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http://www.thedartmouth.com/article....=2004102001010
After 20 hours of meeting and greeting and countless more spent deliberating over potential new members, Fall term sorority rush is complete.
With approximately 250 women placed in the six sorority houses, pledge class numbers ranged from 32 girls to 46. The Class of 2007 showed a slight preference for national house over local ones.
Panhellenic Council President Krista Sande-Kerback '05 said the discrepancy in numbers at various houses is no surprise.
"The numbers go in cycles," Sande-Kerback said. "Some houses have higher pledge classes one year and smaller classes the next. It keeps the houses even."
The first Fall rush since 2000 and the first recruitment period to be held in the middle of the term provided houses with a few extra logistical problems. Midterms and athletic competitions conflicted with rush for current members and rushees alike.
"We made the schedule in the spring and at the time we didn't have access to test time and dates," said Panhell recruitment chair Meredith Willsen '05. "We expected some conflicts, but a lot more things came up last minute."
Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority rush chair Victoria Corder '05 said rush's timing made it seem an overwhelming commitment for many involved.
But even with a high number of sophomores rushing and little time to prepare, the houses mostly pulled their acts together.
"Sororities really made a point of saying we need all sisters to participate to make this successful," said Sande-Kerback. "The houses were really organized and worked hard to accommodate large rush parties."
Panhell uses a computer program widely used for rush around the country to match girls and houses, according to Willsen. As a result, much of the rush process is based on formulas and numbers.
Still, the program leaves room for input from individual house members.
"We use formulas for the number of girls invited back each round," said Willsen, "but it also has to do with the fact that there are a limited number of invites a house can have. Ultimately, it really is based on the preferences of the girls in the house."
That the process depends so heavily on a computer program became a problem when Willsen's computer crashed before round two of rush. The program had been backed up, she said, and though it slowed down the process, invitations and house preferences were not compromised.
Prohibited communication between rushees and house members contributed more confusion to an already confusing process.
Some sorority members were surprised to find what they thought were inconsistencies between house consensus over particular rushees and the party and bid lists Panhell ultimately provided.
But Willsen said any surprises in the process were not Panhell's mistake but a result of inaccurate gossip about which rushees favored which house.
'There were a lot of miscommunication between sisters and rushees, all of which is not allowed by Panhell, that resulted in gossip and rumors that were found to be not true," Willsen said. "We should have been stricter about rush infractions."
No rush infractions have been filed at this time, however.
Still, a large number of those rushing found they had only been invited back to one house for Preference Night, although a rushee can receive up to two invites on this night.
Willsen said this year, many houses made more cuts earlier in the process.
Houses also have the option of offering open bids to those women who did not rush, did not receive a bid, or dropped out of the process.
Even though the majority of sophomore women interested in rushing did so this past week, Panhell plans for a formal winter rush period for those not on campus.
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