EKT declined to give the exact number of bids that were extended, but Stewart confirmed that some girls did already accept their bids, which were delivered at midnight. Those who received bids have until the end of formal rush registration process which begins on Friday and concludes at 12 p.m. on Saturday to sink those bids, she said.
The number of members of the Class of 2014 who will join the EKT class will likely be announced in "24 to 48 hours" after press time, Stewart said.
At the event, which was held from 7 to 9 p.m., female members of the Class of 2014 were invited to socialize with current EKT members and tour the sorority's physical plant, according to Stewart. At the end of the event, the attendees were given the option to "shake out," indicating their preference for EKT in a manner similar to the rush process used by Dartmouth fraternities, according to an email sent by the Panhellenic Council on Tuesday to female members of the Class of 2014.
Stewart said members of the sisterhood believed the event went well and everyone received "a lot of positive feedback," Stewart said.
"It was a very positive attitude," she said. "I think a lot of people felt it was a great way to get to know people more informally."
The event was overall a "very positive experience," EKT vice president Ryan Trimble '12 said.
"I know that I really enjoyed this more laid back approach to rush," Trimble said in an email to The Dartmouth. "I found that it seemed much more personal and I was able to devote more attention to the women I was talking to than I am normally able to during formal rush."
Students who opt to sink their bids will not have to participate in the traditional recruitment process which occurs in several rounds from Sept. 31 to Oct. 5 in order to become members of EKT, according to Tuesday's email.
Although EKT will still participate in the formal recruitment process, Panhell approached EKT with the alternative plan last year as a way of maintaining equal membership numbers among the sororities. Panhell was concerned that this year's bid quota the number that is requested by other sororities as a way to limit the size of pledge classes would be smaller than EKT's large number of graduated seniors, EKT new member educator Caitlin Nicholson '12 said in a previous interview with The Dartmouth.
Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority held a successful open rush process after it was founded in 1993. At the open rush event, KDE invited women during their freshman Spring to bypass the traditional rush process and join the sorority the following Fall term. Nearly 50 women elected to do so, and the sorority eventually initiated 64 new sisters in its inaugural term, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Delta Gamma sorority, struggling with low membership in the 1990s, tried a similar plan in Spring 1995, with less successful results. Although as many as 30 bids were offered, the alternative rush process, it only yielded seven new members for the sorority, whose low membership forced it to close in 1998.
Panhell Vice President for Operations Sarah Cohan declined to comment on Theta's rush event.
Staff writer Jay Webster contributed reporting to this article.
