Members of the Multicultural Greek Council are striving to expand and promote their organizations across campus with the first co-ed Latino-interest fraternity joining their efforts this academic year.
Alpha Psi Lambda officially joined the cultural-based Greek life council in March and has been fully operating on campus as of Fall 2024. The fraternity, however, has been trying to make it on campus since 2018, according to Alpha Psi Lambda president and Weinberg sophomore Theo Damita.
“I remember we sat in some random room in Main (Library) last year and, for two hours, went through all these documents. Eventually, we made a plan,” Damita said. “To start a fraternity or sorority, people must have the same kind of push.”
Like other MGC organizations on campus, Alpha Psi Lambda is working to recruit more members and increase awareness about MGC in the Northwestern community.
For some MGC chapters, this can be challenging as they do not have a common living arrangement, unlike the majority of other on-campus fraternities and sororities.
“MGC is really based on community,” Alpha Psi Lambda secretary and Weinberg sophomore Alison Ayala said. “It’s not like you wake up next to these people and you have to see those letters. You have to go out of your way to be surrounded by that culture.”
Ayala said it can sometimes be difficult to plan meetings or events, as members live in scattered places across campus. At the same time, he said he’s glad he has his own personal space.
Being uniquely co-ed as a fraternity, Alpha Psi Lambda models off the notion of “familia” — “family” in Spanish — a term meant to transcend the limits of gender.
“You don’t have a family with only having brothers or only having sisters,” Damita said. “And so I think with the co-ed aspect, especially for low-income, first-generation students, they’re coming to this space at Northwestern and finding that family.”
Kappa Phi Lambda president and Medill junior Judy Zeng emphasized the importance of identity in MGC.
With her organization being the only Pan-Asian sorority currently active at NU, Zeng said she hopes to see more identities represented through the expansion of MGC chapters.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Zeng said recruitment has been a challenge for fraternities and sororities, especially within MGC.
“Since the pandemic, all of these (fraternities and sororities) really died down. The Abolish Greek Life movement was also happening around that time, so the community has kind of shrunk,” Zeng said. “But I think there’s been an increase in interest since then.”
Along with other MGC presidents, Zeng said she is trying to make an effort to create safer and more equitable spaces. At Kappa Phi Lambda, Zeng said the sorority feels more like a “large friend group” than an official organization.
Lambda Upsilon Lambda’s MGC representative McCormick junior Ben Neathery said while his fraternity is primarily Hispanic and Latino-based, it is open to anyone who aspires to join. He also said the fraternity strives to help members in their academic life.
“We’re serious about academics. You know, we have a 3.0 minimum (GPA), and that’s something we help freshmen out with,” Neathery said.
Lambda Upsilon Lambda president and McCormick junior Angel Mendoza said his fraternity looks for leadership and a genuine passion for giving back to the Latine community. Besides holding an annual Latine formal, the fraternity organizes various philanthropy initiatives as part of a broader effort from all MGC chapters.
Like many other MGC organizations, Lambda Upsilon Lambda hosts informational events on campus to reach out to new potential members and gain visibility. Neathery said MGC members work together to co-host events to bridge different networks of people.
“It’s kind of building bridges between these organizations and finding people with common threads,” Neathery said. “We serve our community. We help each other out. MGC is Greek life on our own terms.”
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