The Exponent - special


09-03-2004	Previous edition: 09-02-2004

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First women to execute Gimlet push-ups Sunday

By Sarah Krisel
Assistant Campus Editor

Two women will do Gimlet push-ups at every football game starting Sunday.

According to a decision that was made in the spring of 2004 by the Office of the Dean of Students, women for the first time are members of Gimlet, a leadership fraternity for Greek members.

The office determined that the leadership honorary was not in compliance with the University nondiscrimination policy, said Pablo Malavenda, associate dean of students, in a past interview. Gimlet was forced by the Office of the Dean of Students to conduct two rushes since the first did not produce female pledges.

Six women from different sororities were initiated into Gimlet in the spring after the second rush. The women were initiated immediately and did not participate in the pledge program.

The second rush was required after a female filed a complaint with the Office of the Dean of Students against the Gimlets, claiming she was denied membership because she was female.

Mike Schroeder, president of Gimlet and a senior in the School of Liberal Arts, said that the turnover has been great.

Every year the fraternity receives new members, so all the members don’t even know that there has been a change, said Schroeder.

Nothing will be different for the women at the games. The women will wear the same outfits as the men and do the same amount of push-ups.

Kejal Crosson, a member of Gimlet honorary and a senior in the School of Liberal Arts, said the members all got their sweaters on Thursday.

"We were asked if we wanted to wear the same sweater as the men or if we wanted to design a different sweater," said Crosson.

She said she was really excited to be accepted into Gimlet.

"The guys have been awesome and really fun," said Crosson. "One thing I really like about it is that I am a senior and pledgeship (for her sorority) was so long ago, it feels good to be starting something new. It is another group of people that I got to become close to."

Crosson said she is not nervous about doing the push-ups. She practiced over the summer to be able to do the push-ups, but probably not enough.

The Gimlet leadership honorary was founded in 1922 as an athletic spirit club. However, 28 years ago it became a leadership honorary for fraternity leaders.

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