sisters

leesek · #1 08-25-2004, 08:03 PM

Many years ago!!( well not really that many) There was a national Sisters of the Shield and Diamond of Pi Kappa Alpha.
Does it still exist? I was a pike little sis but did not request alum status. Just interrested in what's going on now. My daughter is in college and is greek but says that the fraternities don't have little sisters anymore.

Firehouse · #2 08-26-2004, 12:48 AM

Sorry, you are correct. Even the National Interfraternity Conference (NIC) now has a policy against Little Sisters. They were fabulously successful and popular, but they were axed in the 1990s because national sororities didn't like them.
Several reasons are always given - always very somberly and with pained sincerity. The standard reasons are: 1) Little Sisters provided greater exposure for liability; 2) Little Sister organizations would give anti-fraternity types the opportunity to challenge the single-sex legal status of our organizations.
Well, I don't think laibility was really an issue. The girls were not "members" in any sense, but merely informal social affiliates. A simple set of do's and don'ts from national offices would have removed the liability objection. And frankly, Little Sisters made the guys behave better toward women. It was a healthy relationship. If anything, the girls helped influence the boys toward behavior that relieved liability.
As far as challenging the single sex status of fraternities, that status is protected by established Federal law, and was re-affirmed in 1996 with the passage of the Federal Freedom of Association Act.
No, what was really behind the demise of Little Sisters was the realization by sororities that non-sorority women could have full & free access to fraternities without having to join a sorority. If a girl could affiliate with a top fraternity for little or no financial outlay, why should she feel compelled to endure the rigidly structured world of sororities?
The National Sororities told the National Fraternities to get rid of them, and they did. Case closed, and too bad for it.

ThetaO Pike · #3 08-26-2004, 01:06 AM

I have had heard about the little sis program from some alumni and had heard some of the same reasons for getting rid of it, also was told that most of the time where ever there was a strong little sis organization, the chapter was week, and the little sis group would often do most of the work for the chapter. This was probably one of the more extreme cases, in this particular case the little sis group had elected E-board and had their own initiation ceremony, like I said probably one of the more esteem cases. But at our chapter we still have a dream girl, and I know at a lot of chapter they have their "Calendar Girls".

Firehouse · #4 08-26-2004, 01:20 AM

Not true about strong Little Sisters = weak chapter. I'm sure that happened sometimes. Women tend to be better organized than men so it would not be unusual for them to perhaps be a little more focused and productive. But the truth is that great chapters had organizations of fabulous-looking women, and weak chapters, well, what major babes are going to hang out with a bunch of weasels?
My chapter had an "initiation" ceremony for Little Sisters, and one of the Brothers always served as Coordinator. The girls elected their own officers, but the focus of their efforts was always on making life better for our chapter, through rush or whatever other means they could devise.
Even today, we get phonecalls from former Little Sisters whose sons are coming to FSU and who want the chapter to rush them. They were a TREMENDOUS ASSET. I'm sorry they're gone. But it's tough to fight the National Sororities. They got nowhere telling their girls they couldn't join Little Sis organizations, so they just eliminated the organizations themselves.

leesek · #5 08-26-2004, 10:37 AM

You're right about strong chapter / strong sisters. AD chapter at Ga Tech was extremely strong and we had a great little sis program. It was very structured. New member coordinator with meetings every week. We were tested weekly while we were pledges on history and just about anything to do with Pi Kappa Alpha nationally or the chapter. We were initiated by the brothers but elected our own officers always with a liason that the brothers elected. It was a great organization. But this was back in the 70's when there were almost no sororities on campus.
It was more popular to be a little sis than in sorority.

#6 08-26-2004, 11:33 AM

It seems like every fraternity at Baylor still had little sisters and sweethearts, but not an official organization..........are the two different? Are they still allowed to elect chapter sweethearts/little sisters?

Firehouse · #7 08-26-2004, 02:07 PM

Leesek, how right you are! The Georgia Tech Pikes had the best of all worlds: a stud chapter, and an affiliate group of fabulous women. If I remember right, they originally called them "Rush Girls" and they were top girls form all the best schools & colleges in Atlanta.
You know, in all that time - roughly the mid 1960s through the mid 1990s - there never was a feeling by the Little Sisters that they wanted to be initiated members of Pi Kappa Alpha; it was all just a great experience and everyone enjoyed the role they played, Pike Brothers and Pike Little Sisters. Lot of mutual respect and affection, and those relationships continue to this day among many of those people.

ADPiZX: It may be that at Baylor the fraternities have something along the lines of a Sweetheart Court, maybe 8-10 girls who are part of the "Dreamgirl" selection. Baylor is one of the few public institutions with both strong local and strong national Greek organizations together, so there may be a dynamic that is a little different than other places. However, there are probably no little sister organizations along the lines of what used to be.