Possible Sorority Expansion at Dartmouth?
 

There's an effort at Dartmouth to see if a seventh sorority could be established. (Right now, there are three NPC groups -- Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Delta Delta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma -- and three locals.)

The student paper's article (link below) gives several reasons why some want a seventh sorority: to give women more options, to reduce the size of chapters so bonds and friendships are closer, etc. Possible processes and possible barriers are also outlined.

http://www.thedartmouth.com/article....=2005041901010

The creation of a new chapter must follow the limitations created by the College's Student Life Initiative, instituted by the Board of Trustees in 1999. The SLI set a moratorium on the founding of traditional Greek houses, stating that a Greek organization could not be newly instituted if it is residential, single-sex and selective -- but could potentially exist if it followed only two out of these three boundaries.

According to Jimenez, the ideal plan is for a national charter to be chosen in the fall by the new sorority members, who will consist of any women interested, as the customary selective process will not yet exist. The sisters will rank the 23 national organizations not currently present at Dartmouth, and from there will jointly reach a conclusion.

I know they've been begging for this for forever and I wish them well but does anyone else see problems with this?

A NPC is not going to come to a campus where they are not allowed to have selective membership or are denied the right to ever have housing (if the rest of the groups do). Unless they're interested in something like Gamma Sigma Sigma.

It sounds like they are going to get a group together with just whoever is free and then pick an NPC - that is not the case, the NPC has to decide if it wants to come there.

I know they don't have a typical system there, but they need to do some homework on how expansion operates if they want another NPC group.

I don't know what to say about the "two out of three" criteria thing...

Dartmouth can form an "interest group" however they want to. But there's no guarantee that every woman in that interest group will get a bid...it would be considered bid promising if that were the case.

PsychTau

One thing that might -- might -- operate in their favor is the apparent support from the administration, since the article says the real battle will be with the trustees over the residential / single-sex / selective criteria.

If it comes down to not being able to be housed, I agree that it could be tough to get an NPC org interested. Off the top of my head I can only think of one of Dartmouth's "peer institutions" where I believe some NPCs are housed and some aren't: Stanford. Of course, Stanford has a moderately unusual Greek system too. Another example in the Northeast, though perhaps not quite a "peer" of Dartmouth, might be Colgate, where some are housed, some not -- but that's all going to change there in the fall as far as i know.

I was thinking the same thing as 33girl. They can rank the NPCs all they want, but that doesn't mean that the one they pick will want to be there, especially given the restriction of no housing. They obviously aren't going to give up the single sex or selective criteria.

Dee

While I agree that the possibility of not having housing will probably be a turn off for some groups I severely doubt there will not be at least several interested NPC's because it is an ivy league school.

And just out of curiousity which NPC groups have been at Dartmouth before. I know one of the locals used to be affiliated with Theta.

I agree, AEPhiSierra. I think the fact that it's an ivy, even if it ends up being a small, quirky kinda chapter, would have NPC groups clamoring for it.

The no housing thing might actually not be a bad thing. It dramatically lowers the cost of colonizing there, no multimilliondollar house to build or renovate

DPhiE had a chapter at Dartmouth for a few years from 1984 to 1989 or 1990.

According to this history Sigma Kappa, AXO, Kappa Alpha Theta, D Phi E and DG have all been there.

And I get what y'all are saying about not having to have a house at the beginning maybe being a help, but it's one thing to make that decision on your own and quite another to have it made for you.

This decision, it would seem to be, does come down to the housing--because no one is going to give up the single-sex or the ability to select its own members.

Ultimately what needs to be evaluated is if a group could survive without a house there--do the other groups have them, and will a new group need it to be competitive?

I would suspect that there would probably be several groups interested, especially those with dormant chapters. And, as someone else said, they can rank all of them all they want, but that doesn't mean it will happen. Groups may already have all the expansion opportunities they planned for, or they may not be interested in the actual interest group itself.

Someone needs to redefine residential. Since not all members are required to live in, I would argue it's not "Residential."

-Rudey

Another twist: the some-housed-some-not at Stanford didn't happen until after all the current chapters were already established for some time. Tri Delta got a house in....what... 1997? 1996? Theta followed soon after, and Pi Phi got theirs in 2000. The last chapter re-esablished on campus was my own, in 1991. Not only that, no group (Except Sigma Chi) owns a house, they just occupy them at the mercy of the University. Anoyne can lose a house in a year, and anyone can gain a house if the university decides to open the doors for applications.

Update: Dartmouth Trustees Will Allow Greek Expansion

According to an article in the June 23, 2005 issue of The Dartmouth, (excerpts below):

"In a surprise move earlier this month, the Board of Trustees lifted its moratorium on the creation of additional single-sex, selective and residential organizations. The decision, which was announced the Monday following Commencement, marks a significant departure from the trustees' 2001 decision to forbid the establishment of additional Greek houses.
. . . Dean of the College James Larimore initiated the discussion by recommending that the Board discontinue the moratorium. With the trustee's approval, Larimore now retains sole authority to grant recognition to an additional fraternity or sorority . . . .

Larimore approached the board because of his recent work with student groups concerning a possible seventh sorority . . . .

Entire article at:

http://www.thedartmouth.com/article....=2005062301010

Edited to add: The official college press release dealing with the trustees' decision, among many other issues, is at

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2005/06/13.html

This should be really interesting to follow. Rudey, you make a great point about the 'debateability' of the residential status. There are always ways around things, you just have to find them!

Interesting point, AnonAlumna. I agree it will be something to watch. As I read the article and the college's press release, however, the trustees have actually lifted their ban on more "single-sex, selective and residential" organizations. I think that means that a "residential" sorority (or fraternity) could potentially be approved by the dean. Since the press release does mention the desire for a seventh sorority, I get the feeling that a sorority, rather than a fraternity, is more likely at this point. Whether any national sorority would be interested in Dartmouth is a different question, of course.