ZETA TAU ALPHA
For immediate release
Source: Shawn Eagleburger, sge@k-state.edu
ZETA TAU ALPHA SORORITY RETURNS TO K-STATE
MANHATTAN — Kansas State University's Panhellenic sorority community voted on May 4, 2009 to support the recommendation of their Extension Committee to invite Zeta Tau Alpha to recolonize in the fall 2010 semester.
"Everyone looks good in purple,” Deb Ensor, Executive Director of Zeta Tau Alpha said opening a presentation before K-Staters interested in learning more about the international sorority. “We want to share with you why Zeta Tau Alpha is the most relevant choice K-State can make for a new group on campus.”
After a lengthy Extension process, the process in which the Panhellenic sororities decide which new sorority would be the best fit for the current community, Meghan Butler, K-State Panhellenic Council president and a senior in finance from Overland Park, was able to call for a special meeting of the Panhellenic Council to make official the recommendation of the Extension Committee.
“I was certain going into the Panhellenic Council meeting those voting would support the recommendation to ask Zeta Tau Alpha to return to our campus,” Butler said. “Not surprising, the vote was unanimous. All 11 National Panhellenic Conference sororities currently on campus knew Zeta Tau Alpha had what it took to be successful at K-State. As Ms. Ensor said, Zeta Tau Alpha was the most relevant.”
A resolution drafted by the Panhellenic Extension committee shares how Zeta Tau Alpha met the desired qualifications of a new sorority. This resolution, two pages in length, highlighted the commitments and programs of the international sorority.
“I believe several aspects of Zeta Tau Alpha caught the ears of those on the Extension committee,” said Shawn Eagleburger, assistant director of Greek affairs at K-State. “Most notably, the Extension Committee was impressed with the international sorority’s ability to provide housing in an expedited manner, illustrate a commitment of many local alumnae, the sorority’s award-winning and nationally recognized educational programs, the sorority’s commitment to many philanthropic efforts, as well as the opportunity presented by Zeta Tau Alpha to reestablish a lost K-State sorority chapter.”
Zeta Tau Alpha was present on the K-State campus from 1931 to 1941. Reopening the chapter has many excited, including Muriel Fulton Alexander, a 96 year old initiate of the K-State Zeta Tau Alpha chapter and K-State alumna, who shared via a video message the reopening of the Zeta Tau Alpha chapter at K-State “just gave her goose bumps.”
“Zeta Tau Alpha [at K-State] has offered me more than I would have believed. [Zeta Tau Alpha] gave me sisters I have never had,” Alexander said.
The K-State Panhellenic sorority community is happy Alexander and her Zeta Tau Alpha sisters will once again be able to wear purple. Representatives of Zeta Tau Alpha will begin their work on the campus in the coming fall semester, and plan to offer their first membership invitations to K-State students in the fall of 2010.
More information about K-State's Greek community is available at:
http://www.k-state.edu/greek or by contacting the office of Greek affairs at 785-532-5516.
More information about Zeta Tau Alpha is available at:
http://www.zetataualpha.org or by contacting the Zeta Tau Alpha International Office at 317-876-3948.