ZTA closes at KU
 

I just found out that the ZTA colony at the Univ of Kansas has been closed due to low numbers. Here's an article from today's University Daily Kansan: KU ZTA article My thoughts are with all the former members, many of them I know.

How sad for those girls...I wish ZTA would have let them try a little bit longer to earn a charter.

Does this mean that they aren't going to be actual members? Like initiated members?

:( That really breaks my heart! I feel so terribly for the women who fought so hard to keep the colony alive. I hope that someday they do get a chance to become full members of ZTA.

I agree with Texas Princess. What a terribly heartbreaking situation :(

Those poor girls put in so much work for...nothing. It seems from the article that their numbers were so low because they were unhoused. It is wrong that they're not given the chance to be initiated because of something that they (the colony members) cannot control.

It is so sad for the Ladys of ZTA at U. Kansas.:(

K. U. is a tuff school if there are not numbers, place not having a house along with that and this unfortunatly happens.

The Chapter Houses are very big there and means a lot to the students.

I think it is a sad day for ZTA and The U. Of Kansas.

This is so sad. My heart goes out to all their members that put in so much hard work and to their new pledges. Coming from a school where total is around 50, it is really weird to me that a colony with 85 members can be shut down for numbers. :(

I thought that there were some "spare" houses there that they could move into for the time being, or am I thinking of someplace else?

As much as this sucks, it was probably best that they got the hell out of Dodge when they realized it wasn't working. Better now than 5 years from now when they've initiated more members and a closing would break even more hearts.

i think it's pretty shallow of girls to only consider sororities with housing as a choice for their sorority
a house does not make sisterhood
a house does not make a person develop into a functioning adult
i know so many people who are in sororities and refuse to live in their housing because they want to stay close to their sisters
ZTA is a great sorority
there's no reason why they couldn't be embraced on their campus

besides, it doesn't look good for Greeks in general
if we can't even keep colonies on certain campuses
what does that say about Greeks as a whole


this is a sad day for everyone
not just ZTA

I know one of the girls who was a colony member at KU. They had 96 girls, but, since it wasn't the 160 their national wanted they closed them. I understand Kansas is a big school but when will we learn that it size of a chapter or colony doesn't equate to worth or brotherhood/sisterhood?

Unfortunately, it seems like never. :( I hate being shown time and time again, that sisterhood isn't about women being friends, sisters, learning ritual and sharing good times - it's about $$$ signs. (I'm speaking generally. I'm sure that ZTA had very good reasons for their actions).
I feel so sorry for these poor girls. My heart is breaking for them.

:( This is so sad. 96 girls is nothing to be ashamed of. You would have to put 2 or 3 entire sororities together on my campus to even get that number. I am very proud of the girls of the ZTA colony. By the quotes in the article show that they are taking this in stride. That shows real class and they should be very proud for that. It is so sad when a chapter/colony closes and my heart goes out to these ladies. :(

I feel sad for the colony members, also for ZTA alumnae in Kansas, and the nearby ZTA chapters at Baker, William Jewell and Washburn. I'm sure they are saddened by the loss and were hoping to welcome a new chapter and new sisters.
As Tom Earp has said, KU is a tough school; in fact several universities in Kansas are tough for NPC colonization -- KState and Pittsburg both come to mind.

Very sad indeed. Trying to get some inside info from some LiveJournal KU ZTA's

Lurker, did not know a bout W Jewell!:(

white-choclate it is sad but true well especially at Large Schools!
:(

Yeah, Tom, ZTA is at William Jewell; I believe the chapter history goes back to about 1931 when it was founded as a chapter of Beta Sigma Omicron, which merged into ZTA in the mid-1960s.

exlurker, since I cannot PM or Email You, will you do PM or EM to me!?

Take it you are in the Area somewhere! Well Metro KC!

We do need to get a KC area GC gathering some time in the Near Future!:)

)-:

i hate it when chapters have to close bc of "low numbers"

schools are stupid... getting members takes A LONG TIME, and even then, who cares if you have 2 girls, or if you have 200. if the motivation is there, its worth it. everything has potential and everything will grow if given the chance

I've cut and pasted this email from my UIFI Sister who was a colony member at KU:

now I'm sure that ZTA's National Council has their reasons for this action and I don't want to seem judgmental, but, if every other colony member was even half as dedicated and outstanding as Sarah they would have 96 excellent women at KU. It's just a shame to see this happen. But, I can say Sarah will always remain a sister to those of us who went to UIFI.

I can speak firsthand about KU's greek system.

