The Exponent - editorial


04-15-2004	Previous edition: 04-14-2004

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Group’s recruiting methods violate policies, favor men

At the first Gimlet rush functions for the 2005 pledge class, there were three women as compared to 80 men.

Gimlet Leadership Honorary did not make enough of an effort to recruit women during the first year in which allowed women members.

Some would argue that it was too intimidating to the women in sororities to be the first females to rush the Gimlet Leadership Honorary. That’s why only three were at the rush function. We don’t buy it. There are plenty of Greek women who aren’t intimidated by tradition, gender or surroundings. At least there are more than three.

Pablo Malavenda, the associate dean of students, wrote in a letter to Jeremy Morton, a senior in the School of Technology and 2004 class president of Gimlet, that the Gimlet Leadership Honorary is not in compliance with the University Nondiscrimination Policy. And it has been found that there was an inadequate system in place for the recruitment of women students, resulting in a low number of women being considered for membership.

He also stated that although formal marketing for recruitment was equal for both men and women, the informal methods that were used favored men. Some of these methods included having rush functions at fraternities instead of neutral cites.

No women ended up making the Gimlet 2005 pledge class.

Was it because the women couldn’t do enough push-ups? Was it because they weren’t aesthetically pleasing? We don’t know, but those shouldn’t be some of the criteria the selection is based on if they are. But is it surprising that a woman, who was rushing an organization in which the idea of letting women rush was met with resistance, did not end up making the organization?

Gimlet Leadership Honorary needs to make its process more objective and its standards such that both sexes should be able to meet them. Or Greek women need to make a push to bring back the Golden Gavel, the sister organization to Gimlet before women were allowed to rush.

Declining membership forced it to become inactive, but this organization would be a great compliment to Gimlet without an offending the opposite gender.

Class of 2004 Gimlet member Alan Holt said in an Exponent editorial on Feb. 18 that it would be great to have a sister organization to interact with. We agree, but the Golden Gavel shouldn’t be brought back at the expense of an unfair Gimlet rush process.

The Editorial Board is: Charise Pettit, Evan Kelsay, Nic Baumann, Jamie Giles, Nate Hall, Matt Poston
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