College administrators would sanction moving Greek rush to the fifth week of sophomore fall, Dean of the College James Larimore announced at a dinner for fraternity and sorority leaders on Monday night. Larimore said such a change, contingent on Greek officers' willingness to address "specific parameters" in the Greek system, could happen as early as next Fall term.
Dartmouth's three Greek councils -- representing fraternities, sororities and co-ed fraternities -- would have to individually approve any change in rush, and Larimore emphasized that the announcement represents "the beginning of the process of discussion rather than the end of it."
The proposed change would drastically affect the pledging process at the College's Greek organizations, effectively shortening a new member's first term in a fraternity or sorority to only three weeks.
"New member education would require an entirely new system," Greek Leadership Council moderator Jonathan Lazarow '05 said. "What we do now would probably be spread out over more terms."
Lazarow stressed that the proposal is not "set in stone," however, noting that the Greek system's three councils will likely conduct both separate and joint discussions in the coming weeks.
Lazarow did predict that fraternity and sorority leaders would probably come to some consensus on the possible change "by this May."
Larimore said he expected that individual houses and Greek councils would be able to formulate revised plans for rush and the pledge process.
"My hope is that the houses would be able to reinvent their new member programs, taking a look at those things that they want to keep in their present form," Larimore said "We've got a wonderful group of Greek presidents and I think they are going to provide wonderful leadership."
As part of his remarks, Larimore outlined three "parameters" that he said Greek leaders would have to meet for any rush changes to occur.
First, Larimore said Greek organizations would have to ensure that fall rush would not detract from efforts to welcome incoming students to the College community, citing the wide range of campus groups led by fraternity and sorority members.
" We moved rush into the winter term several years ago to provide undivided attention to new students moving in, and that was the reason to look at the fifth week as a starting point for modified fall rush," Larimore said.
Second, Greek leaders would need to develop a new member process that " minimizes activities that detract from the academic mission of the College," Larimore said. Although he acknowledged that the Greek system has made great progress and called the necessary changes "a relatively minor thing," Larimore said he has heard "some concerns from faculty members about rush activities."
"Many organizations do a pretty good job with new member education already," Larimore said.
Finally, Larimore said he expected Greek houses to increasingly consider the importance of "continuous membership development" in contrast to member education confined exclusively to a single pledge term. He stressed the variation from house to house, but expressed his desire to see greater overall emphasis on participation in development activities, presumably including service to the community and personal growth-type undertakings.
" Some organizations already view new membership development as a continuum," Larimore said. "However, some organizations front-load all of their new member education into the rush process."
Three years ago, the College moved rush from sophomore fall to sophomore winter over the protests of Greek leaders. Fraternity and sorority officials have since advocated a return to Fall-term rush, contending that the comparatively greater number of students on campus in the fall exposes new members to more current brothers or sisters. Greek officials also maintained that longer involvement with a Greek house ultimately benefited members.
Larimore also announced a change to the College's social event management policy at Monday's dinner. The College's deadline for returning kegs after a registered social event will be pushed back from the previous time of 2 p.m. on the day after an event.
" Effective immediately, we've shifted the keg return time to 6 p.m. to help students," Larimore said.
