No Panhellenic sorority will require members to work for financial aid for membership dues, the council announced Monday. The shift to an entirely need-based scholarship system is part of an effort to promote financial inclusivity within the system.
The council announced the shift in a campus-wide email on Monday evening, the first day of Panhell recruitment.
Panhell president Rachel Funk ’15 said that since the current council leadership took office last spring, executives have quadrupled the amount of money that will go toward scholarships.
“One of the greatest barriers to joining [a sorority] has been financial,” Funk said.
Funk said the council eliminated working for dues so as not to disadvantage members who previously would have had to take on additional responsibilities to pay for their membership.
Council members are currently speaking with Interim Dean of the College Inge-Lise Ameer to establish a scholarship fund, with hopes of making Panhell houses financially accessible for all who wish to join.
Last winter, five Panhell executives abstained from winter recruitment following concerns over the Greek system’s socioeconomic and racial inequalities. In the spring, the council instituted reforms — including sorority-blind pre-rush events and smaller budgets for rush events — partially informed by suggestions from the Improve Dartmouth website and Greek advisors.
Panhell recruitment has been subject to myriad changes over the years — from 1994, when the sororities first instated winter recruitment, to 2008, when a “select-and-rank” computer system was implemented to compute which potential new members were invited back to which sororities.
