While more women rushed sororities this year, fewer women actually accepted bids at houses.
More than 266 women rushed this term compared to 220 women last year, but just over 160 women accepted bids to join houses. Last year only 20 women dropped out of rush.
Although more women participated in rush, the number of bids extended actually declined.
Each of the six houses extended 35 bids this year as compared to 42 last year. Panhellenic Council Vice President Marcie Handler '97 said this was because last year's quota was divided by five while this year's was divided by six. Delta Gamma sorority was not counted in last year's quota because it gave women the option of dropping out of rush after the first round and joining the house immediately.
As of yesterday afternoon 35 women had accepted bids from Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Delta Delta Delta and Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority each had 32 women accept bids. Sigma Delta sorority had 30 women accept bids and Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority had 28 women accept bids.
Three women have accepted bids from DG. But the house has 32 outstanding bids, according to the new member contracts signed last Tuesday.
"Some women do not have the time to pledge this term, and that is perfectly fine," DG President Kim Papa '97 said. "They can pledge next term."
"Last year's option was an attempt at trying something new," Papa said. "We decided not to continue the option ... because last year due to a great deal of miscommunication the rushees did not receive adequate information about how we envisioned the process to work."
Panhellenic Council President Jess Russo '97 said rush went well this year, considering the new changes the council implemented.
"One of our biggest concerns was the complaint that rush was too superficial and the women didn't get to meet enough people," Russo said.
This year's rush process included an additional round for rushees to visit each of the six houses. None of the women are cut after the first round.
The Panhellenic Council also guaranteed bids to women who listed each house on their preference card.
"I think the added round was a really good thing," Russo said. "The only negative thing I heard was that it was a really long day."
The extra round gave the rushees the chance to go to the houses knowing they will be invited back, Handler said. It added time for the sororities, but made the rushees feel more comfortable.
It also made deliberations much easier since the sorority sisters had the opportunity to meet more rushees, Russo said.
The new sorority was did not participate in rush, Russo said. However, throughout rush, rushees always had the option of joining the seventh sorority.
"We can separate the new sorority from rush so that rushees were not faced with making a huge decision," Russo said. "There is still that option for people who went unmatched."
The Panhellenic Council will be meeting with the rush chairs to review this year's process and look at implementing further changes in the system, Russo said.
"This year in Panhell we have been laying a lot of groundwork," she said. "We have a lot of documentation and want to pass down as much information as possible."
Kappa President Cai Boldt '97 said the new round was a positive change in the rush process, but she added there is always room for improvement.
"The system isn't exactly perfect," she said. "There were a few complications this year."
An example of the complications was that a very large number of women returned to Kappa for preference night, she said. One hundred and forty women came back in total. All houses should have had approximately the same number of women return.
Theta President Jill McCammon '97 said the added round was long, but it served a good purpose in allowing the rushees more of a chance to see the houses, she said.
There are three bids outstanding at Theta, McCammon said.
"Rush was really good," she said . "It was definitely a time of house bonding and I really like the '99s."
KDE President Joanna Whitley '97 said she also saw the new round as an improvement to the process although it made rush more time-consuming.
"I think it did a lot to help the process," Whitley said. "We know the system may be superficial, and we are trying to make it better."
Although each of the houses were required to extend seven fewer bids this year, Whitley felt it would benefit the house in the long run.
"Even though we would have liked to extend bids to more than thirty people, it is good that we make the classes smaller," she said. That way members can become closer friends.
There are seven outstanding bids at KDE. Although all of the bids were accepted seven of the bids are being held.
"It is not a big deal to hold bids," Whitley said. "We want the women to come to whatever decision they want."
Sigma Delt Co-Rush Chair Reem Tazari '97 said she liked the idea of the added round, but thought holding it the day before rush was too tiring and suggested an open house held the week before rush.
Tri-Delta President Anne Jones '97 said the added round although tiring for the sisters was beneficial to the rushees.
"Visiting all six houses and hosting six parties made for a really long day," she said. "...The parties had a more casual and relaxed atmosphere."