The nine sophomore women selecting a seventh sorority for Dartmouth have narrowed their choices down to three national sororities. They will select one from Delta Zeta sorority, Kappa Delta sorority, and Alpha Phi sorority to be the first Greek organization to come to the College since the Board of Trustees lifted its moratorium on new Greek organizations last June.
Each sorority will give an open presentation to the Dartmouth community at which they will discuss issues including their alumni networks, new member programs and plans for investing in housing. The representatives from each sorority will also take a campus tour, spend time with the founding sophomore women and meet with the Panhellenic Council and certain College administrators.
Delta Zeta will give the first presentation which will take place Wednesday evening. Kappa Delta will come on Feb. 22 and Alpha Phi on Feb. 23.
After all sororities have presented, the prospective chapter founders will meet to decide on one. The group hopes to make a decision by March 3, according to Megan Johnson, the group's advisor and assistant director of coed, fraternity and sorority administration.
Of the nine sophomores who plan to join the new sorority, six are currently on campus and will be responsible for selecting the seventh sorority.
One obstacle for the women may be finding a national sorority who will mesh with Dartmouth's social scene, Johnson said, but all 26 national sororities have agreed on certain policies, such as restrictions on alcohol and men inside houses.
"When they come to campus we will be making sure that they know what campus culture is like and seeing which ones are the most understanding of that," Lauren Orr '08 said. "They need to realize that the Greek system and alcohol culture are both very big and very closely tied together."
Some of the women also fear that if the chosen national sorority is unwilling to compromise with the women on policy issues, there may be bumpy disputes down the line.
Orr said she sees a greater chance for success if the sororities "know what they're getting into by expanding to Dartmouth."
Johnson said that the women may need to compromise on certain issues, but added that a sorority that is flexible on administrative issues would be desirable. Finding a sorority that can adapt to the Dartmouth Plan and that is willing to hold open investigations is important, she said.
After the women choose a sorority, the sorority must accept the offer, a step that Johnson does not expect to be problematic. The College administration must then approve the addition.
By Spring term, the chosen national sorority will send personnel to Hanover to help the women establish their colony. The colonization will take a minimum of eight weeks, depending on which sorority is chosen, Johnson said.
Although the group of women is currently small, Johnson is confident that interest on campus will grow. Once their colony is official, the women will begin informal recruitment targeting freshmen and unaffiliated upperclassmen.
"I have a feeling once we actually have a name we'll have a lot of interest," Johnson said.
According to Johnson, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman has promised the women at least a wing of a residential building for next fall. Johnson said that if the colony's number of members rises dramatically, the Office of Residential Life will work to secure a whole floor or residential building for them. The group would eventually try to move into its own Greek plant, but Johnson acknowledged that it could be a long time before a College-owned house becomes available.
The interest group announced its search for a new sorority in the National Panhellenic Conference extension bulletin in the fall. Of the 26 national sororities, ten expressed interest in starting a Dartmouth chapter by sending applications to the group.
Johnson explained that many sororities are eager to establish chapters on Ivy League campuses.
"You're high caliber students," Johnson said of Dartmouth students. "What organization wouldn't want to work with students who are so exceptional?"
After a week of picking apart the applications, the group of sophomore women narrowed them down to three with Johnson's help.
The process of starting a new sorority at Dartmouth began when Christina Jimenez '06, member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, decided there was a need for another sorority after serving as her sorority's summer president and learning how difficult it was to get each member involved. She noticed that fraternities, each of which has fewer members, were more "tight-knit" than the campus sororities.
"As many women participate in the Greek community as men and have less than half of the organizations to choose from," Jimenez said, comparing the 13 fraternities to the six sororities.
Many women showed interest in a seventh sorority as early as Spring 2005 but this interest soon fizzled, Jimenez said. After last fall's rush, however, she decided it was time to start recruitment again and now guides the women as a student-advisor.
"When a record number of women did not receive bids from the six existing organizations, it was obvious that the time was finally right," Jimenez said. "The demand for a new organization could not have been greater."
Last spring, it appeared that the main roadblock would be the College's moratorium on new Greek organizations, set in place in 1999 as part of the Student Life Initiative.
Following the Panhellenic Council's approval of a new sorority, administrators including Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman and Dean of the College James Larimore wrote letters to the Board of Trustees hoping for an exception to the moratorium, Johnson said.
To Johnson's delight, the Board did not grant an exception but rather lifted the moratorium altogether, a decision that Johnson said was due to "the good work of the Greeks."
"We were excited," she said. "It shows a lot that the Board of Trustees trusts what the College is doing and is doing it well."
Johnson and Deb Carney, director of coed, fraternity and sorority administration, then needed to create the protocol for the formation of new Greek organizations. They eventually concluded that only national organizations would be allowed to form on campus.
"We feel at this point that national organizations can offer support that local [organizations] can't," Johnson said.
She cited headquarters support, alumni, leadership institutes and infrastructure as resources that national organizations provide to their new chapters.