I can understand why ZTA nationals pulled the plug on the colony. First of all, there is no land anywhere, for the chapter to build a house -- the women would have had to move into a pre-exististing structure or get some residential houses rezoned for a sorority (a concept that is almost impossible to achieve in Lawrence, AGD is having many hurdles trying to do this). Many of the existing greek houses have property values that range from $900,000 to $ 3 million, and I would say all of them are beautiful (for many women, it's the nicest house they've ever lived in). If there are not enough women to help pay the mortgage, then live-in fees would be so high no one would want to join.

Many women at KU do put a great deal of value on the actual sorority house when going through recruitment -- I know there were many factors that affected my decision (i.e. sleeping dorms vs. rooms, air conditioning, the decor, parking, cost). Many women at KU are also very excited about living in the sorority house during their sophomore and junior years, so not having an actual house put ZTA at a major disadvantage.

In my opinion, if another sorority is ever to colonize at KU, it better have a big beautiful mansion ready and waiting for its new members.

This is really sad and it upsets me that they didnt really give the chapter a chance to really get up members. They really can't expect to bring in a new sorority granted it is an excellent one, and hope to achive 160 members in its first year of recruitment. It takes some time to build up to those numbers. Im not trying to sound judgmental I just think they should have at least given them 3 years to see if it picked up which im sure it would have. and housing shouldnt matter I know that there are alot of people eho do look forward to living in a sorority house but Im sure that in time they would find a way to get one. My heart goes out to all the girls who are affected by this.

Nichole

It just seems like those factors should have been considered prior to making the decision to colonize, rather than getting a year into things, and deciding the situation isn't conducive to starting a chapter.

Just to point out that it was not the school's decision to close the colony, it was ZTA nationals' decision. As long as you pay them whatever fees you owe, schools could care less about quota/total and all the other Panhellenic rules.

I just spoke with our Greek Advisor at ODU, who was at Kansas. According to her, the women who were in the colony will be released. They can join another organization at Kansas if they choose to OR they will initiated when they graduate from University of Kansas as alumnae.

I feel bad for all of these wonderful women who wanted to charter a new chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha. I can't comment on why IO decided to close the colony. I hear that it was because of not having a house on campus. Either way, I think it is very sad for the 96 women who were there and ready to become wonderful Zetas! :( My heart goes out to each and every one of them. I know they worked hard to make that colony a chapter.

I find this just to kind of ZTA:o

Here were 96 young women who beleived in ZTA enough to join even without a house and then have the proverbal rug pulled out from under them. Not given the time promised even under these circumstances is to me unthinkable.:(

Now, why would these women want to join another Organization when they pledged themselves to ZTA!:confused:

I am sorry, but to me, this places a black mark on a Fine Soroity.

I think someone already mentioned this...

1) Why to ZTA start a colony when they knew the housing issue?

2) Why would ZTA start a colony with a small group, knowing that even if the colony made quota every year, it would take four years to reach campus total? I do not remember the number that started the colony (seems like it was unusually low compared to campus total), but I it seems that they came a long way with almost 100 girls in a year!

According to the article in the Daily Kansan, the colony began with 160 pledges, which is not extraordinarily small for KU. It appears that ZTA made a real effort to begin with "competitive" numbers. The article -- there's a link to it in the first post in this thread -- states that the number of women in the colony declined to 85 over the course of the school year. So, even with the new pledges from fall recruitment, the colony was substantially smaller than when it began.

Here is ZTA's press release on the closing:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—August 27, 2003

Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity for women announced Tuesday (August 26) that it has closed its colony at the University of Kansas.
“We regret having to make this decision because we had hoped that we could establish and sustain a strong chapter at KU,” said ZTA National President Julia M. Hill. “Our colony members, advisors and local alumnae poured their hearts into the first formal recruitment efforts, but unfortunately, the results were not what we had hoped for.”
The Kansas Panhellenic Association selected Zeta Tau Alpha to become the 14th National Panhellenic Conference group on the Lawrence campus in the spring of 2001. The fraternity held a colonization recruitment effort in September 2002, pledging over 160 women. However, the colony struggled to maintain those membership numbers and returned this August with 85 members.
A team of Zeta Tau Alpha national officers and consultants had been in Lawrence throughout the 2002-2003 school year and since mid-August to assist the colony. After ZTA participated in formal recruitment this past week with disappointing results, it became clear to the fraternity’s National Council that the colony could not realistically obtain its installation goal of 160 members.
“We had told prospective members, our colony members and the administration from the start that if we could not be competitive on this campus, we would not continue,” said Mrs. Hill. “We had outstanding women in our colony and it breaks our hearts to let them go. However, it was apparent that the colony would continue to struggle and it would have been even more difficult to make this decision at a later date.”
Mrs. Hill and ZTA Executive Director Deb Ensor informed the colony members of the decision to close on Tuesday. Mrs. Hill and two Traveling Leadership Consultants remained on campus Wednesday to close the ZTA office and meet with former colony members.
“We thank these marvelous women for their commitment. They, along with our national officer team and Zetas across the country, had hoped for the best,” she said.
Zeta Tau Alpha expresses its gratitude to the Kansas Panhellenic Association, the Fraternity and Sorority Life Office staff, and the members and alumnae of the other NPC groups at KU for their support, and to the men of Phi Delta Theta and Delta Chi for the use of their facilities for colony recruitment events.
Zeta Tau Alpha, an international fraternity for women, was established in 1898 at the Virginia State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Va., and currently has 143 active collegiate chapters and 180,000 initiated members.

