Zeta Tau Alpha at Tulane
 

National Council of Zeta Tau Alpha has regretfully decided to discontinue our efforts to recolonize our Beta Kappa Chapter at Tulane University.

The Tulane women who expressed an interest in joining ZTA were outstanding; however, the number of women interested would not have provided our new members with the quality experience a colony should have. We had hoped to bring these impressive students a unique opportunity to recolonize a chapter, and we regret that we cannot do so at this time. We wish them all the best and hope they will find excellent ways to stay involved at Tulane.

National Council thanks the members of the Greater New Orleans Alumnae Chapter and collegians from Delta Kappa Chapter at Louisiana State University and Delta Nu Chapter at The University of New Orleans for their help at Tulane We are also grateful for our dedicated Traveling Leadership Consultants who worked so hard to find potential new members and for our Extension Team who conducted infoviews for five days.

We appreciate the efforts of the Tulane Panhellenic Council, the office of Fraternity and Sorority Programs and the Division of Student Affairs for their help and hospitality. Tulane is a very special place and Zeta Tau Alpha hopes to be able to restore our Beta Kappa Chapter in the future.

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It's a shame. All of us at Tulane were very excited for ZTA to come. I know that there was interest, but ultimately the numbers just were not high enough.

We are all disappointed that things did not work out at this time. Hopefully we will have another chance to recolonize at Tulane. Thank you for your kind words.

Zeta was only 30 women short of their 180 goal but perhaps felt they were not a good fit for Tulane. With 150 very upset PNMs, I don't think a recolonization chance is very likely anytime soon.

What a shame for the ladies who wanted to colonize, ZTA, and Tulane. It's got to be a disappointment.

Many factors, including numbers, contribute to the decision to colonize or not. I can promise you that the decision to not continue the colonization process was not made in haste. A lot of time, effort, and expense is dedicated to a colonization effort. In addition, no one wants to disappoint the prospective members. It is not a happy time for anyone.

I know this must have been a very difficult decision and I hope that there will be an eventual colonization at Tulane. My aunt and cousin (in-laws) are LSU ZTA alumnae so we are all rooting for them.

Way, way, WAY better to do this than to have the colony never be 100% where they need to be for national AND campus success, and charter just for the sake of chartering. ZTA is to be commended for having the guts to make this decision.

Absolutely. Those 150 women are much better off having this tiny heart break rather than struggling for years and failing to be successful in the end. ZTA knows what it takes to start a successful new chapter. Those 150 women can go through recruitment and join the existing chapters. Starting a colony of this size is a hugely expensive endeavor and the prospect of not having a successful colonization is problematic on many fronts. The heartache for the PNMs is a very small consideration, IMHO. I'm sure ZTA considered them quite a bit in their decision, but in the end, the organization is the risk taker here. I think we are hitting the tipping point of our expansion boom.

Tiny heartbreak? It kinda feels like a giant hole blown into the chest, after Zeta spent 10 days getting hopes and dreams up and telling the girls to identify as Zetas. The girls were encouraged to spend that time growing close and building bonds, which are now tainted with bad memories. The 150 are not better off with nothing when they could have had a cause to fight for. They would rather fight than be abandoned the way that they were.
"Those 150 women can go through recruitment and join the existing chapters"? NO, THEY CAN'T. Many freshmen girls decided not to do formal recruitment so that they could do Zeta, and most of the 150 are sophomores and juniors who cannot rush again. Recruitment isn't an option for most.
"The heartache for the PNMs is a very small consideration." Actually, true. The decision not to colonize was made by a group of women who had never even met the PNMs, who knew nothing of what they were capable of. They never asked the PNMs how they felt about it all; they never asked for an opinion or sought out how strong they were as a group. They never listened to them, and never even gave them a chance.
ZTA wasn't being a risk taker- it was playing it safe as a business that thought that it could come onto Tulane's campus and start out as a top-tier sorority. ZTA's quota of 180 was set to reflect current chapter sizes at Tulane, which have grown by about 50-60 girls in the last two years. If ZTA had come two years ago, they would have had no problem with 150. Ask anyone on campus, and 180 girls was an unrealistic number to expect for any colonizing sorority, especially right after formal recruitment. Tulane is pretty miffed at Zeta for pulling out without observing how strong and dedicated the PNMs that it had gathered were.
ZTA also failed to listen to anything that Tulane told them- ZTA thought that it would receive a reception at Tulane akin to Vanderbilt, not realizing that Tulane and other large southern schools are nothing alike. Tulane TOLD Zeta that 150 was IDEAL from the start, as Tulane is trying to get the existing chapter sizes to come down and predicted 150 to be the number Zeta would get all along. 150 would have been more than enough to start a chapter; ZTA just didn't want to give the chapter time to build up.
Zeta was selective enough (rejecting about 100 girls who rushed) that it wouldn't have started out as another Phi Mu, which had almost half of the number of girls that Zeta did when it colonized three years ago. While it's understandable for Zeta to want to be the best, it was unreasonable and unrealistic for them to expect to start off as the best. Zeta didn't take a risk; it gave up.

So are you a woman who was offered a bid and is now dissapoonted, someone who didn't get a bid to start with, or another sorority member trying to cast shade on ZTA?

Either way, you weren't privy to the decision making process and shouldn't pretend to have the insider scoop. ZTA will move on, Tulane will move on, you should too.

You are purposely choosing to misread my post. I said tiny heartbreak COMPARED to struggling for years and failing to be successful in the end. I'm not going to get into a fight with you in the ZTA forum. ZTA has said all that needs to be said in this matter. They put a lot of thought into this decision. No group goes into a colonization looking to pull out.

I'm not pretending to know anything- I didn't say anything that Tulane and Zeta didn't tell the students themselves, or that was not conversed in many emails and discussions with both Tulane and ZTA. I was seeking to clarify the misconceptions that are being made here, as well as express my sadness that Zeta chose not to colonize on campus - the majority of those involved in Greek life at Tulane were very excited about Zeta coming, and were willing to do anything in their power to make it successful. I cast no "shade" on Zeta other than point out that their goals were unrealistic for the situation and that it was a very unfair outcome for the girls involved. I did not wish to sit by and read as all those hard-working girls were being called potential failures, when they would have been very likely to have succeeded.

I think it's really sad for everyone.

So what happens now? Did other sororities make presentations? Does Tulane offer a spot to one of them instead?

ADPi is the next in line for stacked expansion.

As a 100 year old organization, ZTA has earned the right to set their own goals without your help.