Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. is back on California University of Pennsylvania’s campus, and they are coming back in a big way. After years of the Zeta Epsilon chapter being inactive, Diamoni Jones, a fall 2015 initiate, has started it once again.

With constant posts on the sorority’s Facebook and Instagram, flyers posted around campus, and tables set up in the Natali Student Center, the sorority already has a lot planned for this semester. A carnation sale, a self-defense seminar, a party hosted in the performance center, and informational sessions are on the list.
The Zeta Epsilon chapter went inactive after their last sister graduated in 2010. Jones contacted the California Area Graduate Chapter about becoming a Zeta Phi Beta, and that is where the process began.

“In most sororities, you just get sisters.” Jones said.  “Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. is the first and only historically black sorority to be constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. So not only do you get sisters, but you also get brothers.”

While two of Jones’s cousins are members of the sorority, they did not influence her decision to join Zeta Phi Beta.

   “I came to college knowing I wanted to be in a Greek organization. It bottled down to research–trying to figure out which one is best for me,” Jones said.

   “It took a lot of time and paperwork to be able to reactivate the chapter. Once that was done, we had to get a graduate chapter to actually oversee the undergraduate chapter, and they had to be reinstated as well,” Jones said. “Once they were good, they could start working on the undergraduate chapter.”

   The two co-advisors for the graduate chapter are Ronniqua Willie and Marquita Brown. Willie is a Cal U alumna.

   “Our principles are Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood, and Finer Womanhood. When we met Diamoni she had a high scholarly average and was president of Cal U’s Women United. That was important to us,” Brown said.

   While Jones is currently the only member of the Zeta Epsilon chapter, informational sessions are being held this semester in hopes of getting new members. While Jones has been tabling in the Natali Student Center, a lot of girls have came to her and started to ask questions about the sorority, she said.

   “It feels great that it [Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.] is back on campus and ready to do the great things that it was once was known for,” Brown said.

    The sorority has a 2.5 grade point average requirement, and serves national programs like Adopt-A-School, Get Engaged, and Zetas Helping Other People Excel (Z-HOPE). It is through programs like these that the Zeta Epsilon chapter works closely with chapters at other schools like University of Pittsburgh, Slippery Rock University, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“It means a new beginning, a new opportunity for girls, and something that can be really impactful. I wanted to leave something at Cal U, and that is what I am doing,” Jones said. Jones will graduate in May.