Registration for spring rush stands at an all-time high, continuing a Winter term trend which saw large numbers of students eager to join Greek houses.
The high number of women participating in sorority rush "indicates that people are feeling more positive about the status of the Greek system and community," said Julia Keane '04, Vice President of Recruitment for the Panhellenic Council.
Rush for women begins this Saturday. So far, a total of 69 '05 and '04 women have registered to participate in the process, a number slightly higher than during last year, which marked the first time spring rush was held.
The number of new members in each of the six sororities, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Epsilon Kappa Theta, Kappa Delta Epsilon, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Delta, ranged from 35-39 for winter term rush. While the Panhell executives cannot estimate how many girls will get bids from each house, they are aiming for generally equal membership across the system.
"The more people going through recruitment, the easier it is to maintain that equality," Keane said.
Panhell facilitates spring sorority rush, but ultimately it is the houses and the rushees who determine where bids are given.
Bids are not guaranteed for all girls going through the process, "but it is our goal to give everybody a bid," said Panhell President Soojung Rhee '04.
Fraternity Rush will be held on Monday, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday of next week. The Inter-Fraternity Council does not have as much control over the process or numbers of bids given at each house as does Panhell for sorority rush, and the number of men rushing this term is not yet available.
"It's not like we're looking for a specific number, we're just looking for quality guys," said Pat McCarthy '04, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. "Some houses may be trying to make up for lesser numbers in the winter."
Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, which reopened during Winter term after two years of derecognition, is continuing its efforts to build on its current membership of 19 '05s.
"Members of alumni from the 80s and 90s are coming to Hanover to help out with rush as they had in January," Rob Freiman '05, president of Phi Delt, told the Dartmouth.