I've been a Zet all the time i've been at Pitt - since I was a freshman, and I'm a senior now. It's difficult for me to imagine what it would be like to have gone to school here without the Zets.
I'm a naturally social person, and since basically none of my high school group of friends came to Pitt (my brother and my best childhood friend were both at the University, but no one else) I needed to develop a new group of friends when I came here. The Zets provided me with what I needed, namely a group in which social interaction with people you hardly know is accepted and expected. Very quickly in my freshman year I developed many new friendships through the Zets, most of which are still strong now, and I've gained many more as new people have joined over the years.
Of course, you could ask: Why not just pledge a fraternity, if you wanted social interaction?
In spite of (or, perhaps, complementing) my social nature, I'm an individualist. I pride myself on my uniqueness, and I admire that quality in others. There is something about fraternities that has always repelled me. Something seems to oppose individualism. Part of this is the attitude that so many frat members seem to have (even if they don't admit it): the attitude that the group makes the members cool. In the Zets, the members make the group cool. In the Zets it is the variety and individuality of the members that make the group so interesting, and so much fun.
Each new Zet brings in a new and different way of thinking, talking, writing, acting, looking and being that makes the group better... and different. And hopefully, each Zet gets out of it a new, interesting and stimulating group of friends.
1 February 1990