The newly-elected Panhellenic Council voted unanimously not to hold campus-wide rush this term, but certain sororities will be accepting new members. Panhell is the governing board of the College's sororities.
Panhell Vice President Ann Marie Nee '98 said Delta Gamma and Delta Pi Omega sororities will be eligible to admit members until their new membership reaches the limit of 35 women. Neither sorority reached the limit during Fall term rush.
Panhell President Mariam Malik '98 said she will not know if more sororities will admit new members until all the women offered bids Fall term decide whether to accept them.
Although Panhell held winter rush last year, Malik said, "Winter rush isn't really a Dartmouth tradition."
The sorority presidents will attend next week's Panhell meeting to create guidelines and set a date for what Panhell calls "continous open bidding," Malik said.
"All sororities will help with the guidelines even though they all can't take part," she said.
All unaffiliated women will be invited to attend the bidding. "It is not exclusive. It is not only if you know someone in the house that you can get in," Malik said.
Malik said Winter term rush is a great drain on sorority resources and members' time. She said there are other reasons for not holding rush.
"The smaller classes (often two to three members per house) do not receive the attention that new members deserve, and the drop-out rate is higher," she wrote in a release.
"Moreover, after the daunting process of fall rush, it is often difficult to expect senior members to devote extended amounts of times to both parties and deliberations."
Another reason there will be no winter rush is because very few women in the Class of 1999 were off campus and unable to rush Fall term. She said Panhell held winter rush last year because many women in the Class of 1998 were off campus during fall.
In the release Malik states, "It is unfortunate that women off campus in the fall will be unable to consider each of the sorority houses. However, we wish to stress the importance of joining the Greek system as opposed to joining a specific sorority."
Malik wrote that since membership is over 100 in many sororities, only those with fewer members should be allowed to accept new members.
"We feel that only those houses with the capacity to spare should be the ones to induct new members," she wrote. "The reason behind creating a seventh sorority was to ease the burden on the six other houses and opening them at this stage would defeat this purpose."
"The Panhellenic Council is concerned with strengthening this system for its members," she wrote. "We ask [unaffiliated women] to consider the [open bidding] option as an accessible and valid way of becoming a part of it."
Malik said she is unsure when the next campus-wide open rush will be held.
