Correction appended
It is a perennial criticism even a platitude that women's rush at Dartmouth is flawed, and getting worse.
Fall 2007 saw 251 bids extended to the 304 women who entered rush an acceptance rate of about 83 percent ("Women's rush week closes with 251 bids," Oct. 17, 2007). When the 2007 process was met with loud protests, from both The Dartmouth Editorial Board ("Lift the Ban on Local Sororities," Oct. 19, 2007) and other sources, the Panhellenic Council implemented the new "select-and-rank" system, with the goal of making the rush process "fairer and more efficient" ("Winter Rush Introduces New Ranking Process," Jan. 16, 2008). This new process, however, served only to worsen a weak system, as fewer than 76 percent of women entering fall rush 2008 received bids ("Many Denied Bids in Sorority Rush Process," Oct. 17, 2008). Again, these results were met with protest ("Verbum Ultimum: She's Nice, But" Oct. 17, 2008), and again no improvements were made.
Rush 2009, it has now become clear, was worse still less than 67 percent of women received bids this week, and 83 women dropped out before receiving a final decision ("83 women drop out of fall rush," Oct. 14). In a year when a new house Kappa Delta sorority has established itself on campus, it is particularly astonishing to see the number of extended bids drop, from 273 last year to 227 in 2009. However, while this year's results are more disappointing than ever, what is particularly shocking is the inability of Panhell to take responsibility for the increasingly flawed systems that the council helped to institute and maintain
The two most egregious examples of Panhell's lack of accountability came from Panhell public relations chair Ashley Cartagena '10 and vice president of recruitment Michelle Chan '10. Cartagena attributed the dropout rate largely to academic and athletic conflicts, and illness, while Chan told The Dartmouth that all women who went through the rush process "in good faith" received a bid.
Anecdotal evidence abounds, however, of widespread dissatisfaction among both rushees and current sorority members, and nearly one-third of women who entered rush went home empty-handed. While Panhell blames those women for not completing the process "in good faith" whatever that means we believe that a system that only works for 67 percent of interested women needs to be fixed.
If Panhell is going to continue to ignore this worsening problem, allow us to address it.
Imagine a sorority rush process modeled after the far simpler procedures fraternities use. The first two nights of rush would remain unchanged the lack of open parties at sororities necessitates mandatory visits to every house.
Following these initial nights, potential new members would receive "callbacks" from sororities interested in seeing them later in that week giving participants a better understanding of their best opportunities for membership.
From that point on, the process would take on the character of fraternity rush. Potential new members would be able to visit any house they wanted, including those that did not invite them back, and "shake out" at their top choice. Sororities could then extend bids, dings or callbacks, and women would be free to sink their bids or take advantage of the next two nights of rush to seek bids at different sororities.
Such a system eliminates the insanity of computers, Rho Chis, gag rules and quotas. It allows women to seek, in their own way, the house that is the best fit for them, and gives them the ability to pursue other opportunities if the members of that house do not agree with their assessment. It eliminates the need for women to drop out of rush because they missed a night due to an illness or athletic commitment, and allows a potential new member a second or even third chance to make a strong impression on the members of a house.
This system surely has flaws, and may run afoul of some of the complex and often absurd rules of the National Panhellenic Council but it should be a good starting point. It is time to stop pretending a problem does not exist. It is time to rebuild a broken system. It is time to make a "good faith" effort to fix sorority rush.
