Greek relations expand
Meeting opened to Hispanic fraternity, sorority

By LaNasha Houze
Staff Reporter

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs opened the door for the Hispanic fraternity and sorority to meet with the rest of the Greek community Wednesday.

“(The Hispanic fraternity and sorority) have never attended a joint meeting before,” said Sylvia Carrizales, vice president of Sigma Lambda Alpha. “The meeting stressed communication was the key to getting all (the Greek organizations to work) together.”

Carrizales said she sees the meeting as a step toward improving the relationship between Sigma Lambda Alpha and other members of the Greek community.

The sorority is not nationally recognized and therefore has not previously been invited to participate in sorority programming.

Linda Juarez, president of Sigma Lambda Alpha, said Tom Sullivan, coordinator of fraternity and sorority affairs, casually suggested the possibility of affiliation during a meeting last week. She said no in-depth discussions have taken place concerning the option of affiliation.Becoming affiliated with Panhellenic Council is an option Juarez said she never considered.

“I am kind of sitting on the middle of the fence,” she said. “I see both the good and the bad things. I don’t want our sorority to lose its identity, but it would be beneficial to have better communication.”

Juarez said that, as a whole, the sorority and the Greek community have not communicated and the special effort taken this year by the office is very important. “It means a lot that (Sullivan) is taking our sorority into consideration,” she said.

Katie Urban, president of Panhellenic Council, refrained from commenting until further discussions have been made about the topic.

Darron Turner, director of international education and services, said the discussion of associating the Hispanic sorority with a national council first occurred three years ago. But previous members of Sigma Lambda Alpha wanted the local agenda of the sorority to be priority instead of focusing on national regulations, he said.

“(Student Development Services and the sorority) were looking at the option of having either a national or local council,” said Turner, advisor for Sigma Lambda Alpha. “They decided being attached to a national organization is not what they needed to do for themselves.”

The executive members of the sorority during that time period have since graduated, and could not be reached for comment.

The sorority’s sister chapter at the University of Texas at San Antonio is affiliated with the local Panhellenic Council, Juarez said. She said their affiliation permits them to send recruitment letters through the Greek office and vote on matters which concern their organization. Juarez said that she does not have any strong sentiment for or against the affiliation.

Carrizales said discussions of possible affiliation has not extended beyond the executive board, but other members of the sorority have expressed an interest in increasing communication with Panhellenic Council.