little sisters

[OnePlus69Is70]

I'm looking for arguments against fraternities having women's auxiliaries, ie "little sisters". I'm dealing with a chapter that has them, and I'm trying to convince them to do away with it before they're forced to.

Most of the women are wonderful, and it's great having them around and helping. They mostly either weren't bid by a sorority, or don't get along with the sororities on campus. (Or they're girlfriends of brothers, which turns into a real fun situation when they break up.) There are about 30 total, and probably 15 who are really active. The chapter has 23 total brothers, with about 17 who are really active. The little sisters meet separately, but they operate under our chapter director, and have a full committee system- they operate practically as a sorority on their own, with bigs and littles and everything.

The chapter gives three reasons for having the auxiliary:
1) These are the women who would be around the house anyway, so organizing them to help us reduces the work for us.
2) It frees us from having to deal with the NPC sororities, who would impose rules on us.
3) It keeps the women who hang around the house under control- we can get rid of one we don't like by not letting her into the auxiliary group.

My reasons for getting rid of them are:
1) It exposes us to liability; court rulings have held that a fraternity can be held responsible for the actions of a women's auxiliary group.
2) It's against national rules. (Not often a good reason for anything, but I thought I'd throw it in.)
3) Having the women around doing their work for them is making the brothers lazy- the women are expected to handle a lot of the responsibility for parties, and that isn't right.
4) It's created the impression on campus that they're a forority- which isn't half wrong. The male pledges and new female members all have big brothers AND big sisters.
5) It weakens Greek unity- we ought to be working with the NPC sororities.
6) It's disrespectful. The idea that the men need to keep the women under control (which is exactly how it's put) is mildly horrifying.

Can anyone bulk up my arguments, or give me a few additional ones?

[gpb1874]

i agree with your reasonings! i've been Greek Advisor for just over a year now. apparently, the previous GA had to disband the little sister groups when he got here (about 3 years ago). one of the new officers of a fraternity asked "can we have them back? they really did a lot of work for us." right, which is exactly why your chapter members are now lazy and not keeping it together (sounds like this group is headed down the lazy route). they learn to rely on others and not themselves.

being in a fraternity is about developing YOUR sense of leadership and taking the chapter in the direction the members want to see it go, not how the girls want it to go. it is the guy's chapter, not the girls'.

another arguement is that having auxillary groups threatens their status as single-sex organizations under Title IX. this is mainly on the national level, but i wouldn't hesitate to say to this chapter that if they are going to have these women do the work for them, then they need to be initiated. see what happens then....you'll probably get a lot of "yeah, right" responses, but it may help show them that if they are doing the work for the fraternity, then they should have full rights and privileges of membership.

their reasoning for 3 is just dumb. are they saying they can't ask a girl to stay away unless she is in a group? doesn't make much sense. as for 2, tell them to grow up. then brainstorm ideas on how they can still have fun and stay in the NPC rules. it's not that difficult.

good luck with your endeavor! sounds like it may a tough battle (so to say), but will be worth it in the end.

[33girl]

Originally posted by OnePlus69Is70
3) Having the women around doing their work for them is making the brothers lazy- the women are expected to handle a lot of the responsibility for parties, and that isn't right.

This IMO is the biggest one. One of the fraternities on my campus crumbled once the little sisters were outlawed, because they'd been basically running the fraternity. It really didn't make them look too good when everyone realized how ineffectual they were.

#2 on the "good" side - DRAMA DRAMA BIG TIME waiting to happen. I know sometimes it does occur, but being a brother's girlfriend should have nothing to do with being a little sister. What if a couple breaks up? You have divided loyalties and it's a huge mess.

And as far as this group being made up of women who didn't get bids - well, sometimes it's surprising how things can change. The girl who hates sororities today may make friends with Susie Sigma and end up being her sorority sister next semester. Plus your fraternity is really cutting off their noses to spite their faces - if the only girls who will hang out w/ them are the little sisters.

I'm honestly not against little sisters, some of my friends were little sisters and had a great time. But it sounds like this chapter has a little sister program for all the wrong reasons.

[James]

If you are really going to get off a little by killin gtheir buzz I would suggest not rationalizing it.

