With a unique historical background, this sorority stands out and demonstrates perseverance. These are the women of Sigma Phi Omega Sorority Incorporated, and they have a great story to tell.

Sigma Phi Omega started off, not as a sorority, but as a Japanese American group at University of Southern California (USC) in 1949. Because of World War II, during this time, there still existed a lot of discrimination and resentment towards Asians in the United States. Therefore, it was hard to establish an Asian group of women, let alone Japanese women, on campus. But after approached by Chi Alpha Delta sorority from University of California Los Angeles to become a chapter there at USC, the women choose to begin their own organization. Although it was predominantly Japanese American women, the sorority became the third established Asian American sorority in the United States.

The Beta chapter at CSULB was established in 1970, making it the second out of nine existing and active chapters in the region. Their philanthropy is the fight to end domestic violence and host the S.A.F.E week every October in order to bring awareness to the student body. The chapter has over 100 initiated members and approximately 20 active sisters.

The girls also participate in a number of activities on campus as part of their rush events. Some of these include scavenger hunts, ice-cream night, bon fires, game night, and dancing.



photos from: national and Beta chapter website

Resembling the Centaur

So we’ve learned about fraternities, sororities and co-ed fraternities, but what about catering to the gay and bisexual community? Such a Greek organization exists and it is known as Delta Lambda Phi National Social Fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men.

The organization was founded when three elderly men donated to create an organization for the gay and bisexual community. They wished to have had an organization such as this one during their undergraduate years, but nonetheless, they established the fraternity in October of 1986 and initiated the first group of men in April of 1987.

Since its establishment, the fraternity has grown throughout the nation, from coast to coast, with 27 chapters and seven colonies.

In 1990, the Rho chapter at CSULB was established by gentleman Jack Carroll. Although most Greek organizations only initiate members that attend the university of the chapter they are pledging in, the Delta Lambda Phi fraternity Rho chapter accepts members in the surrounding Long Beach area. Therefore, some of the members of Rho chapter are not all from CSULB.

A few of the chapter’s philanthropies is the Long Beach AIDS foundation and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center on campus. They have also partnered up with other Greek organizations to do community service events or just socialize and create unity with the other Greek organizations a part of the Cultural Greek Council which they belong to.


photos from: Rho chapter website

Pilipino's at the Beach

Zeta Phi Rho’s Alpha chapter and Delta Sigma Chi’s Alpha chapter are not the only founding chapters at CSULB. This Greek organization was also founded here on campus and was established to enhance the Filipino culture. They are known as Kappa Psi Epsilon Sorority.

Kappa Psi Epsilon was founded on March 28 1996, and has then grown to three other campuses in California. Just like Sigma Phi Omega was established based on empowering Japanese American women, Kappa Psi Epsilon was founded to maintain the Philippine cultural heritage. Its mission is to learn and analyze the Philippine history and applying those traditions to the present generation.

The class sizes vary from five to 20 sisters, putting the chapter at over 100 initiated members. The current president is Rosanne Caliboso from Mu class, also from Mu class is Vice President Nicole Biala, secretary is Serena Riray from Nu class and treasurer is Angela Aspuria from Lambda class.

The Alpha chapter works with other groups on campus, such as the Pilipino American Coalition. Saturday December 5 is their 13th annual Pilipino Christmas Festival, “Pasko Sa Aming Bayan” in which the two groups share their culture with the student body on campus. They had a display of live art, and traditional Filipino food for all to taste. Its truly an event of the year.

Asian American Zetas

You may not see them every where, but they exist and they’re on our campus. These are the brothers of Zeta Epsilon Tau, the first Asian American fraternity on campus.

The fraternity was founded in 1971 at the University of Southern California. It later moved its charter to CSULB, making it the one and only established charter/chapter in the nation. They have not expanded to other campuses and have maintained a steady increase in their membership.

In its 38 years of existence, their goals have been striving for academic excellence, community service participation, and creating a strong brotherhood. As a result, the brothers of this fraternity will grow and develop leadership skills, cultural awareness and friendship/brotherhood building.

Their up coming event is Bidnight 2009. This is similar to the auctions that other Greek organizations host in order to raise money for their chapter. The brothers of Zeta Epsilon Tau will be auctioning off 19 of their members from the Alpha Xi pledge class and will take place at the LAX Hilton hotel on Saturday December 5.

A few of this years active officers are Hubert Nhan as president, Chris Luu as vice president, and Wilson Phe as social chair. These three gentlemen organized the Bidnight, so if it turns out successful, they are the ones to congratulate.

photos by: Johnny Ly

Sweet as a teddy bear

Nothing is sweeter than the ladies in red, white and green walking around campus. Their mascot the teddy bear is not only unique, but also sweet as it sports a colored ribbon. These sisters are from the Lambda Sigma Gamma Sorority Incorporated.


