Marla Delgado-Guerrero came to the University of Wisconsin in 2000 with a goal in mind — to start a Latina-based sorority.

Delgado-Guerrero was familiar with multicultural Greek life because her sisters were both members of a Latin-based sorority at UW-Oshkosh. She was ready to follow along and bring a Latina sorority to Wisconsin’s flagship university.

UW-Madison wasn’t prepared for what she had to offer.

Delgado-Guerrero faced pushback from the Latino community, which was skeptical of a Latina sorority. She also encountered people in Latino organizations who believed Latinos did not belong in Greek life and questioned why she wanted to bring a sorority to campus.

“There were a lot of misconceptions about what we were trying to do,” Delgado-Guerrero said. “At the time, there were no Latino sororities.”

Delgado-Guerrero continued ahead. She met with a group of girls through two Latin-focused organizations. In 2003, they co-founded the first Latina-based sorority on campus, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.

Now, multicultural Greek life is far more established on the UW-Madison campus.

In addition to co-founding Lambda Theta Alpha, Delgado-Guerrero helped create the Multicultural Greek Council, one of the two multicultural Greek councils on campus. With 14 organizations making up the Multicultural Greek Council and eight organizations
comprising the National Pan-Hellenic Council, multicultural Greek life takes up more space on campus now than it ever has.

Jordan Edwards is a junior at UW-Madison and a member of the Gamma Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Originally from Chicago, Edwards attended a predominantly Black high school.

He said Alpha Phi Alpha made it easy for him to connect with people from similar backgrounds to his.

“Being [in Madison], it was hard for me to connect with people because so many people were so different from me,” Edwards said. “I wanted to be part of a fraternity because coming to a predominantly white institution like UW-Madison, I knew that I wanted a stronger sense of community.”

Rabea Tahir, a member of Muslim-interest sorority Alpha Lambda Rho, also found community through shared culture and religion from multicultural Greek life.

“I have always been on the lookout for other Muslim brown women,” Tahir said. “I’ve never really had a group of friends that truly look like me.”

ALR’s sisterhood has helped Tahir find belonging on campus. The freshman said that the sorority has helped her become the “most authentic, Islamic version of [herself].”

“During one of our events, I felt so happy that I was in the Eta class,” Tahir said. “I was laughing with my line sisters and it gave me a complete sense of fulfillment.”

Aja McKay, vice president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., said that her sorority has given her a sisterhood stronger than friendship.

“Five other people have my back in ways that no one else really understands,” she said. “It just makes it easier because sometimes it can be a little lonely, especially being Black on campus.”

Aaron Hou, chapter president of Asian-interest Fraternity Lambda Phi Epsilon, never meant to become president of a fraternity. He enjoys it more than he thought.

Despite the role being “a little tedious at times,” Hou said the experience has helped strengthen his leadership skills. Being in Lambda Phi Epsilon has helped Hou connect to his cultural identity and receive social and academic support.

Multicultural Greek organizations also invite students of other cultural backgrounds into their spaces. ALR recently hosted Iftar, a meal eaten to break the fast during Ramadan.

“I was surprised how many individuals from the MGC also came,” Tahir said. “It was really nice to see how many different people showed up [to our event].”

These functions provide opportunities to make new, diverse connections. “It’s important to collaborate with everyone and just learn more about different people,” McKay said. “It’s just really cool to learn more about different people’s organizations because everyone has different values. It’s really interesting to be able to ask questions, too.”

Edwards reinforced the idea that multicultural Greek organizations within the MGC and NPHC want to see each other succeed.

“Showing that support for each other is always good,” he said. “If someone showed up to my event, that makes me feel good. So, of course, I’ll show up to theirs and show that support.”

McKay said multicultural Greek organizations, specifically the historically Black sororities and fraternities, have not experienced this support from the university.

She hopes to develop a stronger relationship with UW-Madison so the NHPC can continue to grow on campus.

“We do a lot for the Black community, but I feel it tends to go unnoticed,” McKay said. “There was a point in time when we weren’t allowed in regular sororities and fraternities. So coming together to build up our own community is really important.”