Unless they are stupid they are not going to believe your rationalization . . tell underage people why they shouldn't drink you know?

I would just address the official aspects of the "little sister" group. If the girls want to hang out thats fine. If they want to meet or whatever as an interest group . . thats fine to. But the fraternity can't have any official relationship with them in terms of running them, having bigs and littles etc.

Another way to nip it in the bud is to have the girls form an interest group or even a club .. . that should transfer liability back on them if they decide to involve members of the fraternity in their governing in ways that are different from their constitution.

But don't expect the guys to be happy with you. Why should they want to break up something that works for them?

[adpiucf]

Is this a national GLO? In that case, suspend non-essential chapter operations until the chapter disbands the auxilary, and refuse to allow them to hold any social events or participate in any university events until they comply. Any groups that decide to take pity on them and have a social together will face social probation, too.

Meet with the women and explain the situation. They may be friends of the fraternity, but if they want to belong to a GLO, advise them to go through recruitment, start their own sisterhood or join a non-Greek campus activity.

[AXiDTrish]

Search an old forum called "Lil' Sis's." You will find more discussion on the topic.

[BSUPhiSig'92]

Back in the day when Little Sisters were commonplace, it was not at all uncommon to see Little Sister groups with twice the number of brothers in the chapter. It was also quite common to see those women exert tremendous influence in the operations of the chapter - in essence the chapter became almost auxilliary to the little sister org. On my campus, when little sister orgs were outlawed, about half became local sororities who affiiliated with an NPC org w/in 2-3 years.

[OnePlus69Is70]

To answer a query and ask a question:
-It IS a national GLO, but I'm not the chapter director, I'm an alumni/active (I'm back at school for a second time), so I don't have the authority to suspend chapter operations. I could contact HQ and spill the beans, but I'd rather try to fix things from within first.

-How would they go about starting an NPC chapter? That idea appeals to me, but the college NPC is not open to expansion, and they're not allowed to just be local. Can an NPC chapter exist and not belong to the NPC council at that school?

[AngelPhiSig]

The women can always become a chapter of Beta Sigma Phi. BSP does not have to be affiliated with a college - its a community organization.

Please PM me for more info - I cant type a lot right now.

[ragtimerose]

What Alison said. You're welcome to PM either of us for more information about BSP.

[Senusret I]

Originally posted by OnePlus69Is70
I could contact HQ and spill the beans, but I'd rather try to fix things from within first.

And THAT is the brotherly thing to do. Thanks for doing the right thing. (Or at least starting the process of making every reasonable attempt to do the right thing.)

[adpiucf]

Originally posted by OnePlus69Is70
To answer a query and ask a question:
-It IS a national GLO, but I'm not the chapter director, I'm an alumni/active (I'm back at school for a second time), so I don't have the authority to suspend chapter operations. I could contact HQ and spill the beans, but I'd rather try to fix things from within first.

-How would they go about starting an NPC chapter? That idea appeals to me, but the college NPC is not open to expansion, and they're not allowed to just be local. Can an NPC chapter exist and not belong to the NPC council at that school?

Then tell the chapter director-- as an alumnus, he is your peer, and not the chapter president. Let him deal with it. And if he doesn't do anything, then you know that you did your job tipping him off and it is his role to work on this with the chapter officers.

If the college isn't open to expansion, then advise the women to rush or to join another campus activity. They can still hang out with the men-- they just can't call themselves members.

[cassise]

You are forgetting the most important legal argument.

According to the NIC, in addition to exposing the fraternity to liability issues related to little sister's actions, little sisters ruin our one-sex status.

Conventional wisdom is that where little sisters exist, the possibility of a lawsuit under Title IX to force the initiate of the little sisters exists. Unless your group wants to be responsible for a massive lawsuit, they MUST stop.

Seriously, there is no excuse for this. Its a rule, tell your guys to grow up and get over it before they expose themselves to massive legal action.

Somebody said calling the national org would not be the brotherly thing to do, but if they refuse to follow the rules, they put the entire national org. at risk, so you are people a poor brother to the thousands of other members of your organization by not saying something.