Sorority sisters have a reputation for forming bonds that last a lifetime. And when those sisters are members of Lambda Delta Sigma, the tie to Jesus Christ and His gospel becomes the focus of such bonding.
While the Church-sponsored program is offered at LDS Institutes of Religion at 88 U.S. colleges and universities, its current membership of approximately 3,300 is comparatively small. But that doesn't dissuade enthusiastic national and local officers, who see the program's potential to touch the lives of young adult women."One of the things we know in looking at research on young adults is that they still need an adult leader - they need someone in the wings to shepherd them a little bit," said Maurine Turley, national president of Lambda Delta Sigma. After having significant leader-directed spiritual and social experiences through the Young Women organization, many young adult women need a sense of continuity and belonging after graduating from high school and moving directly into a new phase of independence at college.
"They still need a small group," Sister Turley said. "Especially for girls on a college campus. They're going to associate with some type of group, and our hope is that it would be a Church-sponsored organization with high ideals - one that can provide significant spiritual experiences through activity in a group setting. Lambda Delta Sigma fills those needs."
Indeed, the organization's mission is to:
Help college women build individual testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ and live its principles through a sisterhood experience.
Feel more secure and better fortified on the college campus and prepared for the challenges of their age group.
That mission is accomplished, according to Sister Turley, through basing all sorority activities and lessons on five ideals: spirituality, sisterhood, scholarship, support and service.
While some may question the reason for establishing the program under a Greek sorority format, national vice president Shirley Van Wagenen explained that such a designation allows the organization to gain official campus recognition and to attract non-LDS members as well.
"So often you have to be asked to join a regular sorority - to try out for membership in something that's exclusive. But with Lambda Delta Sigma, no one is ever excluded," Sister Van Wagenen said. "Young women on their own, many for the first time in their lives, are looking to find new friends and establish a place where they feel they belong." For a new freshman, the sorority "gives you an instant group of friends who have the same values and ideals that you do."
Some 143 Lambda Delta Sigma chapters of 10 to 50 members each have been established at 88 campuses in the United States. A few schools with large numbers of LDS students have several chapters. Utah State University in Logan leads with 18; the University of Utah and Southern Utah University have 16 and nine chapters, respectively. As interest grows and more pledges become members, the number of chapters grows in order to keep the group small enough to remain personal.
Members find themselves involved not only in activities, but usually in some aspect of leadership as well. "This program gives members the chance to learn how to lead," said Kathie Marsh, secretary of the national organization."
Leadership opportunities available in each chapter include president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, historian, communications officer, rush officer and pledge trainer. Adult advisers play a supporting role.
Rush activities are designed to acquaint prospective members with the sorority and its pledging procedures. They take place the same week as similar activities for other campus sororities, but are gospel-focused and directed.
Membership is open to all single female college students ages 18-30 who are enrolled in LDS Institute and are willing to maintain Church standards.
New pledges, or members-to-be, become better acquainted with the sorority during a five-week pledge training program, designed to help them understand the structure of the organization and the ideals they will be striving to live. A pledge test completes the process.
On completion of the test, each young woman is given a charm necklace and asked to prayerfully choose one of the five ideals and to select a day to live by it. During the "24 Golden Hours" experience, each pledge wears the charm to remind her of the ideal she has chosen to pursue.
Meetings, activities and service projects are held weekly throughout the year, with special emphasis on sorority participation during Lambda Delta Sigma week in February. Diversity and creativity are encouraged in each chapter to help meet the particular needs of each sister and the community at large.
One chapter at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., made activity booklets to present to a children's hospital. Another at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., organized a big brother appreciation week, where members did secret acts of service for their peers in Sigma Gamma Chi, the young men's LDS fraternity. The chapter at Cal State Fullerton in Southern California bought more than 200 long-stemmed roses to sell on campus during the week, which included Valentine's Day. They donated the proceeds to a local hospital.
Combined activities with Sigma Gamma Chi represent an integral part of the socialization that draws young Latter-day Saints to the organizations.
Both the sorority and the fraternity are available on campuses where there is an LDS Institute of Religion, though organization of chapters is left to the interest and enthusiasm the members. National officers don't seek to establish chapters on every campus. Rather, stake and local priesthood leaders work in conjunction with the local institute administrators to help establish the program, call adult leaders to help it function and oversee the direction of its activities and programs.
Stanley Peterson, administrator of religious education for the Church Educational System which oversees both the sorority and the fraternity, said there is purpose and wisdom in letting local interest dictate the establishment of chapters.
"The fraternities and sororities are just one of the tools in the tool kit" of programs for LDS young adults, he said. "It isn't intended to replace the Latter-day Saint Student Association (LDSSA), but is a specialized kind of organization for those who want it. We don't try to push it or get everyone to join. It's not there to compete with priesthood, Relief Society or institute."
As young adults, "some people want to get more involved in social activities, where there are service projects and regular kinds of meetings, while others want more of a passive role. We're trying to provide opportunities for both," Brother Peterson said. "The sororities and fraternities are just two of many programs that function through the LDS Institute."
Speaking to institute students during an October 1995 fireside in the Tabernacle on Temple Square, Elder Robert E. Wells of the Seventy said many young people "find that their participation in the fraternity or sorority becomes the center of their activity life at college." He said through both organizations, "the lives of thousands of young people have been blessed.
"One such young woman relates that she had become discouraged with college and was considering dropping out," Elder Wells said. "But through her participation in Lambda Delta Sigma, she received the encouragement and the strength to continue her studies. Since that time she has served a full-time mission and now is near graduation from college. . . .
"Through membership in the fraternity or sorority, you will inherit an instant set of new friends, many of whom will become friends for life."
And just possibly, for eternity.
(For more information, contact your local Institute of Religion, or write the Lambda Delta Sigma national office: 50 E. North Temple, Salt Lake City, 84150; or call 1-800- 453-3860, ext. 4682.)