My thoughts go out to the women of Zeta Tau Alpha. I know how heartbreaking it is to have your Chapter close. My chapter closed this past Spring. Remember to keep you head up and don't forget to smile!

Love,
Sunny

I usually don't comment on these 'meaty' topics but here goes...

I can't speak firstand about KU but I can speak as a ZTA. I think this situation has many factors that lead to the decision by ZTA IO to close the colony. I don't think we know every detail and it's wrong to think that it was the chapter, college or IO that is at fault. It appears that it was a combination of all these three as well as some other factors we may not realize. In my biased opinion ZTA is a great organization, with a long standing history as well and it will continue to do great things as a fraternity and with it's philanthropic efforts as well. An incident like this just reminds us all that building a colony is a hard thing.

I read this the free for all section of the kansan where people can comment on whatever. At the bottom it says "Screw ZTA nationals. Girls, we still love you" I hear what they are saying but it's like don't hate the player hate the game. National is the one who has to make the decision so they are the ones getting the blame. Which I don't think is right. I think every national org could give reasons why their nat. office is great and reasons why they are not so great at time, but bottom line we need them.

Still, I consider these girls my sisters and wish them nothing but Zeta Love and Mine :)

I can't agree with anything that has been said about this topic more! Well said sister! :D

To clarify what I said earlier about being able to join another organization...I also agree Tom! I don't see any of these women joining another organization. If any do, it would more than likely be the women that joined during the most recent Formal Recruitment. Black marks against ZTA, who is at fault, who pulled out, etc...I cannot comment. Like I said earlier, it is a sad day Panhellenically for all.

My heart goes out to all the young women who pledged to build a chapter at University of Kansas. Not to mention the advisors, TLCs, and advisors. Hopefully one day, they can try again!

sadness for KU colony
 

As a Zeta, my heart is breaking for my sisters. I am so surprised that IO pulled their charter so soon. I am in a chapter that is 14 years old. It has taken us that long to get to be in close competition with the 6 other sororities on campus. IO never gave up on us. Our campus doesn't have adequate sorority housing for any of the groups! Why did they not give KU a chance? We may never know the reasons. I am saddened by IO's actions, but I still welcome those KU Zetas into the sisterhood that never breaks, ZTA!

Stacey

I always hate to hear about ANY chapter/colony closing, in ANY GLO. It just breaks my heart. :(

I will NEVER understand the concept of GLOs getting closed because of "low numbers". I know I come from a complete different type of GLO, but in SAI, it doesn't MATTER what size your chapter is! There are chapters ranging from like 7 members(mine last year, though we have 12 now) to 40+ members. And our nationals supports ALL of us, no matter WHAT the size.

I know my opinion doesn't count for much...but numbers aren't important. If the chapter is strong, than size should not matter.

A friend of mine who is a Pike told me that a sorority here will get shut down if they did not meet quota this year...don't know if that's true or not, but I wouldn't be surprised. Although that would be really sad...it's a strong chapter!

Arg. When will people learn that it's the QUALITY of the sisters, NOT THE QUANTITY, that matters? :(

*sigh*

However, I realize that different GLOs function in different ways. And I respect that. I wish those Zetas all the best, and hope they can someday become initiated sisters.

Having heard firsthand stories of colonies and recolonizations that started at a disadvantage...if you see things going downhill early on, it's absolutely, positively not worth it to stick around. Yes, 85 women have had a bad experience, and my heart goes out to them, but better 85 women now than 400 women 7 years from now, who are closing their chapter because they never were able to live up to their nationals' expectations and never had a sorority experience that wasn't full of pressure. All colonies have some "weeding out" but to lose almost half the members as this colony did is not typical.

Not only that...ZTA has many many other chapters to think of. Should they divert all their resources to try and get this chapter off the ground, or should they help the chapters that have been around for decades and need help just as much? I would say the latter.

As Jhawk alum said, at this school the house is a big part of it and you need to have one, period. All other sororities wanting to go to KU can look at this and consider it a lesson learned.