Rushing Without Rules

The annual fraternity rushing period ended October 2 with the pledging of 353 sophomores by the 26 fraternities. Delegations ranged in size from three to 24, as contrasted to the fairly even groups of last year, when a total of 369 sophomores were pledged.

The rushing this year was unhindered by any of the rules which have been so flagrantly violated in the past. Last year when everyone was forced to sign a pledge promising to refrain from "sinking," sophomores were "sunk" anyway. This year with no rules in the way, a goodly number of men were sunk well in advance of the official bidding date. The plan followed this year was a big improvement, nevertheless The Dartmouth, as usual, was not satisfied, and in an editorial entitled "Houses of Madmen" the editor said:

"For the past few years the general disgust at rushing in general has caused a wave of reaction which has rejected the system last in use for a newer, untried one. No system has had the opportunity to function for more than one session, so the relative worth of any one of them is still unknown. Yet the campus persists in following well-established precedents in its technique of chinning, regardless of the rules the Interfraternity Council ,may have formulated. Briefly the mechanism of rushing consists of preliminary open house to entertain about two hundred freshmen, concentration on about forty sophomores, and entertaining these far beyond the point of boredom. As the night of pledging approaches the most intimate friends of these sophomores 'talk turkey' and play upon every emotional strain in an effort to induce the sophomore to 'come our way.' Thus are good bond salesmen trained.

"We contend that the whole system is false at the core and not on the surface. Temporary patches applied by the Interfraternity Council and the Administration have only alleviated the evils of such an abnormal growth in the campus life. Until the revolt comes from the fraternities themselves, the century-old farces of calling, chinning, hot-boxing and sinking will be continued, ad nauseam.

"It is not our purpose to suggest a quack cure-all. The situation is much too complex for that. But there does seem to be a definite trend toward mechanical and supervised rushing. Williams College has an impartial faculty member who is empowered to judge all the rushing disputes and infractions of the rules. To him is assigned the task of advising the freshmen about fraternities and their methods.

"Preferential bidding has been tried and succeeded at other colleges, eliminating all chance of unfair tactics, only too readily resorted to on the Dartmouth campus. Amherst returns to college a week early in the fall for fraternity pledging, thus removing the chaos of rushing from the school year.

"Dartmouth will probably adopt none of these reforms until the situation has become so unbearable to fraternities and sophomores alike that common action will become possible. We believe that this year is going far towards hastening that date."

Construction work is rapidly progressing on the new Chi Phi house which is being erected on the site owned by the fraternity across from the Alumni Gymnasium. The new building is of brick in the Dutch colonial style used by Sigma Nu and Kappa Kappa Kappa. The Chi Phis are now occupying their old house, which has been moved to Park street.