Hispanic, Diversity-based Greek Organizations
Raising Cultural Awareness On Campus
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.
The University of Alabama, a landmark in the fight over racial segregation, is increasingly becoming a cultural melting pot, a fact very evident in the college’s Greek system, where none of the all-White fraternities or sororities accepted a Black student for decades.
Now, Phi Iota Alpha has established itself as the first Latino-based fraternity to be recognized under the University of Alabama’s Interfraternity Council on campus and Sigma Lambda Beta seeks to be the first multicultural fraternity in the state. This is just two years after the establishment of two racially integrated sororities, Alpha Delta Sigma and Delta Xi Phi.
“I feel it brings a lot more diversity to the campus,” says Gibran “BB” Hernandez, president of the group seeking to form Sigma Lambda Beta. “It’ll bring a lot more cultural awareness, which is what [the university] is seeking.”
Racial segregation in the Greek system at the university — where Gov. George Wallace tried to block the enrollment of two Black students in his 1963 “stand in the schoolhouse door” — drew critical media attention in 2000 and 2001, when Melody Twilley, a Black honors student, was rejected by all of the university’s White sororities.
That helped forge the creation of Alpha Delta Sigma, a local sorority that describes itself as “diversity-based,” in 2003. That same year Delta Xi Phi, a national sorority whose mission is to “increase multicultural awareness,” was established.
“We’re in the middle of making a lot of changes in our Greek organizations,” says Tim Hebson, associate dean of students. “We’re really excited about where we’re heading.”
