The Panhellenic Council adopted last night a new rush policy that will guarantee all interested women a place in one of Panhell's six sororities starting Fall term.
Four proposals were voted on by all six sororities at house meetings on Wednesday night. The houses then sent their representatives to the Panhell meeting Thursday night for a final vote.
"The main goals were to give every woman who wanted to be part of the system a chance to be and make each house as strong as possible," Panhell President Melissa Trumbull '95 said.
The new policy differs from the current one in that women who list all six sororities on their preference cards are guaranteed at least three invites to the second round, at least two invites to the third round and a bid from one of the houses.
Like the current policy, women visit all six houses in the first round. But under the new policy, houses will submit two invitation lists. The first will be a list of women to whom they wish to extend invitations and the second will rank all other women by preference.
All women will receive a minimum of three invitations. If a woman receives four invitations, she must attend four parties. If she receives more than four invitations, she can only attend four parties.
If a woman does not make the first list of three sororities, invitations will be extended to her by those houses that ranked her highest on the second list, fulfilling her three-invite quota.
Following the second round, women will be extended a minimum of two invitations to "Preference Night," decided in the same manner as for the second round. If a woman receives three invitations, she will be expected to attend three parties.
After the third round, women must rank the houses on a preference card.
The six sororities will then prepare two lists. The first will list those women to whom they wish to extend bids. The other will rank all other women, adding those who were cut after the second and third rounds to the end of the list.
The preference cards will then be matched with the bid lists of the houses until every woman is assigned to a house or until there are no more spaces available at any of the houses listed on the preference card.
Panhell's Interim Rush Chair Mal Wrenn '96 said the policy was selected over the other three proposals because it will provide a system where all six houses are equally strong.
"I think people were most secure with that proposal," she said. "It's a balance between what's best for the houses and what's best for the rushee."
Wrenn said the advantage of the new policy is that "it can save the few people who do slip through the cracks in the current system."
