It’s about 6 p.m. on April 15, 2012, and dinner is going as usual for the women of Alpha Omicron Pi at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They eat dinner and catch up with their house mom over dessert.
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| Maria Luedtke, an active member of AOPi, and Austin Peterson, a Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) alumni, hold their chapters’ pins together. For the pinning ceremony, the fraternity and sorority members gather in the sorority house, often sing songs and tell stories about the couple before the fraternity man puts his pin on the sorority woman’s dress. |
But they’re ready to cut to the chase. Everyone knows there’s going to be a pinning tonight — they all saw the pink rose that’s been on the table in the entryway of their house since early this morning.
Instead of heading upstairs for the meeting right away, like they usually do at this point in the evening, Alpha Omicron Pi President Emily Kerl, 21, turns off the lights to begin the ceremony. Everyone starts banging the tables in a drum roll and cheering and squealing, anxious to find out which of their sisters is being pinned by a fraternity man.
Pinning ceremonies are ritualistic celebrations held within the Greek community where a fraternity member gives his fraternity pin to a woman in a sorority, symbolizing that he values his girlfriend more than his house. For many couples, a pinning is a milestone in their relationship that symbolizes intent to remain in a serious and committed relationship.
Kerl brings in a single, lit candle while Emily Davis, a best friend of the sister being pinned, reads a love letter from a fraternity member to the women of the house, declaring his love for their sister he is pinning. When Davis is finished reading the letter, the candle is passed around, from table to table, girl to girl, until finally, it’s blown out by senior finance major Maria Luedtke, the woman receiving the pin.
Luedtke considers her pinning to be an important moment in the relationship between her and her now-fiancee, Austin Peterson, 22. At the time of their pinning, they had been dating for a little more than four and a half years.
“I do think pinnings are important, especially for Austin and I,” Luedtke said. “It meant much more than our commitment for each other, because we were following in his grandparents’ footsteps.”
Peterson’s grandpa, a Sigma Phi Epsilon brother, pinned his grandma, an Alpha Omicron Pi sister, when they were in college.
“Pinnings represent the couple’s commitment to each other and how they want to share it with their chapter houses,” Luedtke said.
After the candle ceremony in the kitchen, the women of Alpha Omicron Pi retired to the formal room of their house, where they were joined by the men of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Both houses sang ritual songs to celebrate the ceremony, and Luedtke and Peterson had two of their friends speak about them.
“After that, I put my pin with my (Sigma Phi Epsilon) letters on her,” Peterson said. “The pin has been passed down in my family for years, so it was cool to have a piece of my family history to give to her.”
One month after Peterson pinned Luedtke, he proposed to her.
Kerl has experienced many pinning ceremonies during her time in Greek life. She considers them important ceremonies for the couples’ relationships and said she thinks ceremonies are a fun way to celebrate the couple.
“I think what a pinning stands for is pretty cool,” Kerl said. “No matter what chapter someone is in, we all make vows to our chapter and our sisters or brothers. To put each other above their letters shows that it’s a pretty important relationship.”
Kelsey Tieken, a senior biochemistry and psychology major and Delta Gamma, was pinned a few weeks ago by her boyfriend Spencer Petersen, 21, of Sigma Nu. They will have been together for three years this December, and she considers the pinning a special moment in their relationship.
At the ceremony, she walked down the stairs of Delta Gamma into the foyer while her sisters lined the stairs holding candles and singing ritual songs. Three of her best friends spoke, and three of Petersen’s best friends in Sigma Nu spoke about their relationship and how they’d seen it grow over the three years they had been together.
“One of my best friends who has known us since freshman year of high school said she couldn’t think of a better couple,” Tieken said.
And even though hearing her best friend say that was a highlight of the ceremony, it wasn’t what she thought to be the most memorable part.
“Something I’ll always remember, no matter what, is the moment when he put his pin on me, signifying that he was putting me above his fraternity,” Tieken said.
