Zeta Tau Alpha at Tulane

[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.

[HonestTheia]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

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

As an almost 200-year-old school, Tulane knows how its own Greek system works and therefore Zeta should have listened and not have been surprised when the turnout was exactly how the school said it would be. Please stop being so condescending toward me.

[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.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by HonestTheia

As an almost 200-year-old school, Tulane knows how its own Greek system works and therefore Zeta should have listened and not have been surprised when the turnout was exactly how the school said it would be. Please stop being so condescending toward me.

Look, you are a disappointed PNM. We get it. You need to step away from the computer. You as a student are not privy to the inner workings of a national sorority. There is much more to it than whether or not there were 150 strong women available. You don't know what was budgeted and what was needed from the sorority stand point. Tulane's point of view is only part of the story (how many failed chapters has Tulane had in it's 200 year history?), and obviously not the most important part in the end. Getting on Greek Chat and slamming ZTA for being unrealistic, wanting to be the "best" right out of the gate, etc is not fair and sounds like sour grapes. This is a terrible situation, but you are attributing a lot of your own skewed views onto ZTA when you have no knowledge as to their side of the story. I will stipulate that the women that ZTA chose were outstanding...there just weren't enough in ZTA's view to continue. Now there is no reason for you to stay here and talk about ZTA. No one is calling the PNMs failures. Stop.

[HonestTheia]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Look, you are a disappointed PNM. We get it. You need to step away from the computer. You as a student are not privy to the inner workings of a national sorority. There is much more to it than whether or not there were 150 strong women available. You don't know what was budgeted and what was needed from the sorority stand point. Tulane's point of view is only part of the story, and obviously not the most important part in the end. Getting on Greek Chat and slamming ZTA for being unrealistic, wanting to be the "best" right out of the gate, etc is not fair and sounds like sour grapes. This is a terrible situation, but you are attributing a lot of your own skewed views onto ZTA when you have no knowledge as to their side of the story. I will stipulate that the women that ZTA chose were outstanding...there just weren't enough in ZTA's view to continue. Now there is no reason for you to stay here and talk about ZTA. No one is calling the PNMs failures. Stop.

Thank you for attempting to discredit and undermine my every word and point as sourness. Calling ZTA's expectations unreasonable isn't "slamming" ZTA. Saying that Zeta left behind a great many disappointed girls isn't "slamming" ZTA, nor is it "slamming" ZTA when they themselves can be quoted as saying that they wanted to come in as the best. I have nothing against ZTA itself; I just think that they approached Tulane University in the wrong way and realized it too late. You're right in that this argument (that you at one point said you would not continue) is pointless, for as I don't have all of ZTA's story, you have none of the story.
Also, you're wrong- I wasn't a Zeta PNM, my roommate was, and it was pretty heartbreaking to watch her throw away all her ZETA pins, buttons, and beads, especially after watching her fall so in love with them. After she had watched me craft everything for my little this semester, she was pretty thrilled at the prospect of having her own little someday. But thank you for trying to lecture and kick a young girl whom you perceived to be a heart-broken PNM when she was presumably down.
And while it does little to change a business-oriented organization's mind on colonization, I would say that the girls involved are the most important part of a sorority.

[AOII Angel]

You are obviously going to read maliciousness into my posts where there is none. I do have the story.

"

Originally Posted by faithful.sister

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."

Part of healing is letting go of bitterness. If you weren't one of the PNMs, then you really have no business coming on GC pushing this any further. Go comfort your roommate. This attempt to explain things on the Internet does no one any good.

[HonestTheia]

"

Originally Posted by faithful.sister

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."

Part of healing is letting go of bitterness. If you weren't one of the PNMs, then you really have no business coming on GC pushing this any further. Go comfort your roommate. This attempt to explain things on the Internet does no one any good.

That is a limited version of the story that says nothing more than "there weren't enough members, so we didn't colonize." And you seem to have missed the places where I answered the question on the current options for the PNMs, and when ADPi would colonize if they choose to do so. I've offered far more information on the subject that you have. I stated my reason for coming here earlier - these girls would not have been failures, and people were implying that they would have been. While ZTA might have had hidden reasons for not colonizing, I resent people saying that it was "good" that ZTA didn't colonize. And, as you are no more a part of Zeta than I am (and since this subject really relates to you in no way, shape, or form at all), you really have even less business here than me. I offered information; you offered condescending criticism of my mentality in an attempt to render my points as bearing no weight. Good night.

