In the wake of the women’s sorority recruitment process, women from across campus gathered at Casque and Gauntlet senior society and One Wheelock Monday night to celebrate their collective identity as women at Dartmouth.
The gathering, named “Sisters of Dartmouth,” was organized by Hui Cheng ’16, Sera Kwon ’17, Priya Ramaiah ’17, Laura Sim ’16 and Lauren Yeager ’16. It aimed to serve as an inclusive space for all women at the College, regardless of their Greek affiliation or lack thereof, they said.
Cheng, who served as the primary organizer for Sisters of Dartmouth, had the idea for the event earlier this term. Remembering her own experiences as a sophomore going through women’s rush, she said she decided to set up an event to remind the women on campus that they all have a place at Dartmouth.
“The process of sorority recruitment, I think, tends to lead certain groups of women, and women in general, to feel at times like they’re not part of the Dartmouth community,” Cheng said. “We wanted to have this event to remind all women on campus that they are.”
The event ran from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. The first half took place in Casque and Gauntlet, a coeducational senior society on campus, and included food and group improvisation courtesy of Casual Thursday, entertaining the crowd with short-form sketches. Organizers said the focus of this first stage, which was more informal, was to provide a social space for women of all backgrounds to talk freely with one another.
At 9 p.m. the gathering moved to One Wheelock. In conjunction with the radio program “This Dartmouth Life,” five women spoke to the audience about their experiences both in and out of the Greek system. In addition, the band Half the City provided live music and entertainment for the crowd.
The entire concept of the event was “empowering,” Lauren Harris ’16, who attended the event, said. She said she came because it was very important to her that there were social spaces open to all women on campus regardless of their affiliation.
Tori Neville ’16 agreed, saying that she attended the event because she wanted to help create a place of support for unaffiliated women on campus.
Sisters of Dartmouth was co-sponsored by Link Up, a female peer mentoring group on campus. Link Up booked One Wheelock as a venue for the event and helped promote the gathering by sending out emails to self-identified women at the College. Other groups on campus also provided financial sponsorship and verbal support for the event, including the Panhellenic Council, OPAL, Sexuality, Women and Gender Advising, the Rockefeller Center and Student Assembly.
Link Up co-presidents Liz Gold ’17 and Sarah Han ’17 agreed with Cheng about the necessity of the event.
“I think that rush can be very stressful for a lot of girls,” Han said. “During this time, it’s really hard for a lot of people to remember that Dartmouth is way more than your Greek affiliation and who you are is way more than your Greek affiliation.”
Gold also praised the event and its focus on inclusivity, saying that she wished there were more functions like it on campus. She said she appreciated that the event remained neutral on the topic of Greek life, compared to past events which have been strongly “pro-Greek or anti-Greek,” and noted that the event was early enough in the evening that sorority members could still attend bid night if they wanted.
She also said that she felt this event had a strong presence with women on campus, thanks to heavy promotional efforts and dialogue about the event.
Panhellenic Council communications director Allison Chou ’17 also expressed her support for the event.
“There are women who maybe go through the Panhellenic recruitment process and do not get the results they’d hoped for or choose to go forward with the process,” Chou said. “We think Sisters of Dartmouth is an incredible resource to remind those women and all the self-identified women of Dartmouth that we are a community.”
This is not the first time such an event has been proposed, but previous attempts have lacked the necessary support to succeed, Cheng said.
“Every fall there’s been an event like this [organized],” she said. “So when I came back to campus, I hadn’t heard about anybody else trying to do this event again this fall, so I thought, ‘Why don’t I do it?’”
Han spoke positively of Cheng for her role in organizing the event. She said that Cheng, in addition to formulating the idea, put in a considerable amount of time and energy preparing for the event.
Cheng herself was quick to point out the impact of those who assisted her.
“I’m very hesitant to say that I’m ‘the organizer’ of it because I don’t think it would have been possible without the four other women who helped me,” she said.
Ramaiah is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