Twenty-seven women with one goal founded the sorority on October 24, 1986 at Sacramento State University. Their goal in creating the sorority was to create cultural diversity within a group of women, and to promote the family. They encourage women of all backgrounds to join the sorority.


They established themselves on campus on April 6, 2002 by six women who were seeking an organization that enhanced the idea of multiculturalism. After their establishment, this chapter became the 19th chapter in region and is known as the Tau chapter. Currently they have over 40 initiated members.

The Tau chapter has participated in a number of events throughout the years, such as beach clean up, “make a difference day”, American Heart Walk and Aids walk. They rush every semester and put on fun activities for the interests to partake in. Some of these rush events include bonfires, Dodger games, potlucks, game nights and much more.

So far, there are 21 chapters only in California, making it a regional organization. Even with that many chapters, there are over 1,000 members. And with each member, they practice their motto by being united through sisterhood.

photos from: Lambda Sigma Gamma, Tau chapter webpage on Myspace

"Delta Sigma Chi fo Life"

And who said fraternities were made up only of guys? It is true, for the most part, that fraternities are made up of men and sororities are made up of women, but that’s not the case for this fraternity. They are known as Delta Sigma Chi Co-ed Fraternity.

Just like Zeta Phi Rho fraternity, this fraternity was founded on campus on August 31, 1987. It was established by nine Latino men who desired to have a “lil sister” program in which women affiliated themselves with the fraternity through its resources it provided. On January 28, the brothers of the fraternity wanted to diversify and make grow their chapter, therefore granting the “lil sisters” full membership to the fraternity.

Since its establishment at CSULB, making it the Alpha chapter, four other chapters have been established throughout California. They currently excite in the California State Universities of San Bernardino, Fullerton, and Los Angeles, as well as University of California Riverside.

The Alpha chapter is part of the Cultural Greek Council and is the only co-ed fraternity on campus. Their mascot is the black panther and their colors are red, black and gold. They’ve participated in other Greek organization’s fundraisers, such as Sigma Lambda Gamma’s powder puff tournament, where the women played while the men coached.


video by: member of DSC (youtube)
photos from: DSC groups on Myspace

One Ring, One Brotherhood

Not many organizations on our campus can pride themselves of being the founding chapter of their organization. But this does not apply to the distinguished gentlemen of Zeta Phi Rho Fraternity Inc.

The fraternity was founded at CSULB on August 15, 1995, making it the Alpha chapter. Fourteen gentlemen came together to establish a brotherhood that now exists in eight other schools. From Santa Barbara to Riverside, these brothers manage to grow their chapters in numbers and in unity with each other despite long distances. Although they do not classify themselves to be an Asian American based fraternity, the members of the organization are predominantly Asian American.


Something that is not seen in other Greek organizations, but these brothers take pride in, is the adopting of non-Greek members (female) to be honorary members of their organization. This is what they call Zeta sis rush, in which they rush girls who sign up for the process and choose who they will make their zeta sis.

A few events the chapter had at school this semester is their philanthropy event called “Smoke Out at the Beach”. At this event they inform smokers and non-smokers the hazards of smoking and hope to change people’s attitudes through the presentation. They also fundraise and currently had their Howling auction event.

Miss Independent

Although small and existing only in California, the Misses from Chi Delta Theta Asian American interest sorority have increased within their chapters. They are one of the few Asian sororities on campus who, along with the previously mentioned Greek organizations, make up the Cultural Greek Council.

The sorority was founded at the University of California Santa Barbara on October 13, 1989 by Miss Alison Suto- Stripling and Miss Joanne Yamaoka. They established themselves as promoting academic, community service, cultural awareness, social activity and sisterhood. Since there are only five chapters existing within California, these sisters have created a close bond whether from University of California Davis to CSULB.

The Delta Chapter here on campus just rushed their Mu class this fall. The chapter has roughly 140 sisters and over 30 active members. A unique activity that is considered community service is their “bawdie” program. This is a night where the chapter invites both guys and girls college students to participate and interact with the sisters. It usually consists of games free of charge, as well as food. Earlier this year they had a bowling night, pool party and a coming out show.

There are various positions open, giving the girls an opportunity to hold a chair position and be active in the chapter. Since there are a lot of sisters, at some point before graduating, each sister is able to contribute to their chapter by holding a position.


photos from: Chi Delta Theta Delta chapter website

"Go Gammas Go Gammas Go"

“Ladies, there are many… but women, there are few” a phrase well known in this Latina-based sorority. The women of distinction in this organization wear the shocking pink and majestic purple colors. They are called gammas and are known to be sisters of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Incorporated.


