Eliminating Bigs and Littles?

Drolefille · #1 10-02-2006, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Lisa_

I am just as close to my heart sister as I am to my big & my twiddle. I didn't have a Senior Shadow, but I love that idea.

wait, you only have 1 heart sister? We had one a week until initiation.

FSUZeta · #2 10-02-2006, 05:29 PM

it seems to me that the chapter drama on jocelyn's campus should be dealt with as an internal problem, not a panhellenic problem, and should be handled internally, or at the most by their national office.

tunatartare · #3 10-02-2006, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

it seems to me that the chapter drama on jocelyn's campus should be dealt with as an internal problem, not a panhellenic problem, and should be handled internally, or at the most by their national office.

I agree. I can't picture a fraternity/sorority that doesn't have some sort of a big/little program. Heck, at my college sports teams had bigs and littles. Freshman year, two girls on my floor was on the crew team and the night before a big match, they got posters on their doors that said "good luck! love your Big" and stuff like that. I believe that the soccer team has them as well.

SoCalGirl · #4 10-02-2006, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drolefille

wait, you only have 1 heart sister? We had one a week until initiation.

We had Heart Sis, Big Sis, and Violet Sis. I was closest to my Violet Sis's. I had one as a pledge and then had two as an Active.

I think I've also heard of Dove Sis's but not sure how they work.

When I was a collegiate my chapter had Sigma Sister of the Week. Each week you were randomly paired with another sister. At the next meeting the girls would brag about what they did with each other that week. The girls with the best activity/story won a prize.

With Big/Lil gifts my chapter always had a list of what the gifts were to be and also a budget. I always ended up over budget. There was one family that always seemed to have the sisters that could spend $2 on something but it would look like a million bucks because they were creative. So it's not always about money.

Buttonz · #5 10-02-2006, 10:06 PM

My chapter only gave gifts at intiation. IT was supposed to be a pillow & a set of letters from the big. Often, the big would give more...a lto more, if they could afford it. I can remeber at least one semster where the rule was put in palce if you give anything more then one set of letters a nd a pilliow, it had to be done in private, because there were a few of us there were able to spend more/spent mroe even fi they couldn't afford it (got to love credit cards!), and they didn't want anyone else feeling bad. It semeed to work pretty well.

I'll admit to being one of those girls who over spent on her litte, part of htat reasoning being she started her NM program the semster before, dropepd due to personal reasons, and the Friday before we were about to start our NM program I got a call from a girl that worked with her telling me that she decided to come back and re-go through the NM program (she wasn't sure about it, because she wasn't sure if she would be able to and didn't want to drop again) and finished it, and I was so proud of her for coming back, that I spoiled her.

violetpretty · #6 10-03-2006, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

We had Heart Sis, Big Sis, and Violet Sis. I was closest to my Violet Sis's. I had one as a pledge and then had two as an Active.

I think I've also heard of Dove Sis's but not sure how they work.

I would assume that heart, violet, and dove sisters are essentially the same, just that NMs would get them at different times during their NM period.

Jestor · #7 10-03-2006, 01:40 PM

I for one would be horrified if the Big/Little system were eliminated from DSP or any Greek organization for that matter (and no, there's been not even a sniff of that anywhere in DSP).

Not only is Big Bro Night one of the best nights of pledging as others have indicated, but by placing a strong emphasis on lineage like our chapter does, you have a greater sense of connection with both the actives and the alumni.

I'm extremely proud of my lineage and I talk to my big brother and grandfather (as we call two generations before us) often and lineage is something I intend to strongly stress with the little bro I have this semester.

adpiucf · #8 10-03-2006, 02:24 PM

Many sororities are discouraging of the whole lineage bit, though, as a way to discourage cliquish behavior and excluding others.

I don't think that will ever go away, though. When you're Greek, you just want to be "related" to everyone: Big/Lil, Grandbig, Adopted Lil, Flower Sister, Diamond Dyad, Twin, Panhellenic Sis, Fraternity Big, etc...

SoCalGirl · #9 10-03-2006, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JessSigKap

I would assume that heart, violet, and dove sisters are essentially the same, just that NMs would get them at different times during their NM period.

