All four chapters of SMU’s Multicultural Greek Council showcased their overarching message of support and community for culturally diverse students while announcing the start of their spring recruitment process at their recent open house. Representatives from Kappa Delta Chi, Omega Delta Phi, Sigma Lambda Beta and Sigma Lambda Gamma educated potential new members in the audience on their organization’s history, practices, values and dedication to service.
“[Kappa Delta Chi] really helped me get connected to SMU and I’ve made friendships that last a lifetime,” Kappa Delta Chi member Maria Rios said. “It’s really nice and welcoming to have that at SMU, which is a PWI.”
Predominately white institutions, also called PWIs, may not prove to be the most affable environment for students with diverse identities or backgrounds. Kappa Delta Chi is one of the two sororities in the SMU MGC that offers membership to women and female-presenting potential new members.
Sigma Lambda Gamma is the first sorority at SMU to explicitly state their acceptance of non-binary and femme-presenting potential new members.
“Being a Gamma here on campus is having a new family who’s always there to support you,” SMU senior and Sigma Lambda Gamma president Aiden Egbuchunam said. “[Members of Sigma Lambda Gamma] want you to succeed and are willing to do anything to help you get there.”
Omega Delta Phi recently re-established its chapter at SMU last April and is excited to see new members in the upcoming recruitment process this spring. The SMU chapter of Omega Delta Phi often does collaborative social and philanthropic events with other local chapters at neighboring universities including UTD, UNT and UTA.
“We have national conferences where we partner with a bunch of different organizations and different schools,” Omega Delta Phi president Miguel Arroyo said. “It doesn’t matter what school you’re from, being part of Omega Delta Phi, you can go to any school and they’ll accept you with open arms.”
There’s much to gain from being a member of any of the MGC chapters. Potential new members can look forward to learning valuable life skills like networking and professionalism, while also enjoying the friendships and memories that come with being in greek life.
“We really value our brotherhood and we do a lot of things to try and learn about the other cultures of our brothers,” Sigma Lambda Beta president Jose Hernandez said. “We’ve had events like spoken word night and food from around the world where each brother brings a dish from their country and we can all have dinner.”
The recruitment process allows potential new members to meet active members of each MGC chapter, learn more about the chapter’s specific standards, and envision themselves as a part of the greater MGC community.
“It’s a six-week process, just preparing you to grow within our organization and beyond it,” Rios said.
MGC chapters were set to begin their recruitment process Tuesday, Jan 31, but this was postponed due to the icy weather. An updated schedule for recruitment events was posted on the SMU MGC Instagram. Learn more about all the MGC chapters and their recruitment process on the SMU student affairs website.
