According to the Bible, in the beginning God brought every living creature to Adam and whatever Adam called it, "that was the name thereof." Apparently, God gave this power to the Trustees too.
Last winter when the new Residential Life initiative was announced there was a lot of name calling on both sides, but one of the names flung repeatedly from the Trustee side was "exclusive." Ironically, it was only after they called the Greek system exclusive that it became dramatically so.
This year's sorority rush is over and although most girls who wanted to join a house are now members; over 50 are not. That's exclusivity in action. However, it is the Trustees' faults not the sororities'.
For the past three years, bids were guaranteed. Any girl who wanted one, got one. Yet it was this system that the Trustees were referring to as exclusive. Puzzled by this seeming contradiction I took out my Webster's Handy College Dictionary and looked up "exclusive." According to Webster's, "exclusive" is defined as the "shutting out of all others or all else from admission or consideration." Under this definition, the football team, Phi Beta Kappa and especially Dartmouth College are all exclusive but the sorority system is not, or rather, was not.
Last spring, over 300 hundred girls signed up for fall rush. This was the largest turn out in years and dozens more than the current six houses could accommodate. Aware of the problem a meeting was held to discuss the possibility of creating a seventh house. By the end of the meeting, more than fifty girls had expressed their interest in joining. However, before any further steps could be taken, the entire plan was halted. It was decided by the College that although rush could take place this fall, the formation of a new house would have to wait.
I can think of a lot of reasons for this decision but the most likely explanation is summed up in the phrase, "don't encourage them." The formation of a new house would have made the Greek system stronger and larger and that is exactly what the Trustees don't want to happen.
Regardless of the reason, the result of this decision was clear. This year's rush would be exclusive and it was. In retrospect, all I can say is, "brilliant." The College's decision was brilliant. In one fell swoop they managed to make an inclusive sorority system exclusive and turn a significant number of Greek supporters against the system. If every girl who did not receive a bid now dislikes the sorority system, I don't blame her. I can only hope that some of them understand the situation and will blame it on the Trustees and the College instead.
