AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

That makes me so HAPPY! After having a horrible day since we have another hurricane, I'm so excited to have this great news!

I wish all the best to my future sisters at newly opened Phi chapter at Duke University!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Congrats to ZTA!!! :)

I have to say that I don't much care for the comments of the KAT and DDD members quoted in the article. On that campus, those chapters are very much among the "haves," and IMHO they aren't being terribly gracious toward the "have-nots."

The comments are almost comical coming from them. They have NO experience with anything even closely resembling a colony. They are stewards of a successful organization, nothing more. What these ZTA colony members will be doing is starting a new tradition instead of being handed something old.

It sounds like ZTA has committed a ton of resources to this, so I'm certain they will have huge success.

great news!!
 

ivyspice, i am glad that you said that kat and ddd are among the 'haves" at duke. it is good to know the competiton.the respective members comments, while not the most diplomatic , probably have a smidgen of truth in them. we all know that certain pnms will want only the top house on campus, with a get it or not join mentality. there probably will be girls who would not want to join a colony, and would prefer an established chapter. that's okay. there should be plenty of women on dukes campus to go around.let's face it, colonies are a lot of work(i advise a chapter that last spring was a colony) but to the women who are dedicated to working hard, the rewards are unbelievable! they get to establish their own traditions and reputation on campus. leadership positions are available immediately. there is no pecking order. they make all the decisions right from the beginning. there are no class barriers-srs., jrs., sophs and frosh are all new members together. lisa

Do you think them shutting down their chapter when they did and why they did will adversly affect their success?

I know Zeta has done very well with new colonies recently but not every single one has excelled (IMO).

I'm curious as to what you mean by that question. Is there some implication there? Or are you believing the everlasting greek myths about some sister somewhere involved in the "wrong club" outside of their GLO, cauing scandal and embarassment for all? I heard that one when I was in school (and that was not too recently), and I am certain it has been rumored about for nearly every GLO around (or at least some equally bizarre story).

Besides that, the success will be a lot in part to the amazing sisters who go to help with support, and the tlc's, and of course the many outstanding women who will be accepting the challenge of colonizing ZTA at Duke.

I actually am sorry there was not the ability for all three to colonize at Duke, as all three are stong, amazing organizations (of course, I am still very proud of Zeta Tau Alpha).

It was for numbers and not the story you told in the ZTA forum.

I, also, am curious as to what you mean by not everyone has excelled. We could say the same about any organization including your own.

In the past, you've made some scathing remarks about ZTA and I'm just wondering why.

ETA:
ZTA1806, I heard the same rumor about another GLO at a campus not too far from mine as the reason they closed their chapter. I'm glad a met a girl on GC from that chapter who was able to give the real reasons why rather than some malicious story.

Congrats to Zeta Tau Alpha! I know the chapter at Elon will be happy to have another chapter close by :)

aabby
 

reputations of existing chapters can have an effect on recolonizations if the recolonization is done too soon after the chapter has been closed. that shouldn't be a problem at duke. plus all three finalists had had chapters at duke before.zeta pretty much has its act together concerning colonizations and recolonizations. if you were referring to our failed colonization attempt at the university of kansas, you are right, we did fail. however, that is just one failure to many, many more successes. every colony has a set of goals that they set and goals that nationals set. they must work toward those goals and meet those goals. if they cannot maintain that, they are closed.and we learn from our mistakes. zeta has an established, strong presence in north carolina, both collegiately and alumnae chapter wise. i don't think that the new colony will lack for support locally. and nationally, they will have a traveling leadership consultant and a director of new chapters dedicated to them, so they should be alright.thank you for your concern. lisa

I would assume that refers to the colony that closed at U of Kansas.

