The Next Best Thing to Family: 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 Hernandez, 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.”