[nolagreek]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

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.

All of the existing chapters are at total or very close to total. Existing groups may be able to offer a few COB but the system cannot absorb 150 new members. The sorority houses are converted residential houses near campus not large live-in houses. Several groups cannot hold meetings in their houses. Recruitment is also impacted because the size of parties is limited by the physical constraints of the houses.

[AZTheta]

HonestTheia, your statement that "the girls involved are the most important part of a sorority" (and your other posts as well) illustrates your myopic view of the situation. No one implied that the "girls" would have been failures. Those were your words. There was no condescension or patronizing in anyone's posts in this thread. You missed the significant regret and loss being expressed.

No NPC sorority lightly reaches the decision to not proceed with an expansion effort, or to close a chapter. Expansion is more than a matter of warm bodies to reach a number. It is complex, and a significant undertaking on all levels. A new chapter needs a strong foundation. That is the bottom line here, and something that you are not grasping. We respect our Zeta Tau Alpha Panhellenic sisters; we have all been in that situation. You have not.

nolagreek, yes the system CAN absorb 150 new members. Many chapters at AZ (where total is 220 and many chapters are ABOVE that) hold chapter meetings in on-campus facilities. Recruitment has been restructured to accomodate the 1200+ PNMs each August. Total has been raised repeatedly in the past several years. Think outside the box!

I agree with AOII Angel's comment that we may well be reaching the tipping point of sorority expansion.

[nolagreek]

Total at Tulane is also 220 with about half of the houses over that. The University of Arizona is a large state school whose enrollment is two to three times that of Tulane. The houses are also much larger at Arizona and were built to be Greek houses. I don't think you can compare the two situations. With only seven groups, Tulane does need to expand its Greek system. It is unfortunate that Zeta could not be part of that expansion.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by nolagreek

nolagreek, yes the system CAN absorb 150 new members. Many chapters at AZ (where total is 220 and many chapters are ABOVE that) hold chapter meetings in on-campus facilities. Recruitment has been restructured to accomodate the 1200+ PNMs each August. Total has been raised repeatedly in the past several years. Think outside the box!

Total at Tulane is also 220 with about half of the houses over that. The University of Arizona is a large state school whose enrollment is two to three times that of Tulane. The houses are also much larger at Arizona and were built to be Greek houses. I don't think you can compare the two situations. With only seven groups, Tulane does need to expand its Greek system. It is unfortunate that Zeta could not be part of that expansion.

I think we all will agree on this.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by nolagreek

Total at Tulane is also 220 with about half of the houses over that. The University of Arizona is a large state school whose enrollment is two to three times that of Tulane. The houses are also much larger at Arizona and were built to be Greek houses. I don't think you can compare the two situations. With only seven groups, Tulane does need to expand its Greek system. It is unfortunate that Zeta could not be part of that expansion.

I think AZTheta's point is that the sororities at Tulane could absorb the 150 if they wanted to get creative and think outside of how things are currently done. While the individual chapters may not individually have facilities to accommodate larger groups, the university surely does.

If the existing groups don't wish to do so, which I think is the case since they voted to expand, that's not the same thing as can't do so.

[nolagreek]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

I think AZTheta's point is that the sororities at Tulane could absorb the 150 if they wanted to get creative and think outside of how things are currently done. While the individual chapters may not individually have facilities to accommodate larger groups, the university surely does.

If the existing groups don't wish to do so, which I think is the case since they voted to expand, that's not the same thing as can't do so.

The problem is that total is recalculated each semester and keeps getting larger. A more likely sceanario is that the university is going to impose a limit on quota or total. The adminstration is alarmed at the size of the groups and that they are all larger than the fire marshall limits for thier houses. Some groups are already using university facilities for their meetings because of this.

[ADPiEE]

I'm not privy to any inside knowledge anywhere but didn't I read on GC about something similar happening in Chicago last fall? And the potential colony went out and found more PNMs and ended up colonizing? Is this a possibility in this situation?