However, IMO the Zetas did absolutely the right and smart thing - while it was certainly painful for the colony members, better 80 dissappointed girls now than 300 disappointed women 5 years from now whose only memory of their sorority was working and working and always coming up short. I would like to see more groups have the balls (or in this case, ovaries) to pull out when something isn't working, rather than muddle through and install a colony that isn't ready and turn it into a chapter that consistently plays catch-up. You need to be on top, or very nearly, when you colonize (especially at a big school like that) or you're going to be mega screwed.

thanks
 

33girl!!

I am extremely sorry that my tone of my question was inappropriate.

Actually, to answer some of your questions, my sister (biological) was a Zeta and a founding sister of her chapter so I have some experience (vicariously) through her regarding the experiences (both successes and failures) of colonies.

And, I was referring to her chapter in terms of not "excelling" and thinking about the chapter at Clemson and Colorado when thinking of chapters that have completely taken off.

My sister was a collegiate when the chapter at Duke closed and you guys are exactly right, she nor I know exactly what happened to them and I apologize for spreading rumors. I just I am simply curious about why they closed.

And, my curiosity is if that particulary story is true will it continue to thrive at that campus, even if assholes like myself continue to bring it up. I was referring more to the "topic" that they closed but whatever, I will never bring it up again.

Let me just say this, if I have in any way written "scathing remarks" about ZTA more than express my opinion, I am sorry. My sister is dear to me and so is Zeta. We both say we hope we have daughters so they can fight over who goes where in college etc.

The Kansas chapter was unknown to me so I am sorry all around for the post.

aabby
 

where was you sister a founding member of a zeta chapter?

The University of Maryland.

Just out of curiosity in reading that ZTA will be coloinizing at Duke, how many colonies does that make for ZTA this year?

As with Duke, my undergrad campus is supposed to having ZTA colonize this school year as well (I graduated in May, so I'm not sure when).

Ironically enough at least for these two upcoming colonies they are coming on very closely to another colony. I know Alpha Phi was only colonized officially in November of 02 and on my undergrad campus ASA was just colonized in May.

I wish ZTA success in both these endeavors, but the panhellenic in me doesn't want them coming into difficult expansion territory.

sailorgirl
 

as best i know we will establish colonies at: georgia college and state university in milledgeville, duke university in durham, nc and christopher newport u. in virginia. do any of my sisters know of anymore?

Congrats to Duke and ZTA!

congrats to zta!

as for the girls in the article, i think they are just the type of people who are looking to be in with a certain group and that's that. it is too bad the author didn't try to find someone with a more balanced opinion. oh well, good luck to the new chapter!

Have to agree with you there...I also think it's in bad taste to list how the votes split out.

Let's say you were a weak chapter at Duke...would you intentionally vote for the GLO with the worst expansion plan?

Those girls obviously have no clue about being Panhellenic.

Women shouldn't rush for a particular sorority - they should rush to find the sorority that fits them.

And duhhhh, colonies pick women from all classes. It's kind of terrifying to think that these women are students of a school with a reasonably high academic reputation and using such little tact or brains when speaking to the press.

I also think it was tacky to say how many votes each group got.

I was surprised as well when I read the votes. To this day, I don't think anyone knows how many votes Tri Delta, ADPi, and Alpha Phi received last spring at Elon, besides the fact that Tri Delta received the most. I thought the voting was kept confidential, but I guess it depends on the school.

I know who voted for what group and how many votes both chapters got that have colonized at NCSU.

I just think Duke is not your typical greek campus. Its very unique in image and actions in the triangle. With a newly reinstated chapter, that basically started over like a colonization, a lot of the girls have been dragged out of the wood works that usually benefits a new colony. The quotes of the two girls in the article kinda echo the sentiment a lot of colonizes face when they are formed. They also are typical of the reasons Duke students are strange about greek life

I wish them the best though and hope to hear good news of the colonization.

I think she ment that Duke students think about being Greek differently from lots of other schools, not that they're strange or that the Greek system is strange.

For example, as someone pointed out earlier in this thread nobody (particularly Panhellenic women) really wears letters around, partly because people just don't and partly because people don't want to be defined by what GLO they're in at first glance.