't remember...But I do plan on getting Sigma Tau Delta letters when I have the money, I am proud to be an STD! (lol)

[Drolefille]

Most of the people I know in things like Psi Chi have a T-shirt or two, but they're not "Letters" stitched and such.

My favorite was Psi Chi, Dealing with your dysfunctional relatives so you don't have to (or something like that)

My honor society chapter had shirts printed (the screened kind), but the only times we wore them were when we were out doing philanthropic events.

[Leslie Anne]

I'd guess it depends on the honor society. It never occured to me to get letters for the society I'm in. I do have a pin though. (but I've never worn it)

[AChiOhSnap]

Not exactly about honor societies, but I have heard about other non-NPC GLOs becoming kind of "anti-sororities" in response to NPC groups. A friend of mine a nearby university told me about a particular music-oriented organization had a good deal of women in it that went through NPC recruitment one year. For some reason or another, a large percentage of the women in this org did not receive bids/dropped out. Lo and behold, a few weeks later, the women in this org all started rocking stitched letter totes/hoodies/t-shirts/etc and wearing NPC sorority style shirts that said things like "Everyone loves an XYZ girl" or "XYZ Angels Collection" etc.

This wasn't something this particular chapter had ever done before, and it was especially odd because the group is actually co-ed and none of the men started wearing stitched letters. Additionally, my friend said that none of the women in the music group that were already in NPC sororities or received bids wore the stitched letters or carried the totes. I'm sure some chapters of this organization, nationally, do the stitched letter thing, but she just said it was strange since the group was definitely seen as more of an honor/professional society within their campus culture rather than a social org.

According to my friend, it looked a little immature/bratty and kind of missed the point besides (in that NPC sororities aren't all about carrying totes and wearing lettered flip-flops) and that it was almost like an "F-you, we'll just make our own bags then" in response to the fact that the women were cut during NPC recruitment. Very strange.

On my campus it would have been seen as totally crazy for members of Psi Chi, Sigma Tau Delta, or Phi Beta Kappa to carry totes or wear letters. In fact, the only org other than the NPC groups that really carried totes or did the stitched-letter sweatshirts were women in APO.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by AChiOhSnap

On my campus it would have been seen as totally crazy for members of Psi Chi, Sigma Tau Delta, or Phi Beta Kappa to carry totes or wear letters. In fact, the only org other than the NPC groups that really carried totes or did the stitched-letter sweatshirts were women in APO.

Same thing here. There were only a few non social sorority/fraternity groups on my campus who wore letters (Alpha Phi Omega, Phi Sigma Pi, the music/band fraternities, and a couple others). Beyond that, it wasn't something people did.

I remember one year our Relay for Life tent was next to a group of guys wearing letters that nobody recognized (they weren't an IFC group or any of the other service/music groups). So we went over to say hi and introduce ourselves. They got pretty upset and were like "You should know who were are, we're part of the Greek community too. We're JUST as much of a fraternity as the Delts or Sigma Chi. We drink and party and have letters too!"

We cut that visit short (and spared them the speech that being a fraternity is not all about drinking). I went home and did a quick search and found out that they were members of a Chemistry major honor society.

A few weeks later I ran into one of them outside the Greek Life office looking pretty mad. It turns out that they had been trying to become part of IFC (not sure why) but the advisor had just told him that they couldn't (which was obviously because they were not a fraternity, but they didn't understand that) .

[SnuKnight172]

I never thought about this before. I never associated the Greek Letter Honor Societies with wearing letters. I couldn't picture myself wearing a big Omega on my chest (Order of Omega). I wouldn't want to disrespect the Omega Psi Phis in the SoCal (San Bernardino/Riverside) Area.

[honeychile]

I never wore a lettered t-shirt with my honorary letters, but I've worn the pins, just below my ADPi pin.

[Little32]

When I was in college I wore my Sigma Tau Delta pin to organization events. When I was president of the organization, it was more than just a resume builder, we actually did stuff. I barely wear it now, though I do pull it out on occasion. I would never have though to get letter anything for any of the honors societies that I am a member of.

[adpiucf]

All of the greeks at my undergrad wore letters, carried totes, etc, whether they were social, service, or honors organizations. I never really thought of it as a big deal or thought anything of it. To me, they were just promoting their organization.

[Tom Earp]

What is sad today is the fact that people do not wear their Letters or Pins!

Are they not proud enough?

[adpiucf]

I think it has more to do with campus cultures, Tom.

[SalukiPhiSig]

I'm a member of Alpha Lambda Delta honor society but I've never worn those letters. There are some members on campus that do wear them, but I really only see them at philanthropy events and occasionally on campus, but it's rare.

Other than that, I never really see any of the honor societies or other organizations wearing letters.