I heard anecdotally that ZTA is in a unique position to build houses because of the way they are structured nationally (or perhaps how their dues are allocated). Can someone comment on that?

My perception is that ZTA has a National House Corporation rather than individual House Corporations for each chapter in their respective states.

Hmmm...maybe I should sit quietly and let a ZTA answer that question! LOL

Yes, you are correct! NHC works with housing on many different levels for ZTA...houses, lodges, dorm space...and ways...building, renovating, redecorating. A few chapters have local housing corporations but NHC has the best resources. Our chapter at SMU closed in the mid 90's but we still own a house there and it is run by a local housing board.

From what I remember, ZTA was the first to have a national housing corp. Can someone confirm that?

I am 99.9% sure that is correct. I think this was one of the ZTA House Facts we all had to learn during recruitment so that we could tell the PNMs interesting stuff during our house tours. :)

I second that! :D

It sounds like Ole Miss is really ripe for expansion but that it will have to be done wisely!

To summarize our ideas:

1. It should be a strong southern group, or at least a group that is strong in the region

2. It should not be a group that has been there in the past 20 years or a group that has been at Miss. State in the past 20 years

3. It's going to take a ton of $$

4. They'll need a new yet traditional house

5. They have to PR with insanity!

I now have another important question:

In a situation like this, is it best to do a humongus, nationals-involved recruitment AFTER formal recruitment? Or should you do this recruitment during the fall rush period? When my school (also southern) expanded with Kappa Delta in 1997, we chose the latter, and I think it was a mistake. What are the advantages or disadvantages of either option as we see them?

If ADPi and ZTA were both there in the past 20 years, I cannot for the life of me think of another group that has strong southern ties and is not already on campus that would be good for expansion.

All of the chapters represented at Ole Miss are exactly the ones I think of when i hear "strong southern sorority" and the only ones I can think of to go along with those are ADPi and ZTA...

Gamma Phi was mentioned. That might be possible, but I know they're expanding to the University of S. Carolina, so that will be a LOT of work too. I don't know if they're at Miss. State either. Who is? I know someone mentioned that AGD closed there. :(

When did Delta Zeta close at Ole Miss?

I know that Tri-Sigma has had some success colonizing at larger southern schools, too, like UNC-Chapel Hill. Maybe Sigma Kappa?

Edited to add:

NPCs at Mississippi State are AOPi (a colony I think??), Chi Omega, Tri-Delta, DG, KD, Phi Mu, and ZTA.

AGD didn't close at Old Miss... we closed at Mississippi State University about a year or two ago. I don't know the reason why though, if it was lack of alum support or reputation or just a decline of greeks. I think that AGD would be good but doughtful right now.

EK would be a good choice, though as I understand it Georgetown's chapter is the strongest out of many chapters in Kentucky and I don't know about elsewhere in the South (YES Kentucky as a state is Southern... Louisville and Northern Kentucky are not).

I think that most GLOs are not expanding with that much of a committment due to the economy. I think that Old Miss will remain the size that it is for now, but that is simply my opinion.

You are correct. I have a friend that was president at a chapter in Kentucky and they are having a lot of problems in the state right now except for Georgetowns campus where they seem to be doing extremely well.

Not to nitpick or anything, but it's "Ole" Miss.

DZ closed at Ole Miss before I was there (I didn't even know they had been there until I read it on another thread). Alpha Xi Delta closed my freshman year, and both ZTA and ADPi closed years after I left.

that's okay... I thought I was spelling it wrong but didn't change it...

Sadly, breathesgelatin, the AOPi colony at Miss State did not work out. There was not enough interest despite AOPi's strength at Ole Miss. There is a group of girls interested still who are trying to get more recruits so they can have a successful colonization. There is more on this in the AOPi forum. Ole Miss Glitter seems to know best:) She is the one who I believe knew about it.

A group at Ole Miss would definitely have their work cut out for them, but it would be a worthwhile endeavor!!! All the groups sound great.

Ole Miss
 

Well ladies, we can speculate all we want. I'm sure the nice folks in Oxford are already at work deciding how they would like to proceed.

Might I also point out that DZ has large chapters across the south, including my chapter at LSU.

Should our National group decide to entertain expansion at Ole Miss(where they have not been for over 30 years), I'm sure there will be Delta Zetas from many southern states who will be more than happy to help with rush. (Univ of Alabama, Auburn, UF, FSU, LSU, USC, UK, VT, UAV, etc, etc)

I know that several groups would fit in fine there. It's a question of cash ladies. To play at Ole Miss, you have to spend a lot of money.

It will be very interesting to see which group decides to do it(when Ole Miss decides to expand)!

Stacey

I agree with breathesgelatin that this has to be done very, very carefully if they do decide to expand. Ole Miss, from everything I've heard, is one of those schools where a new sorority needs to be able to compete with the others from the get-go or they're doomed from the start.

It seems like all the sororities that normally would be a good fit there (strong Southern sororities) would not, in this case, for whatever reasons. Sororities that are strong nationally and with some strong Southern chapters (AGD, Gamma Phi) but not the "traditionally Southern" sororities would probably not fare the best here -- if even the strong Southern sororities have closed chapters recently at Ole Miss -- although there are always surprises. Some of the sororities that might otherwise do quite well here have just undertaken major expansions and probably don't have the resources to do another one so soon. And it sounds like the housing situation poses an additional problem not easily remedied -- and that comparable housing would be crucial to a group's survival.

I wouldn't be surprised if they vote to delay expansion for a few more years, no matter how much it is needed.