The Interfraternity Council voted Tuesday night against allowing national Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi to receive official College recognition. The vote marked the first time the Council has considered expansion since the Board of Trustees lifted its moratorium on new Greek organizations last June.
A small group of students interested in AEPi have been meeting weekly since late fall and now seek to be officially recognized by the College. Although IFC presidents seem reluctant to expand, members of the AEPi interest group believe there is a need for their fraternity within the Dartmouth social scene.
"The thing that will make it different is that it is based on Jewish values," AEPi president Patrick Karas '08 said.
The unrecognized AEPi group currently has five members on campus, plus "freshmen interest" and other potential members who would join, contingent on the recognition of the fraternity, Karas said.
The IFC voted using a "closed secret ballot," Council president Terry Cunningham '06 said. For an item to pass, three-fourths of the Council members must vote in favor of the item. Each president of the 13 IFC-recognized fraternities on campus sits on the Council, and only one was absent from Tuesday's meeting.
Karas met with Deb Carney and Megan Johnson, Director and Assistant Director of Coed, Fraternity, and Sorority Administration, respectively, during Fall term to learn about the process of being recognized. They told Karas that the first step is to have the IFC vote in favor the expansion. Karas then met individually with all but one fraternity president to explain "why AEPi would be good for Dartmouth and why it would succeed," he said.
Karas attended Tuesday's meeting to answer any final questions before the IFC's vote. Karas said that when he initially spoke to Cunningham about the possibility of AEPi at Dartmouth, Cunningham gave the impression that the IFC's position was to expand now that the moratorium has been lifted.
Cunningham explained that the voting system, by which a president votes for or against expansion based the opinion of his house's brotherhood is necessary for Dartmouth's Greek system at the present time.
"Does their house think there is a need for expansion? Or does their house think there is no need for expansion?" Cunningham said. He pointed out that recent rush numbers for men have been low.
Karas also said that the North American Interfraternity Conference urges its national fraternities to vote in favor of allowing other national fraternities to establish chapters. Dartmouth has five national fraternities, one of which was not represented at Tuesday's meeting. Karas believes that the fraternity's absence may have hurt him, though he will not get to see who voted for or against AEPi nor will he know how many votes went in his favor.
Karas said he fears that the current fraternities of the IFC view a new fraternity as competition, but he stressed that "there are plenty of eligible undergraduates" interested in AEPi who are currently unaffiliated, and thus AEPi would not be competing with current fraternities for new members.
Cunningham believes that the vote against AEPi is not related to the fraternity's official affiliation with Judaism.Rather, Cunningham believes that IFC presidents do not see a need for expansion at this time.
Karas said that some fraternity presidents expressed concern that a Jewish fraternity would segregate the Jewish community, but he believes that this will not happen due to the social, rather than religious, nature of the organization. Despite AEPi's initial setback, the club plans to try once again for the IFC's approval.
"We're not going anywhere," Karas said. "We're gonna keep on pushing, see what happens."
The IFC also voted at their Tuesday night meeting for new officers who will take over after Winter term. Alex Lentz '07, a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity, will be the new president of IFC and David Zubricki '07, a member of Phi Delta Alpha, will assume the position of vice president.
The Greek Leadership Council, a forum for all coed, fraternity and sorority organizations, held elections for three positions at their Sunday night meeting. The Council's new moderator will be Phi Tau coed fraternity member Lauren Altschuh '07, the new social events manager will be Robert "B.R." King '08, a member of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, and the incoming public relations chair will be Frank Glaser '08, a member of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity.
The Panhellenic Council, a group that oversees the sororities on campus, held its elections at a meeting last Tuesday. Lauren Kaufman '07, a member of Sigma Delta sorority, was elected president and Nicole Peles '07, a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority, will be the new vice president of the organization.