As more Hispanic women are enrolling in college, Hispanic sororities are filling a personal void that other campus groups don’t.
COLLEGE PARK, MD.
Brenda Delgado, gathered on campus with a group of ‘sisters,’ quickly ticks off a list of why a Latina sorority was more appealing than other Greek-letter groups when she enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park. She draws nods of agreement from those gathered around.
“I feel that I can relate to these women,” says Delgado, a senior majoring in family science. “My parents being immigrants. Their parents being immigrants. My parents speak Spanish. Their parents speak Spanish. I feel that I can relate to them.” When asked how many in the group were first-time college students, all nine ‘sisters’ proudly raised their hands.
“I was a minority in high school, and I’m a minority here,” Delgado continues. “I felt that I needed my own home,” she says.
She found it as a sister in the 17-member Upsilon chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc., one of two Hispanic sororities on the UMCP campus. The other is Sigma Lambda Upsilon, Senoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority, Inc.
A generation ago, Latina sororities were in their infancy on American college campuses. Membership has ebbed and flowed since the founding of the first one, Lambda Theta Alpha, at Kean University in Union, N. J., in December 1975.
Though still small in member numbers today, compared to more long-established mainstream fraternities and sororities, Latina sororities have emerged as an important ingredient for success for many Hispanic women in college. They find Latina sororities fill a personal void other campus groups don’t. “
They are looking for cultural identity and community service,” says Yvonne Hernández, a member of Kappa Delta Chi and chair of the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO), the umbrella council for 23 nationally recognized Hispanic Greek-letter groups. “Once you get them active, they are passionate about getting involved in the community.”
