On
the Southwestern campus in 1903, there were already established men fraternities,
but no such organizations for women. A group of girls with similar intentions
as the nine founders of Zeta Tau Alpha, wanted to add to their friendship
the stronger bonds of a fraternity. In spite of the unwritten rule against
women’s “fraternities”, the girls formed a group and
called it a sorority. They gave their club a name, Beta Psi, even though
they had no knowledge of sororities or Greek life. They chose the name
based on the way the words sounded together, and the foreign look of
the Greek letter Psi (ψ). By the second year, the group was well
established and had developed a real fraternity spirit. In February
of 1906, Beta Psi was inspected by May Bolinger (Orgain), and on May
31, 1906, shortly after the installation of Kappa Chapter in Austin,
she installed the Lambda Chapter of ZTA. Today, the Lambda Chapter
is proud to represent over 100 years of extraordinary women bound together
by the ideals of Zeta Tau Alpha.
National
History
In
Farmville Virginia, at the State Female Normal School, nine remarkable
women formed a friendship that knew no boundaries. These girls, only 14-16
years of age, wanted to form a bond that would continue beyond college.
The formation of two female Greek organizations at their school inspired
the nine friends, Maude Jones (Horner), Alice Bland Coleman, Ethel Coleman
(Van Name), Ruby Leigh (Orgain), Frances Yancey Smith, Della Lewis (Hundley),
Helen M. Crafford, Alice Grey Welsh, and Mary Jones (Batte), to form an
official organization of their own. For over a year, the girls met informally
by candlelight in the bathroom to assure secrecy for their discussions
and organizations until they were ready to declare themselves an official
organization.
However, upon their declaration, they still did not have a name. “???” was used as a temporary name. This name came about when a member of another group met with the Founders. Raising her eyebrows and forming her fingers in the shape of a question mark, she asked, "Who are you?" In unison, the group replied "Yes, Who? Who? Who?” which is where the three question marks came from. While still using the name of the three question marks, the nine founders took three pledges, Odelle Warren (Bonham), Ellen Baxter Armstrong, and Grace Elcan (Garnett).
Maude’s brother, Plummer Jones, and Frances’s brother, Giles Mebane Smith, were both members of Greek men’s organizations and were familiar with Greek lore and agreed to help develop the status of the group. Giles (Phi Theta Psi and Phi Beta Kappa) gave Zeta Tau Alpha its name, motto, and suggested the badge. Plummer (Kappa Alpha and Phi Beta Kappa ) wrote the first official Constitution & Bylaws of Zeta Tau Alpha, the Pledge Ceremony, and the Ritual. Upon great consideration, the nine founders chose the name, motto, badge, constitution, and decided on the patron goddess, Themis.
Zeta Tau Alpha is known as a fraternity, not as a sorority. The Founders intended Zeta Tau Alpha be designated a "fraternity" to distinguish the organization from the sisterhoods organized in connection with men's fraternities, called "sororities". Zeta Tau Alpha has no "brother" fraternity. Maude Jones Horner wrote, “It is the object of this fraternity to cultivate a higher ideal of womanhood and to encourage all those womanly traits existent in our kind, to give a firmer foundation to those friendships founded on college companionship, to promote sympathy in both sorrows and pleasures, to furnish aid and sisterly advice in our school life."
Zeta
Tau Alpha, Lambda Chapter
© 2008
