Dartmouth's Panhellenic Council won an award for its rush process at the biannual Northeastern Panhellenic Conference in Cherry Hill, N.J., this past weekend.
"We are very proud that we got [the award.] We put a lot of work into putting the application together," Panhell President Cynthia Anderson '99 said.
Former Panhell Vice President Ann Marie Nee '98, who was in charge of rush this year, said winning the award was "a great honor ... lots of people worked very hard to improve rush."
She said her two goals for this year's rush were to make it more enjoyable and more inclusive, with the result that everyone who completed rush and followed the rules would receive a bid.
"There is definitely room for more improvement left," she said. "One of our goals is reducing the rush budget."
Almost 700 students from schools in the Northeast, half of them Panhellenic, half associated with the Interfraternity Council, attended the conference, Anderson said.
She said the four-page application for the award asked for rush statistics such as the number of women who rushed and the number that either dropped out of the process or decided to accept bids. In addition, she said, Panhell had to provide statistics on Dartmouth's rush budget and on the size of the Panhellenic system as compared to the size of the College.
The rush process is judged according to whether it follows the national Panhellenic rush resolution, created in 1991, which offers guidelines and recommendations for rush, Anderson explained.
"We've definitely worked very hard to guarantee a place for everyone and to offer different options in the number of houses," she said.
She added that while schools in the South put a lot of effort and money into the rush process, the rush resolution favors a "no frills" rush.
"We also work more as a system rather than as individual houses," she said.
Nee said that the College had won points for cutting its rush budget from $2500 to $1075. She added that this year's diverse group of 20 rush counselors had been "exceptional, very vocal on the rushees' behalf and very personable."
These counselors, called Rho Chis, hold a function similar to that of an Undergraduate Advisor, as they offer advice and information on the rush process and on the houses to the women participating in rush.
Anderson said the huge success of the newly established Alpha Xi Delta in this year's rush process may have played a part in winning the award.
