Get out your nice clothes and etiquette guides, sophomores -- formal rush for both sororities and fraternities is upon you.
The sorority rush process starts tonight with the first of four rounds of events designed to encourage interaction between sisters and rushees. The formal fraternity rush period, a shorter and much less rigorous process, will begin Monday, and the rush period for coed houses is now underway, having begun last Wednesday.
Preliminary numbers suggest that Greek recruitment this year will equal, if not surpass, student involvement last year.
"The Panhellenic Council conducted pre-registration and the numbers are up by 20 people," Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deborah A. Carney told The Dartmouth.
The Interfraternity Council and the Coed Council do not hold pre-registration, and therefore have no formal figures available, but leaders also confirm significant Greek interest among members of the sophomore class.
"Fraternity rush numbers are looking as good as they were for last year," said IFC President Sunil Bhagavath "and everyone's a little more comfortable with winter rush this time."
This is only the second year that the current rush system, in which recruitment activities occur exclusively in the Winter term, has been in effect. There remains a substantial and vocal student opposition to the winter-only rush system. Assurances that College officials will reconsider the plan in a few years have been met with suspicion.
"I feel this is a way for the administration to allow all of us who know how it used to be to graduate," Bhagavath told The Dartmouth, explaining that then the administration "won't have to worry about people complaining."
The number of sororities at the College may increase in the coming years, according to representatives from the College and Panhell. According to the Office of Residential Life, two culturally-based organizations are in the process of applying for sorority status. The prospective sororities would not be eligible for collective housing because of the College's moratorium on new single-sex residential organizations.
"One group will submit their application this term," said Assistant Dean of Residential Life Cassie Barnhardt. "The other will probably begin pursuing a more formal process towards the end of the academic year."
There has also been some student discussion about the creation of a new residential sorority. "Many women want to be in a sorority," said Panhell President Ann Chang, "but because there are only six traditional sororities and recruitment numbers continue to rise, there isn't enough capacity to give every woman a bid to her preferred house."
A seventh housed sorority would presumably make Panhell better able to guarantee a bid to any interested Dartmouth woman. As of now, however, no group has spoken to the Office of Residential Life, which would be the first step in the process of becoming a new sorority.
