LUL
La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc.
Alpha Line Founded December 10,l 1999, Las Seis Caras de Solidaridad
Officially recognized by UVA: February 2000 with
Elmer Campos, Cameron DeBerry, Shoaib Afridi, Sakwa Sidney Bunyasi, Eduardo J. Gonzalez, and Fadi Shamma
Creation
LUL was founded to address the needs of the latino community. The Latinx population was only 2% at UVA back in 1999, and members believed that this organization would provide an avenue and voice for the Latino community.
At the time of its creation, there were only 4 chapters of LUL in the region (Rho, Phi, Chi and Alpha Delta). The 6 founding hermanos created a joint chapter with VCU, until VCU split from the UVA chapter in the spring of 2009. Only two Founding Hermanos identified as Latinx. Five Founding Hermanos spoke Spanish (this is something that brought the interest group together at UVA between 1998 and 1999). Founding Hermanos heard about LUL from information sessions at GMU. OPB, the first Latinx Greek-Lettered organization, also helped to recruit interests for La Unidad Latina at UVA. The deans for UVA’s founding line came from the University of Maryland, College Park - La Unidad Latina’s Phi Chapter (Juan Sempertegui) and from George Mason University, La Unidad Latina’s Alpha Delta Chapter (Walter Lozada).
Mission
La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Incorporated primarily seeks to take a leadership role in meeting the needs of the Latino community through academic achievement, cultural awareness, community service and promotion of the Latino culture and people.
Efforts
Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. was one of the organizations that founded the Fraternity and Sorority Council, later renamed the Multicultural Greek Council.
Prior to its dormancy, anywhere from 1-4 members gained admittance into LUL each year. The organization’s main goals are philanthropy through the Providing Access to Higher Education initiative. This initiative ensures that Latinos and other minority groups have access to education.
Additionally, LUL has hosted events such as a discussion about how gender identities and machismo were viewed in the Latinx community in 2007, an event to recognize same sex marriage legislation, and a panel on addressing the state of Latinos lack of minority representation at UVA. Lastly, LUL worked to open the Kaleidoscope room - a multi-purpose space to bring together different communities of color.
Reflections Interviewees involved with LUL: Patrick Martinez
