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Erin Sadler
Campbell
UWRT 1101
6 November 2014
Mini Ethnography: Sigma Kappa at UNC Charlotte
Introduction, Research, and Background Information
I chose the Sigma Kappa sorority as my group for my mini-ethnography. Sigma Kappa is
a national sorority that was first founded at Colby College in Waterville, Maine on November 9,
1874. There are currently 113 active Sigma Kappa chapters around the nation. Sigma Kappa has
five philanthropies: Alzheimers Research, Sister to Sister Foundation, Maine Sea Coast
Mission, Gerontology, and Inherit the Earth. I recently became a member of the Theta Mu
chapter of Sigma Kappa at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. To distinguish UNC
Charlottes Sigma Kappa chapter from the Sigma Kappa Sorority as a whole, I will refer to the
Theta Mu chapter of Sigma Kappa when talking specifically about the Sigma Kappas at UNC
Charlotte. The sororitys values are: friendship, loyalty, personal growth, and service. It is
apparent that each girl within the sorority share these values and strives to carry them out each
day.
Observations
I observed the Theta Mu chapter twice, both during informal chapter meetings. My
original plan was to observe two formal chapter meetings. However, every sorority has their
secrets and rituals that they cannot speak of to anyone outside of their sorority and some of the
things that occur during formal chapter are considered ritual. Unfortunately, because of this, I

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was not able to use formal chapter as an observation. I instead chose to observe two informal
chapter meetings.
Informal chapter meetings occur every other Sunday. The members of the chapter meet
at a certain time on these Sundays (usually at six p.m.) and discuss many different things and
usually there are guest speakers. There is not an established dress code for informal chapter
meetings other than the fact you should not wear leggings or look bummy. We are not required
to dress up by any means for these meetings, however a member should look decent. Nearly
everything discussed at informal chapter is Sigma Kappa related. Just to name a few of the many
topics discussed during informal chapter: philanthropy and service, raising money, how to make
the chapter better, how to be a better sister, how to represent Greek life in a positive way.
Sometimes guest speakers will come. The two times I observed, there were guest speakers.
At the first meeting, I noticed that there was no seating arrangement. Everyone sat near
their closest friends in the sorority. Many girls wore Sigma Kappa gear to the meeting. A
female guest speaker was present. She conducted a presentation about alcohol, tobacco, and drug
abuse and was advocating for the abstinence and mature management of such. She discussed the
top abused drugs by college students. She included some statistics from polls and observations
conducted at UNC Charlotte. The speaker told us that statistics show that those involved in
Greek life consume more alcohol than the average college student does. She then touched on
tobacco use- both cigarettes and hookah. Once she was done with her presentation, she asked us
to come to a table that was set up with many freebies and goodies. There were pamphlets related
to the presentation, alcohol anonymous information, cookies, quitting smoking packages, stickers
advocating for no drug use, etc. It was a very informative presentation. Once the speaker was
finished with her presentation, some of the chapters officers spoke about important

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announcements. Once all of the officers spoke and there were no more announcements or
business to talk about, the meeting concluded. Because we listened to a presentation the majority
of the meeting, there was not a whole lot of interaction between the members.
When I observed the second time, again, there was no seating arrangement and the girls
sat wherever they pleased. This meeting was right after a big/little activity, where the bigs
gave their littles their first Sigma Kappa stitched letter shirt. Everyone at the meeting was
matching with their big or little, wearing their new stitched letter shirts. There was also a female
guest speaker at this meeting. She spoke about social media. This was another informative
presentation. We watched a clip that had many facts and statistics about social media. She went
on to discuss that we must be very careful of what we post on social media. For one reason, we
are involved in Greek life and we must uphold a high standard of ourselves. For another reason,
jobs look through our social media and will look up to five years back to identify what kind of
person we are and if we are someone they would want to hire. The speaker gave us examples of
what is appropriate and inappropriate to post on social media. We also viewed recent articles
about people getting in trouble for what they post on social media. We discussed two sorority
incidents where girls were removed from their sorority and the national sorority had to apologize
on behalf of their behavior. The other article was about a man who tweeted a personal opinion
from his companys official Twitter account and was fired immediately. It was shocking how
much social media can affect and influence our future. Again, because of the speaker, there was
not a whole lot of communication between the members. Once the speaker was finished, the
officers spoke about important issues and then we were dismissed.
Interview

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I interviewed a newly initiated sister of my pledge class. I asked how she viewed the
sorority thus far, her likes and dislikes or things that she would change about the sorority if she
could. She told me that she did enjoy the sorority and she feels as though we have a great
sisterhood, seeing how we are all close and that most of the sisters get along so well. She
mentioned that even though it is like this for our chapter, other chapters at other schools may not
have as close of a relationship with their sisters or as great of a bond as the Theta Mu chapter
has. She also mentioned that she feels as though some of the other sororities on campus do not
have as great of a sisterhood as our chapter does. However, she did point out that she did not
realize how much of a time commitment the sorority would be and that puts some stress on her.
She also mentioned that sorority dues are expensive, no matter what sorority you are in and she
does not necessarily like having to pay dues, but she commented that it is worth it. Her overall
opinion of the sorority thus far was: I love that I ended up as a Sigma Kappa. I was very
nervous going through recruitment because there are so many great sororities here and I was not
sure if I would end up in the one that is right for me. But I can already tell that this is where I
belong, I love my sisters and they treat me like family.
Patterns and Interpretation
I noticed some patterns from my observations about informal chapter meetings, the Theta
Mu chapter, and the Sigma Kappa sorority all together. Informal chapter meetings are on every
other Sunday at six p.m. There is not a very strict dress code, but I noticed a lot of girls usually
wear their stitched letter shirts or something Sigma Kappa related. Informal chapter meetings
seem to run the same way every meeting. There are usually guest speakers (most tend to be
females), the presentations that are given are both very informational and useful, officers speak
about important announcements, talk about news and business on campus and within Greek life,

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and then the meeting concludes and everyone leaves. Also, because of guest speakers, there is
not a whole lot of interaction between members during the meetings. A lot of girls tend to go get
dinner with each other when the meeting is finished. There is usually not written communication
during these meetings and the verbal language is very casual. However, when speaking, English
is not the only language used. All sororities and fraternities use Greek letters to identify
themselves. When talking about a sorority or fraternity at a specific school, they are referred to
as a chapter of that sorority or fraternity. It is very common to refer to another member as your
sister rather than referring to them as a fellow member. Two other very common sorority terms
are big and little. Basically, every new member is considered a little, as in little sister.
Every little receives a big, as in big sister. A big sister is an already initiated sister who serves
as a mentor and friend to the little sister.
The interview I conducted made me realize that how different sororities can be and how
even within one sorority, each chapter can vary from school to school and can be completely
different. The way the Theta Mu chapter runs informal chapter meetings is most likely not the
same at every other college or university that has a Sigma Kappa chapter. At other schools, they
may meet more frequently or less frequently, on different days and times, they may not have
guest speakers a lot, and they may discuss other things during their meetings that we do not
discuss. The only things that truly make Sigma Kappa the same from each chapter is our ritual,
values, what we stand for, and our symbols. Otherwise we may be completely different from
other Sigma Kappas. That was an eye-opening realization because I was under the impression
that all Sigma Kappa sisters are the same as the ones that I know at UNC Charlotte, but no one
no matter where you go will be the same. It is not necessarily a bad realization, I just came to the

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conclusion that we are all different and unique sisters who have come together over our common
interests and values.