Bad news from the Dartmouth Newspaper:

The Interfraternity Council voted Tuesday night against allowing national Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi to receive official College recognition. The vote marked the first time the Council has considered expansion since the Board of Trustees lifted its moratorium on new Greek organizations last June.

A small group of students interested in AEPi have been meeting weekly since late fall and now seek to be officially recognized by the College. Although IFC presidents seem reluctant to expand, members of the AEPi interest group believe there is a need for their fraternity within the Dartmouth social scene.

AEPi President Patrick Karas offered some comments in the article about why he thought the vote went the way it did:

Karas said he fears that the current fraternities of the IFC view a new fraternity as competition, but he stressed that “there are plenty of eligible undergraduates” interested in AEPi who are currently unaffiliated, and thus AEPi would not be competing with current fraternities for new members.

Cunningham believes that the vote against AEPi is not related to the fraternity’s official affiliation with Judaism. Rather, Cunningham believes that IFC presidents do not see a need for expansion at this time.

Karas said that some fraternity presidents expressed concern that a Jewish fraternity would segregate the Jewish community, but he believes that this will not happen due to the social, rather than religious, nature of the organization. Despite AEPi’s initial setback, the club plans to try once again for the IFC’s approval.

The Dartmouth fired back two days later with an editorial criticizing the decision, “Having the Players Call the Game”

Karas said in the article that they will move forward with their plans, and that they hope to eventually gain university recognition. Brothers everywhere can help out their efforts be using the online rushee referral form from the International AEPi website to pass along information about any Jewish friends or relatives at Dartmouth.