During the Winter and Spring terms, Psi Upsilon fraternity had about 70 active members on campus, fraternity president Jon Wakelin estimated. This past fall, the number of active Psi Us fell to 50.
Many other Greek organizations on campus saw similar drops in membership Fall term after the implementation of a controversial policy which forbade students from rushing before Winter term of sophomore year.
Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deborah Carney noted that Dartmouth students must wait longer to rush than students at any other school she knows of.
Winter rush was instituted following a recommendation within the Student Life Initiative, a broad set of recommendations about how to improve social and residential life at Dartmouth.
The SLI states that "Rush would be moved to the beginning of winter term of the sophomore year in order to reduce somewhat the fall housing crunch and allow more time for students to experience the new enhanced cluster system." Proposals for how to improve the current system of dormitory clusters were also a major focus of the SLI.
Students and administrators remain concerned about the policy's negative impact on houses' finances, ability to create bonds among members and leadership training programs.
Nonetheless, some students and administrators saw benefits ensuing from the change, arguing that the delay of rush allows rushees and members to better reflect on their choices and has forced Greek organizations to recruit new members more aggressively.
Since houses now have only juniors and senior members on during the Fall term and paying dues, they must cope with a loss of income.
Several Greek organizations have also had difficulties filling their houses since the implementation of winter rush. Carney estimated that at least three or four organizations have had trouble filling their houses with members.
Kristin Foery '04, rush chair of Phi Tau co-educational fraternity, similarly noted that the limited housing available to sophomores makes moving the date of rush back to sophomore fall more attractive.
"The most logical time to have rush from a pragmatic standpoint is freshman spring," she said. "It would certainly help alleviate the housing crisis. The sophomores could potentially choose to live in their houses, and not scramble as much for the limited housing."
Nonetheless, despite these decreases in income, no Greek leaders who spoke with The Dartmouth indicated that their houses will face serious financial problems as a result of the change.
Carney also thought that it would be fairly easy to alleviate the problem of filling Greek houses. First, it would be necessary for house managers to make the importance of filling houses clearer to new members. She also noted that some organizations tend to have very few seniors living in the house, and that by changing that "culture," such houses might have better luck attracting residents.
Greek organizations have also had greater difficulties training sophomore leaders to take over in the summer as a result of the change to winter rush. Both Wakelin and Foery cited the loss of a term to train sophomores for leadership positions before the summer as a disadvantage.
Carney also said that assuming Greek leadership positions "caught students off guard" this summer and that many had a number of "basic questions" about their job descriptions and subjects like College billing deadlines and structuring action plans.
Creating strong bonds among members of Greek organizations has also been a challenge since the institution of winter rush.
Fenton McCarthy '04, a new member educator at Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, noted that there are generally fewer juniors on campus in the winter to interact with rushees and new members.
Wakelin voiced similar sentiments, noting that many Psi Us also take winter off and thus miss the chance to grow close to new sophomore members.
Typically, 25 percent more juniors are away from Dartmouth during the winter than during Fall term.
Both Greek leaders and administrators saw some advantages to delaying the date of rush.
Wakelin said that the extra term gives sophomores more time to think about what kind of house they want to join and upperclassmen more time to think about what kind of members they want to recruit. The change allows people to be "more informed on both sides," he said.
Carney also thought that Greek houses have become more aggressive about recruiting new members as a way of rising to the challenge presented by winter rush. The number of students joining Greek organizations has risen by 30 over the past year, a rise Carney attributes to these increased recruiting efforts.
Nonetheless, student Greek leaders who spoke with The Dartmouth unanimously agreed that they would like to see the date of rush changed back to sophomore fall.
"Most people know enough about the Greek system by the beginning of their sophomore year and probably have a good idea of whether they want to rush and where," said Dave Turnbull '04, vice president of the Interfraternity Council. "By waiting until sophomore winter, it's no longer an issue of making an informed decision. It just ends up hurting the house."
Advisors to the Greek organizations on campus have also called for the date of rush to return to fall. Last spring, John Engelman '68, co-chair of the Co-Ed Fraternity Sorority Advisors, sent a letter to Dean Larimore calling for a change in the date of rush.
Engleman's letter cited concerns about the financial impact of winter rush on houses, problems with training new leaders before the summer and with selecting new members when many juniors are off campus and the need to restore trust between Dartmouth students and administrators.
