Zeta currently has 54 members, which makes it roughly the same size as the campus' other Greek organizations. It's in the process of seeking formal recognition as a student organization; it is not part of Trinity's Inter-Greek Council, nor does it have a national "mother" organization. Being on financial aid is common among the sisters. Members who can't afford the $75 annual dues can work out a payment plan or use the "Support a Sister" program, whereby other sisters chip in. Zeta's "rush," such as it is, is more Outward Bound bonding than dessert socials and Bid Night; they haven't turned down a prospective member yet. "We've got captains of sports teams, people who sit on the bench for sports teams, cheerleaders, feminists who stand out and protest," says Mo Masterson. "And men! That's pretty special!" Indeed, three Zeta members are men, though two are on "inactive" status this year because of other commitments. As the group frowns on exclusivity in all forms, male Zetas are referred to as "sisters."

Why be a "sister" instead of a "brother"? "For us, in a way, Zeta is just an extension of a group of friends," says Lucas Dunlap, 21, a senior from outside Portland, Maine, who sought out the group as a social home base after returning from a year in London. "We do consider ourselves feminists," he says of the male Zetas. While reluctant at first to generalize about Trinity's predominant culture, Dunlap does admit, "This can be a hard place to be if you're, like, an 'alternative' person and you don't fit into other people's expectations. And there are very few groups like this that try and bring alternative worlds together."

While some mainstream sororities do make philanthropic efforts, good -- or at least consciousness-raising -- deeds are Zeta's hallmark. Since its inception, the group has participated in AIDS walks, "adopted" a Hartford nursing home, hosted a campus discussion inspired by Harvard president Lawrence Summers' indelicate remarks about women in science, helped organize a production of "The Vagina Monologues" and, most recently, gathered clothing, school supplies and supportive notes for a teen in crisis in a sister's hometown.

Not lacking a sense of irony, Zeta -- many of whose members do have friends in other Greek organizations -- has also held a "mixer" with Alpha Chi Ro, which is basically considered the social arm of the football team.

"The general impression is that Zeta is a nerdy girl organization," says current Alpha Chi Ro president Ben Leong, a 21-year-old senior. He's describing their reputation as opposed to his own opinion; he'd been friendly with many Zeta members. "They'd been coming to our frat to party for a while" before the group formed. "In the initial discussions about having a party with them, people in that cocky Trinity way were worried about how people would perceive us for having a party with the 'Zeta girls,'" he says. "'Are we going to be laughed at?' 'We're the jocks on campus -- how does this make us look?' But once people got that out of their systems, we sat there and said, 'Are we really debating about having a party? It's a no-brainer! We don't say no to parties!' So we made it happen."

And bridges were built. 'The guys were like, 'You're not sluts like the Kappas!'" recounts Sarah Carter, mostly kidding. "We were like, "Thanks?"

In all seriousness, says Boone, the mixer "turned out to be fun. It proved to both us and them that the other group was made up of real people. They figured out that we're regular girls; we just happen to believe in some good stuff and want more than to be drunk all the time."

About Zeta, Leong is more polite than others have been. When the group was founded, Zeta got it from all sides. Anonymous posters on the campus online bulletin board were reliably quick to respond, hypothesizing that Zeta's members just "couldn't get into Kappa" or were "fat chicks" whose only dates were with Ben & Jerry. Some sorority members were miffed at the implication -- one that Zeta has tried hard to correct -- that Zeta was critical of or "better" than them. The anti-sorority ranks had their opinion, too. Says Marquis: "At first, people looked at me twice, like, 'You? Now we might not be able to be friends.'" Zeta even rankled a fraternity or two for "stealing" their prospective pledges. "They got over it," says Marquis.

If anyone's a fan of Zeta, though, it's Trinity's administration. Frederick Alford, the dean of students, is well aware of the dominant role Trinity's eight long-standing Greek organizations -- four fraternities, two sororities, two co-ed groups -- appear to play in the college's culture. Trinity was, for one thing, ranked fifth on Princeton Review's 1997 list of top party schools. "There is a portion of students -- and it's generally a minority -- who are living this kind of lavish social life," says Alford. "But as with 'glitterati' anywhere, they occupy a larger place in campus lore than they do in reality." (About 17 percent of students belong to a Greek organization.)

Still, Trinity is changing -- and it's "groups like Zeta that are helping," he says. "They're students whose values you admire. They're interested in intellectual life, they're socially conspicuous, they're concerned about one another. They believe in the place and they want to leave their mark on it. They represent the emerging Trinity, what it's becoming."

Sure enough, Trinity has dropped off Princeton's party school list, though it still ranks among "Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative" and "Lots of Hard Liquor." (No word on boxed wine, the beverage of choice at Zeta's holiday party.) Over the past 10 years, Alford says, Trinity has made a "concerted effort" to raise the level of diversity, intellectual discourse and community service within the troubled city of Hartford. Zeta's seniors confirm that they have seen things start to change.

And they take a bit of credit for it, too. "I feel like with my liberal views I wouldn't have made a difference at Wesleyan," says Zeta co-founder Boone. "But I feel like here, I have."

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