On Thursday night, the Panhellenic Council’s extension committee voted to select Zeta Tau Alpha as the next sorority to join Penn’s Greek system. The sorority will colonize on campus this coming spring.
Alpha Delta Pi came in second out of the five candidates, meaning it is “stacked” to colonize at Penn the next time Panhel is open for extension. As committee members look forward to the colonization process, many hope ZTA will attract a new type of Penn woman to the Greek community.
According to committee members, it was ZTA’s outstanding programming and strong philanthropic initiative that won over votes. College senior and Panhel President Darby Nelson said it was a tough choice between the two top candidates, since both have strong programming and philanthropy.
Melissa Rutman, College senior and extension committee chairwoman, recounted the dilemma in an e-mail. “Because each group was strong, it was a challenge to rank them,” she wrote. “Several times throughout the conversation, we reminded ourselves that all five groups were really stellar so there was no way we could make a wrong decision.”
Rutman also noted she was pleased with how the committee members worked to reconcile their own opinions with the concerns of the chapters they represented. “The members of the extension committee did a phenomenal job in aggregating responses from their sisters and bringing those opinions to the discussion,” she wrote.
According to Nelson, ZTA’s commitment to Race for the Cure was a large factor in its selection.
A primary issue under discussion surrounded which prospective group could ultimately contribute something new to Penn’s Greek community, according to some committee members.
“ZTA presented their accomplishments in a way that impressed us,” Rutman said.
Nelson said there are many women at Penn who are deeply involved in philanthropic initiatives but not with the Greek system, adding that ZTA may attract that demographic while forcing other sororities on campus to “step up their game.”
Not all on the extension committee were drawn to the same candidate, however. Wharton junior and Interfraternity Council Judicial Inquiry Board Chairman Harris Heyer, who sat on the committee, had a different outlook on the dialogue.
While Heyer, a former Daily Pennsylvanian advertising representative, conceded that ZTA was a good pick in terms of philanthropy and programming, he maintained that Delta Gamma was also a compelling choice for its national resources and reputation.
“DG was competitive on all other levels,” he said, including “brand name allure.”
“I tried to steer conversation toward candidates that would appeal to Penn girls who were recruited by other houses and for whom Phi Sigma Sigma, for whatever reason, was not a good option,” he said, referring to the sorority that closed at the end of last academic year, in part due to low recruitment numbers.
Ultimately, Heyer said, he thinks the extension committee took a good path in its selection, though it wasn’t the one he “initially envisioned.” He added that the criteria he employed to evaluate the groups was “simply different.”
