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From: http://www.kansan.com/stories.asp?id=200209230007

New sorority joins KU
170 women join new chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha
By Todd Rapp
Kansan staff writer

Zeta Tau Alpha is on its way to becoming the 14th sorority at the University of Kansas.

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The sorority ended formal recruitment with bid day Friday night and became the Kansas colony of Zeta Tau Alpha. The colony, along with 170 new members, will become the Kappa Sigma Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha.

The sorority selected new members from more than 400 prospective members. Terri Millsap, national extension director for ZTA, said academics were the deciding factors for getting into the sorority. Having a lower grade point average meant less chance of being accepted.

One of the chapter´s goals was to get active in the existing fraternity and sorority system at KU as quickly as possible, said Millsap. Established sorority members wore ZTA pins and helped spread the word about the newest sorority. Delta Chi sorority allowed ZTA to use its chapter house for some informational meetings during recruitment.

“They were tremendous, very supportive,” Millsap said.

The idea of being a charter member motivated many women to apply, Millsap said.

“Our one big slogan was `Opportunity of a Lifetime.´ It was something very appealing to a lot of women, to make this chapter what they wanted it to be,” Millsap said.

Trend setting and development were reasons Abbey Rossow, Olathe freshman, was interested in joining ZTA.

“I´m starting something new, creating what the sorority is about,” she said.

Rossow said one of the things she was looking forward to was learning from what the other women had to offer.

Friendship, community involvement and being a founding member was attractive to Cassie Sandidge, Olathe junior.

“There was a girl in one of my classes and we would have never met if not for both of us being part of ZTA,” Sandidge said. “We have spent a lot of time together since we met. I have some other friends in the chapter and we all hung out Friday night. We couldn´t talk about anything other than Zeta.”

The next step for the sorority´s charter is initiation, which is scheduled for January, Millsap said. The women began the new member education program yesterday with ZTA´s formal pledging, in which the women committed to becoming a member of the sorority. The program will run for the duration of the semester. ZTA traveling consultants and local alumni are coordinating the education program.

The sorority also has an agreement with the University to rent or build a house within the next five years and the ZTA National Housing corporation is currently working on a location.

The sorority´s first chapter meeting will take place tonight. The sorority is paired up with Kappa Sigma fraternity for this spring´s Rock Chalk Revue. ZTA also has a Panhellenic adviser and a traveling consultant representing it at weekly Panhellenic Association meetings until the colony elects officers.

This story was edited by Lauren Beatty.