Despite significantly lower participation in sorority rush this year, most of the houses added virtually the same number of new members as last fall.
Approximately 220 women signed up to participate in sorority rush this year, down from last fall's initial registration of nearly 300. However, the decrease in the number of women rushing was mostly offset by the fact that very few women dropped out of the rush program once it began.
Panhellenic Council President Dani Brune '96 estimated that 20 women dropped out of rush before its completion this year, as opposed to nearly 70 last year. Panhell is the governing body of the College's sororities.
Brune, who said she was "very pleased" with the results of rush, attributed the low number of dropouts to the strength of the houses.
Delta Gamma sorority gave women another option this term -- the opportunity to drop out of rush after the first round and immediately join the house. DG President Abbey Henderson '96 declined to provide exact figures, but said she considered the plan to be at least a partial success.
All of the other houses that provided statistics had an increase in the number of bids accepted from previous years, with the exception of Delta Delta Delta sorority, which got 42 new members -- the same as last year.
Tri-Delta President Jess Duda '96 said she was "very pleased with rush."
Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority added 42 new members, slightly up from 41 women last year. "We've got a great group of girls here," said Samantha Sparks '96, rush chair for KKG.
Sigma Delta sorority president Lauren Currie '96 said her house added 42 new members this year, up from 38 last year.
She said she was "very excited" about the increase and about this year's rush in general.
Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority gained 40 new members, according to Rush Chair Blaire Osgood '97. Osgood declined to comment on whether that number was up or down from last year. Osgood said she was "ecstatic" with KDE's rush results.
Representatives of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority were unavailable for comment last night.
