Little Sisters/Sweethearts

FuziCrayon · #1 11-18-2003, 01:00 PM

Last night I was made a Delta Sig Sweetheart!! We used to call girls that hang out with the brothers "little sisters," but I guess that's not allowed now that these boys are national. I just wanted to tell you guys how awesome I think this chapter is!! They are such a great group of gentlemen and you should be proud. I'll give you a small hint to who it is: It's in GA and they used to be a local fraternity. If you want to know more you'll have to PM me

DSF knew how to make this FM Lady feel special! I Love You Guys!

DeltaSigStan · #2 11-18-2003, 01:34 PM

Shorter College in Rome. They went from Zeta Rho to Delta Sig. I believe they're gonna be theta psi.

Anyways, I'm glad you love our bros down there. Tell them Gamma Alpha says YITBOS.

ptdsp02 · #3 11-25-2003, 11:48 PM

forget what i said

DeltaSigStan · #4 11-26-2003, 02:04 PM

Apparently, a Lil sis of another fraternity claimed that her lil sis status made her an equal member of the fraternity, meaning she could go to ritual and vote and everything else. I forgot what the outcome of all that was, but to make sure we didn't have that problem, much like dry housing and iweek, we were the first to cave and eliminate the tradition.

Lamp Guard · #5 12-15-2003, 09:57 PM

We don't have little sister groups because of the scenario pointed out in the previous post. Sometimes they go too far and the girls think they can vote and attend ritual. Most of the time it ends up being girlfriends. Things get awkward after the couple breaks up. My chapter never had them, but it sounds like they would be more trouble than they would be worth even if we were allowed to have them.

I disagree about "caving" and eliminating a tradition. It was never a tradition of our national fraternity and is not called for in our ritual or preamble.

With all of the trouble undergrads have in managing their chapters I can't imagine why they'd want this extra burden anyways.

Lamp Guard

PS: I don't think alcohol free housing is a bad rule either. Having beer in fraternity houses is something that came about in the 1960's.

FuziCrayon · #6 12-16-2003, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lamp Guard
We don't have little sister groups because of the scenario pointed out in the previous post. Sometimes they go too far and the girls think they can vote and attend ritual. Most of the time it ends up being girlfriends. Things get awkward after the couple breaks up. My chapter never had them, but it sounds like they would be more trouble than they would be worth even if we were allowed to have them.

I disagree about "caving" and eliminating a tradition. It was never a tradition of our national fraternity and is not called for in our ritual or preamble.

With all of the trouble undergrads have in managing their chapters I can't imagine why they'd want this extra burden anyways.

Lamp Guard

PS: I don't think alcohol free housing is a bad rule either. Having beer in fraternity houses is something that came about in the 1960's.

Wow... I can't believe you think having little sisters is a burden. At Shorter it's a pretty special thing. For example, I'm a girl that was already friends with a lot of the brothers. I'm not dating any of them. Although little sisters are sometimes girlfriends, they're not always. It's just a way to give special recognition to the girls the brothers like... Our sororotiy (Phi Mu) still has Sweethearts. They come to our events and help out. They're just close friends of the sisters (not usually boyfriends). Our Sweethearts realize they can't vote or attend ritual events... and we (little sisters) realize that we're not allowed either. We're not brothers and we know that... but I found it insulting that you called little sisters "a burden." At our school little sisters do things for the brothers like baking their favorite cookies or helping them study for finals or doing something special for them for Christmas. We just try to help out - not cause trouble.

Rock Knobbster · #7 12-25-2003, 01:59 AM

I attended the convention that banned Little Sisters in 1985. The problem was purely legal and we took the step to protect our legal right to a single-sex membership. There was another fraternity with a lawsuit pending at the time.

The LS were rushed, just like the men. They had a pledge program, just like the men. They had officers, paid dues, had meetings, an initiation, even pins; just like the men. They were known as "Daughters of the Nile"; the men were "Sons of Sphinx." Under these circumstances, what was the difference between the "membership" of the "sisters" versus the "brothers"? To the unitiated, it could look as if they had done just as much and were equal members.

We did not do away with female affiliates or sweethearts--as they are most commonly known. We did ban anything which could be construed as equal to the membership of the brothers. The issue now is one of language and execution of the program. I think the basic premise of a female support organization still applies.

dspboskey · #8 01-05-2004, 04:11 PM

I agree with Rock,

The Little Sis's were eliminated so we did not loose our single sex status, if that were to have happened fraternities would have been similar to the Elks, Moose Lodges, or any other social organization that allows both sexes.

I think the bigger question is are we confusing little sisters with Sweet Hearts. I would say it is a safe assumption (having worked for the fraternity for some time) to say that most chapters have a Sweetheart that does certain things for the guys i.e. attend functions, cook cookies, cakes, decorate around the house stuff like that.

