When the Panhellenic Council, working with College officials, developed a plan last spring to save an ailing sorority, the strategy eventually settled on was similar to one tried by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity in the spring of 1991.
The strategy, centered on circumventing the College's delayed rush policy, backfired on SAE. The fraternity went through a chaotic period of independence and still suffers from low membership.
In contrast, things could not be better for the resurrected Xi Kappa Chi sorority. The house, now called Kappa Delta Epsilon, is full with 50 new members and will not hold fall rush.
In April 1991, suffering from low membership, SAE took the bold step of becoming the first Greek organization to defy the College's delayed rush policy. To reinvigorate the house, SAE planned for a group of men, all friends in the freshmen Class of 1994, to rush as a block.
Last spring, the Panhellenic Council, with the backing of the Office of Residential Life, asked a group of women, mostly friends in the freshmen Class of 1996, to "informally commit" to joining a new sorority an effort to save Xi Kappa Chi, which was suffering from low membership.
The similarities of the two situations reveal a common line of thinking among Greek organization survivalists: the surest way to save an ailing house is to give it a head start on new member recruitment and to do so by attracting a large group of friends.
The big difference is that SAE set out on its own to get a leg up on other fraternities and even went as far as lying to the Interfraternity Council. Xi Kappa Chi enlisted the help of the Panhellenic Council and the College right from the start.
When rumors started that SAE planned to rush freshmen, IFC members had hoped to make a united stand against the College's delayed rush policy. But SAE insisted it would not rush freshmen.
"We asked their rush chair point blank and he said he had no knowledge of it whatsoever," said IFC Representative Tim Magee '92 shortly after news of the rush was made public.
"No one understands why they didn't tell anybody," said then-CFSC President Peter Aaron '92. "I can't believe that they have allowed their house ... to come to such an impasse."
In an interview yesterday, Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco said, "The women in the new sorority went right to the leadership in the Panhellenic Council.
"They said, 'Will you work with us?'" Turco continued. "'Will you help us to strengthen the entire Panhellenic Council across the board?' SAE really went out on their own and tried to find a way to make it work but they really didn't work with the IFC at all."
In both cases, the block groups were assured that within a year they would be members of a thriving Greek organization made up entirely of mutual friends.
But the results were strikingly different. When news of SAE's dirty rush became public, the block of '94s broke apart. Faced with stiff sanctions for violating delayed rush, SAE declared independence to escape the College's disciplinary system.
Adding the twist of a name change, Xi Kappa Chi got around the same delayed rush policy though the policy technically was never violated and has now blossomed into a full house. All 14 Xi Kappa Chi sisters have joined KDE.
Currently, there are at least three fraternities fighting low membership. Administrators and students who work closely with the Greek system all credit KDE's success to strong support from the Panhellenic Council and the other sororities. The fraternities, they said, may have to seek similar assistance from the IFC.
