Sorority recruitment began on Sept. 30 with a heightened focus on diversity and financial aid transparency, according to Inter-Sorority Council president Hannah Shariff ’25.
New initiatives began during the spring pre-recruitment period, when potential new members started to attend events at different houses. The ISC mandated that sororities host one event on financial aid, as well as one on diversity, equity and inclusion, to make the Greek system a “more inclusive space” for potential new members, Shariff said.
“It was something that members of the current council and myself have been pretty passionate about, and the chapters were also open to the changes,” Shariff wrote in a follow-up email statement to The Dartmouth. “We are hoping to continue adding more transparency events for the upcoming pre-recruitment period.”
The events from last spring are intended to be a new way to hold sororities accountable to plans to diversify, Shariff said.
“We mandated that each chapter have a DEI event in which they talk about what they’ve been doing over the past few years to make it a more inclusive space,” Shariff said. “I think it’s an opportunity for chapters to own up to whether they’ve done things or not, because they have to present to potential new members.”
In the past, some rules regarding inclusivity in sorority recruitment have been unofficial, according to one sorority executive who requested anonymity to speak candidly. Her Greek house’s rules keep members from speaking “openly” about recruitment, she explained. Unofficial rules include avoiding the “Five Bs” — “booze, boys, Bible, bucks and Biden” — and asking about vacations, she explained.
“It can be quite uncomfortable if you’re talking to two potential new members at the same time,” she said. “You might ask one about a vacation, and she went skiing in the Alps, and then there’s another who’s never left the country because it’s just not affordable for her.”
Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority vice president Katherine Clark ’25 said that the new focus on diversity is important because of some exclusivities in the sorority system. Past iterations of the recruitment process have privileged certain potential new members on the basis of race and socio-economic status, she said.
“It sucks to see the [influence] white, wealthy, pretty privilege has when you are going through [recruitment], and the way that is reflected broadly in our social scene,” Clark said.
Shariff said the ISC’s focus on DEI initiatives is part of a broader push to make the recruitment process more transparent. This year, the ISC shifted computer platforms — from “OmegaFi” to “CampusDirector” — to improve the algorithm that ultimately assigns students to their Greek house. The platform switch is intended to improve ease of use: CampusDirector enables administrators from the ISC to see the accounts of both chapters and PNMs and send email blasts. It also offers 24/7 technology support.
The Greek Intervarsity Council — a community of Christians in Greek life — is making its own effort to ensure houses are more welcoming to students of all religions. The group focuses on the “demystification” of the intersection of religion and Greek life, according to Greek Intervarsity Campus Ministry intern Tulio Huggins ’23. For example, members host Bible Studies classes for members of their Greek house, according to the Tucker Center website.
“[We are] showing people that they can be Christian in Greek life,” he said. “When I was a freshman or sophomore and also going through the rush process, there weren’t a lot of Christians in [the] Christian community that I knew of that were involved. It felt kind of like you couldn’t be Greek and Christian.”
