"If all goes well, they'll be participating in recruitment this coming fall," Lane said.
The extension committee formally began the process of inviting a new sorority, known as extension, on March 19 when it sent the National Panhellenic Conference an "extension bulletin" that provides potential sororities with general information about the College and Dartmouth's Greek system, Lane said.
"[The bulletin] essentially paints a picture of what it would be like for an organization to come and start up here," Lane said. "It asks questions like how many women are in sororities, how many are currently registered for recruitment, whether that number is growing or shrinking, and other trends."
The NPC then publishes listings of campuses searching for new organizations in its NPC Extension Bulletin, according to Julie Johnson, chairwomnan of the NPC extension committee.
"These bulletins are produced on an as-needed basis throughout the year and are distributed to all 26 member NPC member organizations," Johnson said.
She added that this has been an active year for extension within NPC. Nine bulletins have been distributed since September 2008, and 36 campuses have voted to open for NPC extension.
Any NPC sorority interested in Dartmouth will respond to the Dartmouth committee's bulletin with a packet of general information about its organization. At that point, the extension committee can ask any questions and discuss concerns, Lane said. If both parties are interested, the extension committee can offer optional, exploratory visits to professional members of the interested sororities, allowing them to come to campus and learn more about the College, she added.
"We have some groups scheduled already to come and do those visits," Lane said. "We've had a good amount of interest so far, and we have two more weeks, so we're hoping to get even more."
The general information packets, which must be submitted to the extension committee by April 20, will be reviewed by Deborah Carney, director of the College's Coed, Fraternity and Sorority System, as well as extension committee members. Carney and the committee members will choose the three sororities they believe to be the best fit for the College, Lane said. The College's entire Panhellenic Council must approve the committee's decision before the organizations can come to Hanover and make their formal presentations.
One of the primary goals of adding a sorority is to decrease the size of pledge classes, according to multiple sorority leaders.
It is difficult, though, to predict whether an additional sorority will reduce overcrowding, Lane said. When Alpha Phi sorority came to campus in 2006, more women decided to participate in sorority rush than in the previous year, leading to larger than ideal sorority classes, she said.
This is probably not the last time that Panhell will go through the extension process, Lane said, since overcrowding may persist.
"Every time we bring a new group on, we want to make sure that they are settled, comfortable and stable before we start the process again," she said.
Because of the recent College budget cuts, the new sorority may not have an on-campus physical plant upon its inception.
"In the long term, the College and Panhellenic [Council] are committed to finding houses for all of its organizations," Lane said. "We're definitely looking at somewhere in the vicinity of where the Alpha Phi and Alpha Xi Delta [sorority] houses will be."
The Office of Residential Life has yet to determine whether the new sorority will have an on-campus physical plant when it arrives, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said in a previous interview with The Dartmouth.
The new organization will be the second national sorority to be established on campus since the College lifted its 1999 moratorium on the formation of new, single-sex, exclusive organizations in June 2005.
Panhell will host a second information session on April 9 at 5 p.m. in Steele Hall.
Carney and Fouad Saleet, associate director of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies, directed all questions about extension to Lane.
Redman was unavailable for comment by press time. Dean of the College Tom Crady could not be reached for comment by press time.
