The word "sorority" may conjure an image of elitist girls for some, but the women involved in Lambda Theta Alpha hope to defy that stereotype.
Founded in 1975 as a Latina academic sorority, LTA was the first of its kind. A group of girls hope to bring a lasting legacy of LTA back to ASU.
Biological sciences junior Rosalia Hernandez, who first made the effort to reestablish a chapter at ASU, said the previous chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha made an impact on campus.
“It was really successful when it was back at ASU. … But it’s coming back on campus and I know a lot of Greek (organizations) are really excited because of the impact Lambda Theta Alpha made in the early 2000s," Hernandez said.
The chapter died due to a lack of membership and involvement, Hernandez said.
Lambda Theta Alpha has a rich legacy nationwide, from being a place for Latinos on campus to being one of many cultural movements of the 20th century.
Julia Maestas, the Regional Recruitment and Retention Supervisor for the Southwest Region at the Universtiy of New Mexico and founding sister, said the sorority was founded at a time when there were a lot of different ethnic movements among college students.
“Our founding mothers felt very compelled to be able to still be a part of that movement and make sure that the Latino community was served at a university level,” she said. “Being that many of them were first generation college students or immigrants themselves, they really wanted to make sure that Latino students had a place on the university campus.”
Instead of a social lifestyle, the sorority focuses on academics as a whole, Maestas said.
“We are established as an academic sorority and it’s very important for us to see that our potential candidates, or our sisters, really strive to do well in academics as well as in your professional and personal life when they complete their studies,” Maestas said.
Although Lambda Theta Alpha was established as a Latina sorority, it has since grown to include women of all ethnic descent.
“We’re a Latin sorority, but we don’t discriminate against other cultures," psychology junior Chabeli Escobedo said. "In a way, we can be unified by our culture, but we’re open to friendships with all different cultures."
Business communication and economics junior Ester Cruz said she knows it's going to be a tough road ahead, but feels like the end is going to be worth it.
Cruz, who explored other sororities before participating in LTA activities, said the sorority is all about supporting other women.
“It really stood out to me that they’re all about women empowerment and making the women that are a part of LTA really strong leaders, giving them skills so that they’re ready for whatever comes ahead in their journey,” Cruz said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of the sorority in the headline, misstated the title of Julia Maestas, mislabeled Ester Cruz and Rosalia Hernandez as founding sisters and misstated the century of latino cultural movements. This version the the article has been updated with the correct information.
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Fraternities, Greek organizations push for diversity
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