When the sorority was founded at the University of Iowa on April 9, 1990, they became the largest and fastest growing Latina-based multi-cultural sorority in the nation. The five founding mothers formed the sorority with desires to empower women of all cultural backgrounds through academics, community service, cultural awareness, social interactions and morals and ethics. There are roughly 95 chapters in the United States, 13 in California.

When establishing themselves on campus on April 11, 2003, these women wanted to show how actions speak louder than words, hence the chapter’s name; the Truly Beautiful, talk about it, be about it Tau Beta chapter. Nine women founded the chapter on campus, and have seen it grow to the 58 members it currently has.


Just like other organizations have signature outreach events, Sigma Lambda Gamma Tau Beta chapter hosts an annual powder puff tournament to raise money for one of their three philanthropies. They donate money to the Miller’s Children Hospital Long Beach every year to help alleviate the cost of treatment for children who suffer from Spina Bifida. They also donate, through fundraising, to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

“Culture is pride, pride is success”



photos by: members of Sigma Lambda Gamma

Stallions at the Pyramid

The only other Latino-based fraternity on campus is hard to miss as they walk around sporting their white and purple colors. These men are members of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Incorporated, exemplifying strength of a white stallion mustang.

The organization was founded at the University of Iowa, Iowa city, Iowa on April 4, 1986 by 18 men. Although it is a Latino-based Greek organization, it is one of the few multi-cultural fraternities in the nation, and the only multi-cultural fraternity on campus. They were established to uphold the principles of brotherhood, scholarship, cultural awareness, and community service. The fraternity also upholds two philanthropies which they dedicate their time, effort and money into. These philanthropies are the Victor Correa CPR Awareness Day and the Collegiate Leadership Development Program.

Sigma Lambda Beta galloped their way to CSULB by establishing an interest group in 2000. After the seven founders put in hard work to become an entity on campus, CSULB recognized the Kappa Beta chapter on January 1, 2001. Since its establishment, the chapter now has 65 members.

From coast to coast, betas are known for their stepping and strolling. As the Southern California stroll team competes every year in various stroll off competitions, they always seem to make it to the final round. They have obtained first place three years straight, and kappa beta is proud to say they have always had a brother be a part of the team every time.

Watch out for their moves…


video from: youtube

Lovely Lambda Ladies

If anyone of you were curious to know which was the first Latina-based sorority to establish itself on campus… I would tell you it is the lovely ladies of Lambda Theta Alpha, Beta Delta chapter. In fact, the Beta Delta chapter was not only the first Latina-based sorority on campus; it was the first chapter in its organization to make its way to the West coast. Officially recognized as a chapter in April of 1998, the ladies that hold the principles of unity, love and respect, take pride in being the chapter that opened the expansion to the West side.

One of the organizations the Beta Delta chapter works with and supports some of their events on campus is the Women’s Resource Center located in LA5. The chapter has helped promote breast cancer awareness by volunteering at the center and have individually volunteered their time in certain projects.

Currently, there are roughly 50 members in the chapter, and although the active members are few, they have worked hard to accomplish and uphold their principles. The organization as a whole is known for saluting, and every so often you will see these ladies perform their salute at Greek events on campus. So keep an eye out for the ladies in burgundy and grey.


video from: youtube

The Conquistadores

The first Latino-based Greek organization to enter the cultural Greek council at California State University Long Beach was Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity Incorporated. Five men established the fraternity on campus in 1997, making it the third on the list of chapters founded in the west coast region. These men at Cal. State Long Beach are known as the conquistadores of the Alpha Iota Chapter.

Because the organization was founded on academic excellence, brotherhood, leadership, Latino unity and service, the Alpha Iota chapter has organized numerous outreach events that support the Latino community and establish the growth of Latino men.

One of Alpha Iota’s popular annual community service events since 1998 is the Thanksgiving outreach. What the outreach consists of is raising money, through donations and fundraisers, to buy turkeys to feed poor families who don’t have money for a Thanksgiving meal. This is an opportunity they take to not only give to the community, but to form better and stronger ties with other Greek organizations who help out during the outreach.

John Claros, a member of the Alpha Iota chapter since summer 2006, speaks of the benefits he’s gained from joining the fraternity.

“I’ve matured and gained a lot of leadership skills”, Claros explained after describing himself as being a shy person before becoming a brother. He’s contributed to his organization by holding numerous positions in his chapter such as community service and fundraising chair, vice president and induction officer.

A Lambda Theta Phi will leave you three words to live by, “Chivalry Above Self”



video from: Lambda Theta Phi Alpha Iota chapter webpage