Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. is now at Tufts University. The Delta Chi chapter of the organization has been established at Medford, Mass., in the Boston area.

The chapter has only five members right now, but the Zetas will seek new members for the upcoming fall semester. Zeta Phi Beta‘s Delta Chi chapter members include Jahnea Potts, Kimberly Pothemont, ReAnna Barclay, Alvalyn Dixon-Gardner and Saffiyah Coker. They all believe in the mission to improve the quality of life on the Tufts University campus.

“One of the beautiful things about starting a new chapter is we get to learn from the other chapters around us but also put in our ideas,” Coker, treasurer of the Tufts Zeta chapter, said in an interview with The Tufts Daily. “We have so many ideas about events we’ll have next semester and just exciting stuff we want to do to help the community grow.”

In 1920, five young women at Howard University founded Zeta. In the past few decades, it has grown to over 100,000 members in hundreds of chapters around the world. Besides scholarship opportunities, the organization stands on the principles of sisterhood, service and finer womanhood. Coker knew she wanted to join the sorority because of its rich history.

“The goal is to make Zeta a permanent structure — a permanent home on Tufts campus,” Coker told the Daily. 

Additionally, the chapter is marketing itself as a safe space for Tufts students. In terms of what caliber of girls they’re searching for to join Zeta, Coker says she wants to see “passion.”

“I would say we’re drawn to passionate people, people who care deeply about the things that we do,” Coker said. “We’re all chronically busy, not out of a desire to get the best GPA or do the most things, but because we care about so many different things.”

Furthermore, the development of a Zeta chapter at Tufts has been in the works for several years. According to Mary Kate Kelley, the adviser for fraternity and sorority life, the process is fairly complex.

“Our office started talking with the extension team of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. a couple of years ago,” Kelley wrote in an email to the Daily. “Last summer, I worked with volunteers from Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. to create a plan for them to establish a chapter at Tufts.”