As opposed to Little sisters pledging the organization. Having traveled extensively in the south tradition is what is carried on, while the old practice has probably gone the way of the dodo, I would venture to say that the name has stayed the same.

Just my two cents.

YITBOS,

For the uneducated that stands for Your Initiation takes balls of steel!

Lamp Guard · #9 01-18-2004, 03:15 PM

Good explanation of the difference between Little Sisters and Sweethearts. I like sweethearts.

Lamp Guard

sigmax3nc · #10 07-12-2004, 06:20 PM

I am a sweetheart for the Theta Epsilon chapter at Wingate University in North Carolina and I just wanted to say that it is one of the greatest honors and I feel so proud to be given the opportunity to work with such amazing brothers. I know exactly where you're coming from with some thinking that they deserve every right that the brothers have and wanting to participate in rituals and things but being in a sorority myself I also know the value of these special aspects. I think the sweetheart program is a wonderful thing if implemented correctly. Our main tasks as sweethearts is to help with recruitment, raise money for the philanthropy, and represent the guys in the best way possible. We are able to wear screen printed shirts but not stitch letter and we even have our own screen printed jerseys that kind of match the brothers. We attend some of the rush events, formals, etc. and they have special nights where they take us out and treat us to dinner or a movie or something. We also have a big brother/lil sister part of the program. My big brother happens to be one of my very best friends! Overall I love the program and I'm so proud to be a part of it and if it can work for your chapter I strongly encourage it because it can help you out in so many different ways but it can also cause some added trouble as well if something goes wrong or someone oversteps their boundries. I love the fraternity with all my heart and will love my brothers until the day I die. I stand up for them without a second thought and pride myself in being a slight part of such an amazing brotherhood. I encourage you guys to be open-minded at the thought of having a sweetheart program with your chapter because it can bring great things. There are only six of us sweethearts so we are also pretty close with each other and the brothers. I love the support and love that I receive from all of them and everytime I meet a brother outside of the chapter I am involved with I always feel honored and thankful to have that opportunity. Just my insight on the topic but what works for one chapter will not always work for another. I just want to say thank you for the opportunity that I do have and to let you all know that I feel incredibly honored to proudly display your letters and brag about you constantly.

Caddy · #11 07-16-2004, 03:45 PM

Well thank you for all the compliments, I am glad that the sweetheats believe in our guys and fraternity like that. That's one of our newest chapters and they must be pretty good guys to get yall helping out like you do. It is wonderfull that they are coordinating with yall to help rush... are they doing well with that? Wish the bro's good luck for me.

Also, responding to other posts, yes the "sweetheart" or "little sis" program does not exist any more from a National standpoint, but I see alot of chapters still do it... I think if it works for the chapter go for it. I think they banished the program b/c some chapter was putting the girls through a part of the ritual... then the girls thought they were Delta Sigs.

YITBOS
MJC

Zeta Zeta Chapter (Texas Tech U.)

Fabio · #12 12-10-2004, 11:47 AM

Having female affiliates with the Fraternity is by no means dangerous to the Fraternity. It is just when you get crazy girls that want to overstep their boundaries. BTW, FuziCrayon congrats on you being a Delta Sig sweetheart. I'm located at the Oglethorpe University chapter (Alpha Nu) in Atlanta, and I think your guys from Rome should come and visit us sometime!

FuziCrayon · #13 12-10-2004, 04:38 PM

Thanks for the congrats, Fabio. I have really enjoyed being a sweetheart of Delta Sig and I still love the brothers more than any other guys on campus.

Oglethorpe really isn't too far from Rome! Most of our brothers have already gone home for the holidays, but I'm sure they'd love to visit sometime in January or the Spring. I'll let them know they're invited for sure!

I just had the pleasure of attending Delta Sig's formal last weekend. It was SO much fun

I was the president of Phi Mu last year, so I understand what all goes in to planning a successful formal. Jesse (their president) and the brothers did a great job! We took plenty of pictures of the brothers, the sweethearts, and all of us together. One big happy family - it was really awesome. I'll post a few of the pictures some time soon so y'all can see.

Hope you have a happy holiday!!

Fabio · #14 12-16-2004, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by FuziCrayon
Thanks for the congrats, Fabio. I have really enjoyed being a sweetheart of Delta Sig and I still love the brothers more than any other guys on campus.

Oglethorpe really isn't too far from Rome! Most of our brothers have already gone home for the holidays, but I'm sure they'd love to visit sometime in January or the Spring. I'll let them know they're invited for sure!

I just had the pleasure of attending Delta Sig's formal last weekend. It was SO much fun I was the president of Phi Mu last year, so I understand what all goes in to planning a successful formal. Jesse (their president) and the brothers did a great job! We took plenty of pictures of the brothers, the sweethearts, and all of us together. One big happy family - it was really awesome. I'll post a few of the pictures some time soon so y'all can see.

Hope you have a happy holiday!!

you have PM