Correction Appended
With the recent conclusion of Fall term rush, many students may not be aware of the various other Greek options that exist on campus. Minority Greek houses provide an alternative for students who are interested in participating in the Greek life at Dartmouth.
Twenty-two students are currently members of one of the five nationally-affiliated minority Greek houses at Dartmouth, which include Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Alpha Pi Omega sorority, Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity, Omega Psi Phi fraternity and Sigma Lambda Upsilon sorority, according to Deb Carney, director of Coed, Fraternity and Sorority Administration.
While women's and men's rush at Dartmouth is very structured, each minority Greek house follows a different procedure, established by their respective national organizations, to induct potential new members.
All five houses attempt to ensure a successful match between potential new members and the house by hosting information sessions and working closely with any interested students. Potential members must also meet the minimum grade point average requirement set by the national organization.
Potential members of Omega Psi Phi, one of the two historically black fraternities on campus, undergo a membership selection process that usually lasts one month. The organization's mission is to engage in community service and schedule multiple programming events, according to the fraternity's president Jonathan Lesesne '07.
During that month-long selection process, new members learn about the history of the fraternity and get to know individuals at various chapters and levels of the organization. They also familiarize themselves with the fraternity's principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance and uplift.
Unlike Interfraternity Council-member fraternities, potential new members of Omega Psi Phi are required to take an exam to become part of the organization officially.
"Our [pledge] process doesn't deal with alcohol at all," Lesesne said. "It seeks to really see if you are really serious about the organization."
Similarly, Lambda Upsilon Lambda has a leadership development process instead of Fall term rush that lasts for seven to 13 weeks. The goals of the process are for potential new members to learn about themselves, learn about their Dartmouth and national fraternity members, and to better understand the history of the national fraternity and local chapter. After successfully completing the process, new members officially become "Hermanos."
William Martin '08, the president of Lambda Upsilon Lambda, said that the organization's mission is to serve what is perceived to be an underrepresented community at Dartmouth and that, although they are Latino-based, the organization is not exclusive to Latinos.
"We try to make sure that after the process, you are a leader, someone that will go out into the community and do some social action in any venue you want," Martin said. "Everything is geared to the individual people in the process."
Sigma Lambda Upsilon has a seven- to 10-week new membership intake process which it says is much more intimate than women's sorority rush due to the smaller size of the organization, according to its current president, Mara Maldonado '08. The sorority's mission is to empower Latinas and advance the Latina movement on campus.
"We cannot publicly or officially claim to 'recruit' women," Maldonado said in a BlitzMail message. "Girls who are qualified would be those who can fulfill SLU's Ideals of Sincerity, Loyalty and Unity. Women who have leadership qualities and a strong, burning desire to become an Hermana of the Organization and who will work hard to advance the sorority as well as contribute to Dartmouth campus."
The sustainability of these houses on campus is often questioned because of the small number of students who participate. While there are advantages to being in a small house, especially during the new membership processes, it also has downsides, as these five houses remain relatively unknown on campus, according to many of the organizations' members.
"You always wish you had more members for the sustainability of the house, delegation of tasks," Lesesne said. "The only disadvantage is that people know of us, but they don't know us. Especially since there are so few of us and we have no physical plant, we might seem cool but we aren't completely familiar with [the student body]."
Martin also touched on the importance of small organizations like Lambda Upsilon Lambda on the Dartmouth campus.
"I feel like minority houses get a bad connotation when they are brought up, that we are exclusive and we self-segregate but if people knew exactly what we did, we do have small groups of men but we do a lot of work," he said. "Our duty is not to live off the Dartmouth campus, we try to give back as much as we can to the Dartmouth campus."
With Dartmouth's Greek life going back several generations, some said it is often difficult to branch out from the established system.
"I like the Greek system here; I think it works," Lesesne said. "I just wish people would be more open to new ideas, not just our organization but also other new sororities and fraternities."
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity declined an interview with The Dartmouth, but member Michael Simoni '08 did explain that the fraternity does not have a normal rush schedule. Applications are accepted throughout the year. Alpha Pi Omega sorority also declined The Dartmouth's request for an interview.
This article ran in Friday's print edition under the headline "Minority Greeks wrap up rush." Minority Greek houses do not term their new membership drives "rush," and they accept members at various times throughout the year.
