The number of people rushing the five College coeducational societies and houses this term has not significantly increased compared to past years, despite what appears to be a positive alignment between their charters and the coeducational principle of the Trustees' Residential and Social Life Initiative.
The Trustees' Five Principles, calling for a "substantially coeducational" environment, seem to correlate with the non-exclusive, non-gender biased nature of Panarchy, Amarna and to a slightly lesser extent, Tabard, Alpha Theta and Phi Tau.
"If what [the Trustees] want is what they say they want, then Tabard is what they want," former Tabard Rush Chair Corrine Keating '00 said.
Though all organizations recognized the fact that their charters conformed to the guidelines of the Initiative, the societies and houses chose not to advertise that fact to the campus because they were uncertain as to what the effects of the Initiative would be.
"We've considered [advertising the coeducational element of the house], but decided to hold off on that for the moment," Alpha Theta President Michael Holmes '00 said. "We decided that was maybe in poor taste, if something does happen to the other houses, it would feel like a cheap shot."
More important than the support of the Trustees in determining the size of the rush class is the presence of students who are interested in the kind of lifestyle the organizations promote, representatives of the houses and societies said.
Phi Tau has seven pledges this term, as compared to approximately six in other years. Tabard has around ten to fifteen pledges, which is larger than the class of 2001, but comparable to the size of the 2000 class. Thirteen sophomores are pledging Alpha Theta this term. A total of nine joined Alpha Theta last year.
So far, at least four members of the Class of 2002 have joined Panarchy and none have joined Amarna, although numbers typically increase throughout the term.
The size of the rush class "really depends more on if different sorts of people become attracted to Dartmouth than anything internal," Holmes said.
Holmes added that if more people come to the College open to the idea of a coeducational Greek house, instead of a "fraternity mind-set," rush numbers would probably increase.
Representatives of the organizations said they did not see coeducation as a factor that differentiated them from single-sex houses in a significant way in the eyes of the Trustees.
Some representatives of their houses said they felt the Trustees did not support the coeducational organizations that currently exist on campus.
"They want our land, they don't want coed houses," Phi Tau President Virginia DeJesus-Rueff '00 said. "There's more to the issue than coed houses; the College wants to be more involved in the social process at Dartmouth."
Panarchy and Amarna, the two undergraduate societies at Dartmouth, do not conduct formal rush. Any undergraduate can join the house at any time of the year.
Phi Tau, Alpha Theta and Tabard conduct rush, but in a less formal manner than sororities or fraternities.
