Zeta Tau Alpha at Tulane

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by HonestTheia

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.

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.

[Old_Row]

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?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Old_Row

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.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

ADPi is the next in line for stacked expansion.

When is ADPi scheduled? Wonder if this will effect their plans to colonize?

[HonestTheia]

Originally Posted by thetalady

When is ADPi scheduled? Wonder if this will effect their plans to colonize?

The earliest they can come is next spring. Tulane contacted them on Friday, and has not released ADPi's decision on when to colonize, yet.

[HonestTheia]

Originally Posted by Old_Row

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?

Formal rush was over by the time ZTA started trying to recolonize, so there really aren't any options for any of them at the moment. Several houses offer COB, but I think that the only house with any space available is Theta (and no one really wants to pay ~$1200 in dues for a semester that only has a month and a half left). For freshmen, there is the option of COB-ing in the fall or trying formal rush next spring, but sophomores are much less likely to be given bids than freshmen. Another sorority might try to colonize as early as next spring, but the juniors who rushed ZTA probably wouldn't find as much benefit in being in a chapter for half of a semester at the end of senior year. The current freshmen and sophomores would be able to take advantage of that, though. But, everyone would have to repeat the colonization-rush process, which many of the disenchanted zta-invited girls might be unwilling to do (and even then, there's no guarantee of a bid).
No one wins.