Heart Sis was the woman that Pref'd you. You get her on Bid Day.

Big Sis - usually about 4-5 weeks in to pledging. The NM would submit her pref list of who she wanted as her big. The VP-NME would then match up bigs/lils. The lil would find out who her big was at revealing at the end of Mystery Week.

Violet Sis - the NM would pick the NM that most inspired her. During Inspiration Week the NM would leave poems/clues for the member and after initiation the NM would reveal who her Violet Sis was.

33girl · #10 10-03-2006, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

Heart Sis was the woman that Pref'd you. You get her on Bid Day.

Big Sis - usually about 4-5 weeks in to pledging. The NM would submit her pref list of who she wanted as her big. The VP-NME would then match up bigs/lils. The lil would find out who her big was at revealing at the end of Mystery Week.

Violet Sis - the NM would pick the NM that most inspired her. During Inspiration Week the NM would leave poems/clues for the member and after initiation the NM would reveal who her Violet Sis was.

OMG thank you.

My friend is a Sig Kap and tried to explain all this to me and I didn't get it.

SoCalGirl · #11 10-03-2006, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

OMG thank you.

My friend is a Sig Kap and tried to explain all this to me and I didn't get it.

Yeah it can be very confusing! I was always confused and curious by chapters that had the Big Sis be the girl that Pref'd you. It just seemed unfair to the other chapters that they weren't constantly getting another ___ Sis.

BaylorBean · #12 10-03-2006, 05:10 PM

My Chapter did it a bit differently.

Heart Sis: Random match up on Bid day, served as your "big" for the first half of pledging. They were matched based on "broken hearts" (like the BFF necklaces). The active made the heart cut it in half and at the Bid activities the NM would pick a half and find her match.

Big Sis: Same as what SoCal said. Often the Heart Sis became your big (my little was my heart sis)

Violet sis: A more senior active who leaves you notes/presents/encouragement durring I-week. She is revealed on "Violet night". I think you were just assigned to someone, don't quite remember though.

I think my chapter now has pearl pals too. Not sure though.

SigKapBling · #13 10-03-2006, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

Heart Sis was the woman that Pref'd you. You get her on Bid Day.

Big Sis - usually about 4-5 weeks in to pledging. The NM would submit her pref list of who she wanted as her big. The VP-NME would then match up bigs/lils. The lil would find out who her big was at revealing at the end of Mystery Week.

Violet Sis - the NM would pick the NM that most inspired her. During Inspiration Week the NM would leave poems/clues for the member and after initiation the NM would reveal who her Violet Sis was.

see our Heart sis was the woman that got you on bid day - but it was only for a week. and it wasnt the girl that pref'd you. random selection for all the active members to be able to get to know the NM's. and every week the NM would get a new Heart sis.
thats how it worked at my school. As for Violet sis .. dont even think we had that. just Heart Sis, Big/Lil Sis, and ... i think thats all i recall.

Drolefille · #14 10-04-2006, 12:43 PM

We had Heart sis and Big/little

Heart sis was much like SigKapBling's except that you would often get the girl who preffed you as your heart sis the first week. Then a different girl each week.

Then you listed the girls you'd want as your Big (but didn't know until a revealing of some sort)

AlexMack · #15 10-04-2006, 06:49 PM

Oh, I so win this game I think.

I started with a heart sis, then after pledging in, you get your big (mine posts on GC which is pretty damn cool, I had no clue till afterwards. Love you Big!), then we do Secret Sigma, where you're left clues up until I-week before the revealing. Finally, we did do mother/daughter, which is sort of like the big/little pref listing. You don't find out your mom until I-week either. Now they've changed mom/daughter to Sigma/Kappa, which kinda made me mad because it was considered a divide between new members and initiated sisters, which I don't agree with.
So...
Heart sis
Big sis
Secret Sigma
Mom/Sigma.

No wonder I was inundated with so many gifts! Oh yeah, there was a spending cap on mom/daughter gifts too. Moms can only spend $150 tops on their daughters.