Some of the College's fraternities currently troubled by low membership are looking toward next fall's rush period to strengthen their houses.
While there are fraternities with as many as 94 members, Kappa Chi Kappa, Gamma Delta Chi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon have 29, 28 and 18 brothers, respectively.
Although low membership has caused two Greek organizations to dissolve in the past five years, the presidents of Kappa Chi, Gamma Delt and SAE do not foresee their houses following this course.
In fact, two of the presidents said their fraternities are actively seeking to recruit new members and feel confident that their efforts will pay off in the fall.
Gamma Delt President Todd Brackett '95 said the fraternity is having more parties this term and trying to involve members of the Class of 1996 in house activities.
He said the fraternity is also urging some of the men who "hang out" at the house to become members.
Although Gamma Delt is making a strong effort to recruit new brothers, Brackett said he would like to see membership remain somewhat modest.
"We're working to up the size to tops 45," he said. "We don't want to be a big house." He said one of the primary advantages to having fewer members is that they are able to get to know each other better. All of the brothers in Gamma Delt are close friends, he said.
Peter Stoll '94, acting president of Kappa Chi, said his fraternity also wants new members, but not at the expense of the members' current sense of togetherness.
"I'd rather have 30 members and be close and harmonious than have 120 who don't even all know each other's names," Stoll said.
SAE is making no active effort to bolster membership, according to House President Dana Ash '94.
But Clark Griffith '57, an SAE corporation officer, said he hopes the house's current membership problems are temporary. Although he said the chapter has a strong financial structure including a $30,000 to $40,000 trust fund and a large scholarship fund, Griffith acknowledged that a fraternity cannot endure with only 15 or 20 members.
Both Brackett and Stoll attributed their houses' sizes to weak pledge classes from the Class of 1994.
Brackett said Gamma Delt's '95 pledge class is strong, filling almost all the officers' positions, but that the fraternity's future depends on next fall's rush period. He said he is confident that Gamma Delt will get a strong '96 pledge class.
"Things are going well for us now," he said, "and I think things will continue to go well for us in the fall."
Stoll blamed his fraternity's small '95 rush class on its image and former brothers' associations with The Dartmouth Review, the conservative off-campus publication.
"The '95s saw a Review house, a house suffering from internal strife," Stoll said. "The '96 class sees a house that is unified and has a lot of social activities, and doesn't see a Review house."
He said he thinks next fall's rush will bring the fraternity back to normal size.
Stoll said he sees no possibility of the fraternity dissolving because it has strong alumni support and owns the building. "I don't think we're getting much smaller," he said.
Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deb Reinders said because most fraternities have strong alumni networks, own their physical plants and have been at the College for 100 years, they are unlikely to dissolve.
"You're not just destroying an organization, you're destroying a history," she said.
But one Greek organization, Xi Kappa Chi sorority, which has been plagued by low membership and financial troubles in recent years, will dissolve next year.
A sorority the Panhellenic Council plans to form in the fall, which has been given the temporary name Kappa Delta Epsilon, will inherit the building that currently houses Xi Kappa Chi.
Reinders called the restructuring a "proactive" move, one she believes will provide Dartmouth women a wonderful opportunity to establish their own organization and define its objectives.
Low membership caused two other organizations to dissolve in the five years Reinders has been at the College. Delta Psi Delta, a co-ed house ceased to exist in June 1991 because of low membership and recruitment failure.
In June 1989 Delta Phi Epsilon was derecognized because the sorority didn't meet the expectations of the membership standard in the Minimum Standards document, which required co-ed, fraternity and sorority organizations to have at least 35 members.
Since that time, the membership standard has changed. All organizations must now have enough members to fill each of 10 specified executive positions, and those with physical plants must maintain full standard house occupancy each term.
But "Organizations whose purpose and membership represent, in the judgment of ORL, a unique contribution to the larger community may not be held accountable for adhering to the minimum membership standard," the Minimum Standards requirement states.
The three presidents interviewed said all the rooms in their fraternity houses are occupied this term.
But if the optimistic forecasts offered by the houses presidents do not pan out, the houses may no longer be able to meet Minimum Standards requirements and will have to determine what will become of their physical plants.
Alumni-based corporations of most of the College's fraternities, sororities and co-ed houses own and control their buildings. In the past the corporations of dissolved organizations have in most cases sold the houses to the College.
The building at 15 Webster Avenue that currently houses Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority was previously occupied by Delta Psi, which sold the house in March 1991.
Griffiths said if membership or financial problems were ever to cause SAE to dissolve, the corporation would decide the future of the physical plant. He said options include turning the building over to the College or giving it to the national organization.
Psi Upsilon Fraternity Corporation Officer Robert Kirk '42,
said if house membership -- which currently stands at a solid 70 -- ever failed to maintain the organization, the physical plant would be sold. "I imagine the College would enjoy it, considering its location," he said.
