Zeta Tau Alpha at Tulane

[FSUZeta]

I think that our officers made the decision not to colonize prior to bids going out.

[DubaiSis]

Any chance that AOII might speed up their colony?

[nolagreek]

ADPi (not AOPi) is the next group scheduled to colonize between 2014 and 2016. When they colonize depends on their other commitments but I think spring 2014 would be the earliest. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[ebdelt]

I do find this situation very interesting. 150 members is not a bad start for any group. ADPi took somewhere in the 90s at Mississippi State and AOII took somewhere in the 70s at TCU, both of which are not really near total, and I'm sure there are multiple examples of other groups starting off not at total.

Obviously it's different strokes for different folks, and not all GLO's share the same philosophies when it comes to colonizations. It just feels like this was still a pretty big number to carry on with, but you just have to assume there is more to the story.

[libelle]

President Cowen explicitly discussed ending the Greek system at Tulane when he first joined the university. He wanted to make Tulane more like Rice. Many alums thought he would follow through. But he seems like he changed his mind, much as he did about ending the football program. Tulane is now building an on campus stadium.

I never thought my chapter (Phi Mu's Delta chapter) could return. However, I was one of the alumnae who wrote letters and campaigned when extension was discussed.

So the change is with the administration. BTW I served on several Tulane/Newcomb committees and the Newcomb Alumnae Assoc board till I had too many kids to fly down regularly. This is not hearsay.

[DubaiSis]

He might have gotten the memo about donations to the university and Greek members. And for as much as football/donations/university funding annoys me, even I can't deny that football increases exposure.

I hope this doesn't put a damper on ADII's plans. Any chance they could speed up their plans?

[adpiucf]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

I hope this doesn't put a damper on ADII's plans. Any chance they could speed up their plans?

I'm sure ZTA had very valid reasons and it was not a decision made lightly, but it really sucks for those PNMs. I doubt ADPi will speed up their plans. Expansion is such a big deal, and especially in light of these events, ADPi or any other colonizing sorority will want every "i" dotted and every "t" crossed before they come to Tulane.

[amIblue?]

Here's an article from the school paper

http://www.thehullabaloo.com/news/ar...tml?TNNoMobile

[ADPiEE]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

Here's an article from the school paper

http://www.thehullabaloo.com/news/ar...tml?TNNoMobile

Just an observation...
I don't know how accurate school papers are and I don't know how colonizations work but it says in the article, "Junior ___________, who accepted a ZTA bid on Wednesday, said that the ZTA national office will make a decision about whether to colonize at Tulane by the end of next week."

This tells me that at least the girls were AWARE that NOT colonizing was a possibility?

[FSUZeta]

"Monsen said she did not understand why potential new recruits have already been cut from ZTA in the last week.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Monsen said. “The decision was made by nine women on ZTA’s executive board.”"

^That is how it is done.^ I wonder who she thought would make the decision?

And it does appear that I was mistaken, and that some bids were distributed.

Average chapter size of 236 and 150 bids makes it difficult for the colony (chapter) to catch up with the established groups.

[AZTheta]

^^^ You might not be mistaken, b/c in my experience, newspapers frequently get things wrong. The bottom line is that, like Chi Omega at another campus (name escapes me), Zeta Tau Alpha assessed the situation and determined that it was best not to go forward at this time.

That is a sizeable gap in membership size (150 v. 230+). Better to stop now than to struggle, struggle, struggle and eventually fail. A successful colony must come on at full strength, IMO, and continue at a very high energy level/pace.

[amIblue?]

What I find almost incredible is the rapid growth rate in the last 3-4 years there. That's mind boggling. I almost wonder if they wouldn't have been more successful numbers wise if they had colonized in the fall. It may not have mattered, but it does seem as if the timing was challenging.

I giggled at the freshman's quote, too.

[nolagreek]

The 236 number quoted by the Hullabaloo was the size of the largest chapter - not total. Total was set at 220 this semester. However, that number includes seniors and will be smaller in the fall. I would be surprised if there were many seniors in the 150 committed to Zeta because they will be graduating in two months. Fall total will probably be somewhere around 170 - 180. The new colony would have been smaller but not by more than 50. Phi Mu colonized in the fall and it worked for them but required lots of support to colonize and then be ready for formal recruitment a few months later.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by nolagreek

The 236 number quoted by the Hullabaloo was the size of the largest chapter - not total. Total was set at 220 this semester. However, that number includes seniors and will be smaller in the fall. I would be surprised if there were many seniors in the 150 committed to Zeta because they will be graduating in two months. Fall total will probably be somewhere around 170 - 180. The new colony would have been smaller but not by more than 50. Phi Mu colonized in the fall and it worked for them but required lots of support to colonize and then be ready for formal recruitment a few months later.

That's what I was wondering. Most spring colonizations do not take graduating seniors, so ZTA wouldn't be losing an entire class like the other chapters would. If they retained even 140 of the colony they wouldn't have been that much smaller than the average chapter from the sound of it.

[AZTheta]

nolagreek, total is set after recruitment. It has nothing to do with departing seniors. You have no idea or way of knowing what total will be until recruitment is completed. For now, it's 220. And chapter size will dip in the fall, that is correct. But not total! The CPC has to vote to raise or lower total.

FSUZeta's points are all valid and stand on their own merits.

amIblue, FWIW, quota at AZ went from ~60 five years ago to 80-something this past fall (check irishpipes' thread) with most chapters taking quota plus. CRAZY.