Greek life may be a world that many college students are accustomed to, but for Latino greek organizations at Syracuse University, it’s a small world after all.

The Latino Greek Council is composed of only six individual chapters of sororities and fraternities, and it is one of the smallest greek councils out of the five on campus.

‘I think it’s more empowering because you know you have to bark louder,’ said senior Michelle Herrera, rush chair and member of Omega Phi Beta sorority. ‘We have to make sure that they know, so it’s kind of like the Napoleon complex a little – the little Chihuahua barking at the bull dog.’

This year, the LGC came into the semester with change in mind. A new plan of action focuses on program development, leadership and community service.

Herrera, vice president of the LGC, joined Omega Phi Beta in spring 2006 even though it isn’t large in size. The sorority is a philanthropic and social organization that was founded on SU’s campus in 1989.

‘Before I joined, I felt like I could create change,’ Herrera said. ‘When you’re with a group of people who want to do the same thing, it’s more of a force.’

LGC has shown the big organizations that it is small in size but it is still here and still counts, Herrera said. And conquering bigger dogs isn’t all that members of the LGC want. They want to be recognized and supported by the larger greek councils on campus.

To cultivate recognition, the LGC sponsors their own community events such as March of Dimes and hosting a day for students in local schools to participate in games.

Diane Ceballos, however, said there is no mistaking the divide among LGC and other greek organizations.

‘I guess now we are building a relationship with the IFC and the Panhellenic sororities and fraternities. It’s kind of like they were never used to seeing us out there,’ Ceballos, president of LGC and vice president of Sigma Lambda Upsilon, said.

Even though the five SU greek councils meet once a week, there is a clear division that is hard to get used to at this point, Ceballos said.

To Matthew Abdifar, Interfraternity Council vice president for external affairs, the purpose of greek council is to unite all five councils, and as well as working toward preventing division among all of the organizations.

‘The difference now is taken from what we’ve done on a small scale and bringing that to a large scale so things like that don’t happen anymore. Whatever divisions have existed and they’re automatically going to exist just because we’re five different cultures, five different councils, five different groups of people,’ Abdifar said.

IFC and Panhel constitute 80 percent of the greek population, so organizations like LGC are at a numerical disadvantage. To adapt to this, Council on Greek Life is working to bond LGC with other organizations through philanthropic activities, Abdifar said.

One of those activities included Greek Week, in which all councils bonded through various games and events. LGC also co-sponsored Greek-or-Treat last week, an activity that involved council collaboration to focus on helping children. The council also is planning a Vote 101 session for after Thanksgiving break.

And although the LGC is relatively small, its members, like Pedro Villanueva, remain optimistic about its presence at SU.

‘It’s like we have to do a lot in order to be recognized. The administration already knows they’re there, so we have to do something big. I see a lot of the changes, especially with the step show being a success,’ Villanueva said.

Villanueva is a member of Lambda Sigma Upsilon, which was established at SU in 2004. Today, there are only two members of Lambda Sigma Upsilon, yet they helped to sponsor the sold-out step show, which occurred Oct. 6.

It is successful efforts like these that lead Villanueva to believe that the LGC will continue to be a recognized organization on SU’s campus.

‘The Latino greeks are definitely stepping up their game by doing what they’re supposed to do,’ Villanueva said. ‘Before, it was tension before; now you see people actually willing to work together.’

Published on November 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm