The Office of Multicultural Affairs is working to start a chapter of the first Latina sorority on campus, said Cross Cultural Affairs Coordinator Cerise Edmonds.The sorority, Lambda Theta Alpha, will also be the first Latina sorority in the state, said Ashley Suazo, public relations freshman and founding member.Suazo, along with three other members of the Hispanic Cultural Society, researched LTA after Edmonds encouraged them to find a student organization they could identify with, Edmonds said in an e-mail.”It’s our opportunity to basically stand up,” Suazo said. “Our mission for this is so girls can identify even more with a deeper bond as a sisterhood.”The four founding members have since recruited four more participants.The University will recognize LTA as a student interest group for one year, before becoming nationally recognized as a chapter, said Angela Guillory, director of Greek life.Though LTA has Latin roots, the sorority is multicultural, Edmonds said.”Of course we respect the roots and that it’s Latin, but we’re trying to be more multicultural,” Suazo said.LTA’s goals include scholarly excellence and the empowerment of Latina women, according to lambdalady.org, LTA’s official Web site.”Where I come from, there’s a lot of poverty,” said Suazo, who is Honduran. “It’s not that common for people to go to a really good college. It’s not that common for a woman to be [anything] other than a housewife. It’s different when you come to America and when you become part of an organization like this.”The interest group is known as the Interested Ladies of Lambda Theta Alpha, Edmonds said.As an interest group, the members must perform community service and hold socials. “Unfortunately, going through the one-year process does not  guarantee expansion,” Edmonds said.Thomas Gonzales founded LTA at Kean University in New Jersey in December 1975.Since then, LTA has increased cultural and political awareness and community activism among the Latin community.LTA is open to all female students, as long as they meet specific requirements, which include 12 hours of college credit, enrollment as a full-time student and at least a 2.5 GPA, Edmonds said.   
“Other members have put as much effort into it as the founding girls,” Suazo said. “In all truth, if we didn’t have those other girls following behind us, it would be 10 times harder to push for something like this.”
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Contact Victoria Yu at [email protected]