While most honorary members are Dartmouth graduate students, house alumni and Hanover residents, College employees and friends and relatives of undergraduate members may also join coed organizations, according to Coed Council president and Alpha Theta member Reyna Ramirez '10.
"A lot of graduate students are in a transition period in their life where hanging out becomes very scheduled," Parrent said. "Having a station where you can stop on your way home to relax with friends, day or night, is a relief."
The Office of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies allows an organization to recruit and induct individuals who are not undergraduates as specified by the organization's constitution and bylaws, according to Deborah Carney, assistant dean of Residential Life and director of Greek Letter Organizations and Societies.
"There may be instances that GLOS organizations individually recognize non-undergraduates in a special way but the College recognizes only undergraduates [as members]," Carney wrote in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
Coed fraternities do not grant full-fledged membership to non-undergraduate students because of liability concerns, Ramirez said. Alpha Theta does not accept Hanover residents as honorary members because they are not protected by campus security, she said.
Honorary members are not required to pay dues but often find means to contribute to the house in other ways, according to Jessica Mesa '11, treasurer of The Tabard.
"Their financial contributions are voluntary," she said. "Many members find alternative ways to pay, such as fixing things around the house."
While non-undergraduates are not officially recognized as members by GLOS, their responsibilities and contributions to a coed organization remain essentially the same as undergraduate members, Ramirez said.
"Many community residents have been long-term members and have a deeper understanding of The Tabard's traditions that have been passed on hastily from class-to-class," Mesa said. "Non-undergraduate members also afford additional perspectives and diverse backgrounds that keep the social dynamic of the house animated."
Having non-undergraduates in The Tabard also helps students experience life beyond "the Dartmouth bubble," according to Mesa.
"Instead of meeting with just students, you can meet people working 40-hour work weeks or people involved with events in Hanover," she said.
While community members and graduate students do not currently serve on Tabard's executive board, they are unofficially involved in "almost every other aspect" of the house's activities, Mesa said.
Non-undergraduate members of Alpha Theta and Phi Tau cannot hold leadership positions in the organization, Ramirez said.
Parrent said that although there are other honorary members who are graduate students, he primarily socializes with undergraduates because graduate students tend to have unpredictable schedules. Parrent is currently on "active membership status" and pays the same house and social dues as undergraduates.
Although coed fraternities often extend their membership outside of the Dartmouth undergraduate community, Panarchy undergraduate society and Amarna undergraduate society do so less frequently, according to members of both organizations.
"Our membership is open as far as meetings go but there is no big constituency of people who aren't affiliated with the College," Panarchy Vice President Olivia Sacks '10 said.
Amarna President Rebecca Davidson Wolf '10 said Amarna lacks non-student members because people who are unaffiliated with the College are unlikely to know about Amarna.
"We have trouble getting the Dartmouth community to know we exist, nonetheless the Hanover community," she said.
There are some Amarna alumni in the area who spend time at the house, Davidson-Wolf said, as well as an Amarna alumnae who is now enrolled in a graduate program. Davidson Wolf said she could not recall anyone who participated in Amarna's activities that did not have a connection to an Amarna member.
