Lil' Sis's

[hugs_n_ladybugs]

It's a big thing on my campus, so I was wondering about elsewhere... How many of you girls are also Lil' Sis's of a fraternity, and how did you become one? On my campus, for example, you must be voted in by the brothers of the fraternity.

[opaldragon]

How often do you hear about sorority women having lil bros? And is it as big of a deal for there to be lil bros for sororities as it is for fraternities to have lil sis?

[orchid2]

I think the fraternities had them at my school in the 1980's... since then, they've been done away with. I'm almost positive Phi Mu nationals prohibits these little sister groups and such, and I'm sure that most of the rest of NPC does as well.

The closest thing on my campus today? Fraternity chapter sweethearts... and that's about it.

[AEPhiSierra]

On my campus we don't have little sister groups but girls will have an unofficial big or little bro from another glo or guys will have an unofficial big or little sis. They are completely optional, are not assigned and if a person is in one glo that doesn't mean their big/little has to be from another specific glo. If you get along with someone really well (they are suppose to be platonic friends, but every once in while you hear of them getting together) you just ask them to be your big or little. The bigs usually buys their littles letters and the littles makes their big a paddle.

[KSigkid]

On my campus, it was always a big thing that if you were good enough friends with a sorority member, she would ask you to be the "big brother" of her sorority little sister. Basically you would just introduce her to fraternity life at the school, introduce her to the guys and help out with her getting used to Greek life. I had an Alpha Phi little sis, and we ended up becoming good friends.

As far as having a "Big brother/little sister" relationship with another organization, though, I know Kappa Sig does not allow that sort of relationship.

[WVU alpha phi]

I have a big brother at my school but he and I aren't really close. My big is really close with a lot of Sig Eps and he is one of her best friends, so he became my big brother. It's not that big of a deal around here, a lot of my sisters have big brothers but if you don't, no one cares. I haven't decided yet if I want one for my little.

We have fraternity sweethearts, too, which is a bigger deal. Three of my sisters are sweethearts to Phi Sig, Sig Ep, and TKE. As far as I know, each sorority nominates a girl to go interview for the frat's sweetheart. The sister is friends with most of the guys. The they go through an interview process and I think the brothers all vote on who they want as their sweetheart. I think the only real "duties" for the girls are being at the house for the frat's rush, being available for date parties, and stuff like that.

[texas*princess]

I could be wrong, but I think NPC has the same sort of thing. Or maybe it is just certain NPC groups that have "rules" or whatever against participating in auxiliary groups for fraternities.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally posted by exlurker
Hello, hugs_n_ladybugs. Just from a guy's perspective here, it's interesting to learn that Little Sisters are still a big deal on some campuses. That's not true everywhere, and in fact the NIC has stated in its "NIC Standards for NIC Member Fraternities," which are posted on its web site at

http://www.nicindy.org

that NIC member organizations must have as part of their national policies, a requirement that"Fraternity-chapter women's auxiliary groups (i.e. "little sisters") are not allowed." That policy is supposed to have been implemented no later than September 2004. So Little Sisters groups are, presumably, getting rarer in NIC fraternities.

[tunatartare]

My friend was telling me how lil sis's and lil bro's are pretty popular. When you're pledging, you're big will assign you a big brother or sister from another GLO. You big bro/sis pretty much just buys you stuff and just hangs out with you. It's really more for fun, nothing official. Also, I was looking at my friend's profile the other day, and she had in the bottom of her profile "XY Lil Sis" so I'm guessing that her school still does it.

[KDwxgrrl]

Kappa Delta doesn't allow its members to be little sisters of fraternities. I know that the whole thing has this scandulous, sex party reputation due to some things that happened in the '80s.

On my campus we used to have men that were recognized by the sororities, not really as a "group", but recognized individually. For example, KDs had "dagger men", Kappas had "Kappa Knights", etc. But most nationals don't allow that either, I know ours did, but our Campus Panhell voted to abolish those last year.

[AGDee]

The primary reason that little sister orgs were put to rest had to do with court challenges of the "single sex" status of fraternities and sororities. We have to be cautious to maintain certain requirements to ensure that we can continue to exist as single sex organizations and those groups violated the requirements.

When they did away with them, on my campus, the both the TKE Little Sisters and the Lambda Chi Crescents became interest groups for NPC sororities and are now NPC groups.

Dee

[hugs_n_ladybugs]

Wow, I didn't know there were so many opposed to "Lil' Sis's."

On my campus, for instance, there are Sigma Tau Gamma Sweethearts and Sigma Pi Orchids. They are girls who were voted on by the brothers of the fraternities to be those who wear rush shirts, help with both rush and social events, and promote the fraternities. It has nothing to do with the sororities on campus. Many of the Lil' Sis's, Sweethearts, Orchids, etc. are also members of sororities, but others are non-Greeks. Once a girl becomes a Lil' Sis or whatever, a brother agrees to be her sponsor or Big Brother.

I always thought the idea was cute... *shrugs*

[AUDeltaGam]

Originally posted by AGDee
The primary reason that little sister orgs were put to rest had to do with court challenges of the "single sex" status of fraternities and sororities. We have to be cautious to maintain certain requirements to ensure that we can continue to exist as single sex organizations and those groups violated the requirements.

That's the reason Auburn Panhellenic doesn't want sorority members to be little sisters. My sorority even has it in our bylaws that we are not allowed to participate.

[kddani]

All NPC sororities have it in their bylaws that members aren't allowed to be part of such organizations. At least I believe it's all NPC's bylaws, being that NPC passed the resolution

[hugs_n_ladybugs]

They aren't really organizations--or they're not on my campus, anyway. They're individual girls who already associate with the particular fraternities, and the brothers agree that the girls would represent the fraternity well. They aren't initiated in any way, don't hold meetings, and aren't so closely associated with the brothers that they know any secrets of the brotherhood. So I really don't see how the single sex-ism of fraternities and sororities is threatened in any way. *shrugs*

Originally posted by hugs_n_ladybugs
They aren't really organizations--or they're not on my campus, anyway. They're individual girls who already associate with the particular fraternities, and the brothers agree that the girls would represent the fraternity well. They aren't initiated in any way, don't hold meetings, and aren't so closely associated with the brothers that they know any secrets of the brotherhood. So I really don't see how the single sex-ism of fraternities and sororities is threatened in any way. *shrugs*

It's a matter of whether or not the girl's already a member of a sorority, namely, in this case, the NPC.

It doesn't matter if these "little sisters" aren't formally organized -- if she's a member of an NPC sorority, and NPC bylaws clearly state that they're not to be officially associated with XYZ fraternity as a "little sister", then that's going against policy.

The NPC is very clear when it encourages its members to not officially associate themselves with little sister labels, sweetheart orgs, or high school auxilliary groups.