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The Dartmouth
July 20, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

'Jockwear' abounds at the College

Sometimes walking across campus is like swimming in alphabet soup.

It's hard to walk 100 yards without seeing a woman with the letters of her Greek house prominently displayed on her sweatshirt or a man wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with his fraternity house's letters.

Some students said they have become attached to their jockwear over the years.

Jorge Motoshige '96 said his Zeta Psi fraternity hat is well traveled. He said after owning it for only about a week having put time into breaking it in -- including wearing it in the shower -- his roommate's girlfriend left for China with his hat.

Fortunately, Motoshige said, his roommate was planning to visit her and retrieved the hat.

But other students disagree.

"I'm probably no more attached to this hat than to the general principle of hats," Devin Morgan '96 said. "I do have a spare."

Whether or not they are attached to their hats students wear all kinds of jockwear, but sometimes they feel a stigma is attached to those who wear their jockwear in public.

"Some people I have talked to have been treated differently because they have jockwear on," Motoshige said, referring to professors in particular.

But, "I don't let it bother me," he said.

Ignoring the potential stigma, many students said they don their jockwear to express pride in their house.

Beta Theta Pi fraternity President Chris Adamson '97 said, "House pride would be the main reason," he wears jockwear.

Ku Chung '97, a Zete brother, said his jockwear gives him a sense of belonging.

"It's like wearing a Redskins cap or a Dartmouth cap. You just wear it because you're a part of it," Chung said.

Zete President Bryan Diederich '97 said his jockwear was connected to his identity -- but only one part of it.

"The only statement you're making by wearing it is just to say, 'I'm a member of this house,'" Zete President Bryan Diederich '97 said.

Diederich noted that his membership in a fraternity is only one facet of his identity. "Individualism doesn't really have that much to do with the clothes you wear. It's just jockwear," he said.

But some students just leave their rate of jockwear wearing to fate.

Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity President Andrew Koh '96 said he wears his Jockwear "when it comes up in the clothing cycle."

Students said their wearing jockwear was reflective of Dartmouth's laid-back atmosphere.

"There's such a casual atmosphere around here. At other schools, how you look matters a lot more," Adamson said, explaining the prominence of jockwear like sweatshirts and hats.

"If you're doing something that's beneficial and wearing house letters, it would definitely promote your house," Adamson added, giving an example of positive image created by saying intelligent things in class while wearing Jockwear.

"Advertising is always good," said Morgan, a brother at Gamma Delta Chi fraternity.

But Koh disagreed. "I'm not a walking billboard," he said, and added that he makes no political statement when wearing his letters.

Other students say their motives for wearing jockwear are purely comfort-driven.

"I generally don't like wearing [Sigma Delta Jockwear]. I wear these shorts because they're comfortable," Amanda Johnson '96 said.

"It's just sweat stuff so I wouldn't wear it if I weren't working out," Mary Albert '98 said of her Sigma Delt shorts in the same design as Johnson's. "But I wouldn't purposely not wear it."

When emerging from the Greek scene at Dartmouth, many students found different reactions from friends and family at home.

"They laugh at me and call me 'frat boy'," Motoshige said.

"They ask me stupid questions like, 'Are you in Kappa Kappa Gamma [sorority]?'" Dara Denberg '98 said.

Morgan saidhe feels there is a different connotation to Greek letters at home than within the Dartmouth "frat culture," which does make him give thought to wearing his letters.

"I worry a little bit more about it at home. I certainly don't worry about it around here," he said.

In the same way that students who wear clothes from a certain region or school often meet because of common interests, jockwear clad students also meet people with whom they share Greek bonding.

While working at General Electric, Scott Lassonde '96 said another Zete member recognized him because he was wearing a Zete shirt.

Koh said he was recognized by an alumnus from the 1960s while walking around New York City because of the sweatshirt he was wearing with a small house seal above the left breast.

Choosing jockwear seems to be a fairly simple process.

Students spoke of the "jockwear guy" who brings a selection of items once each term to house meetings.

"These shorts were the only ones left, so I just grabbed them," Denberg said of her choice of buying navy KKG Umbros.

"No paisley for me" was the only restriction Denberg said she puts on her Jockwear wardrobe which includes a sweatshirt, hat and Umbros.

"Zete is a national so they have other Zete stuff they sell across the country," Motoshige said. Motoshige and his brothers added that they got special Zete Dartmouth College hats printed up because at least 15 brothers wanted them.

But other houses recruit their members to design their jockwear. "We have a brother in the house, [Baron Carlson '96], who designs a lot of stuff" for Beta, Adamson said.