Zeta is making a bit of a comeback on campus, but not in the way many students may have expected. Zeta Tau Alpha has not resurfaced much this semester. Zeta Chi Alpha, however, is very prevalent on campus.Zeta Chi Alpha is operating as off-campus sorority. This is not the only off-campus Greek organization; the Delta Tau Chi fraternity is very prevalent as well. These off-campus organizations operate in a similar manner to the on-campus organizations. They hold recruitment, take pledges, have big/little relationships, wear letters,and follow a lot of the traditional Greek protocols. The biggest difference: these organizations are not recognized by the University.
Director of Student Union and Activities Susan Sullivan said there is only so much her department can do. "Longwood does not have anything in their student handbook that says our students cannot associate with these student organizations," said Sullivan.
Sullivan hopes to see that change soon. "Longwood doesn't support the off-campus organization for a wide variety of reasons. Longwood has 20 national organizations on this campus. They are values-based organizations; they have risk management programs. They have insurance which is the big thing," said Sullivan. "We would like to have something like that in the handbook so for students who are part of these organizations can be taken to Judicial Board," said Sullivan.
Chairman of the Judicial Board Jordan Miles and Student Government Association (SGA) President Cameron Patterson are part of a newly created task force that will focus on this issue. "We have met once and there are a lot of different opinions in the room as to how to handle the situation and if the situation needs to be handled but I think it is important to note that this is the first time that we brought student leaders from various contingencies together to discuss this matter.
The goal of the task force is to just open up student discussion, and to bring students together and to talk about it. "I think that would be one of the recommendations that the task force would consider and I think that we will probably consider what could we do from a handbook perspective to kind of monitor off campus activities for students," said Patterson.
"There is a task force with some Greeks and non-Greeks. It's totally student-run. They are going to make some recommendations to administration on some things that they as students that they think they can do to combat behavior or get rid of the groups," said Sullivan.
This task force was solely put together to discuss off-campus and unrecognized groups, and once that discussion concludes the task force will conclude as well," said Patterson. "For me, I think this is a problem that warrants discussion from students and that's the thing I want to see most, the discussion amongst students take place, and as we proceed with these discussion then for me I will get a better understand in my mind as to whether we ask a task force should make any recommendations to the Office of Honor and Judicial Affairs or the Office of Student Involvement," added Patterson.
One of the biggest issues with these off-campus organizations is safety. "There is a big safety aspect when dealing with off campus group. These are group not closely monitored by the university, so all of our fraternities and sororities that follow under the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life are monitored by the university. When they make mistakes and when things happen the Greek office and the university has a responsibility for the organization. And that's not the case when groups are off-campus," explained Sullivan.
"These organizations off-campus don't have any of this protection whatsoever. They are not a values-based organization. They are probably conducting activities that maybe they shouldn't be conducting and they have no protection," said Sullivan.
"There are some students who have had concerns with off-campus and unrecognized groups and for those students who have had those concerns, it's just time for us to come together and I think the task force has started that process and hopefully we will continue with it," said Patterson.
There is some concern about how these off campus Greek organizations reflect on Longwood-recognized Greek life. "Personally, as a Greek student, the organizations reflect negatively on Greek life. For me, as a Greek student, I would like to see Longwood students making a choice to join those groups recognized by campus," said Patterson. Sullivan said these off-campus groups do some harm to Greek letter organizations. Longwood has a variety of social, academic and honorary Greek organizations, and she worries that students who have trouble deciphering the different organizations might confuse them and see Greek life, as a whole, in a bad light. "Some people can't tell the difference between AXP, Kappa Delta, and Sigma Alpha Iota. They just see Greek letters and it all gets lumped into one Greek thing."
"When you see the letters of Zeta Chi Alphas and Deltas, people see that collectively and just say oh those Greeks again. If it's something the Deltas are doing people don't distinguish that they are not recognized by Longwood and it doesn't do our Greek system justice at all. It doesn't help us at all," added Sullivan.
Sullivan said a lot of people want to join a sorority or fraternity for all aspects: for the social, academic and the philanthropy, and Longwood's campus can give their organizations that. She does not feel those opportunities are being given by the off-campus groups. "I believe in my heart of hearts their experience in Greek life would be better if they were to make that decision [joining an on campus group]," said Patterson.
Sullivan said that her office gives a sheet to incoming freshman and parents, explaining which Greek organizations are on-campus and which are off-campus and what that means. They also had on-campus Greek organizations sign a statement saying they will not socialize with these off-campus organizations. "Students have the right to assemble; it's their right at citizens of the United States. It's when they assemble and they are doing things in violation of university code or in violation of federal or local state law, that's a problem," said Sullivan.
Both Sullivan and Patterson stressed that it is not about the individual, because the students that comprise these groups are very involved, great students in the classroom and involved outside of the classroom. Patterson said they are trying to have a discussion about what happens when they come together as a whole.
Sullivan feels there are a lot of places on campus for students to turn to. She said Longwood has 150-plus student organizations and 20-plus Greek organizations. "We truly think one of these groups will meet students' needs and we encourage them to look and seek out those and not the three off-campus organizations," said Sullivan.
Photo was taken from a confirmed former ZTA member's Facebook photo album.
