Latino Fraternity Celebrates 10 Years at Wesleyan

– by Miguel Guadalupe ’98

In 1995, Wesleyan students Sergio Zenteno ’00, Tom Constabile ’96, Francisco Tezen ’97, Miguel Guadalupe ’98, Jose DeJesus ’97, and Jason Rosado ’96 started the Sigma Chapter of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity Inc., a Latino fraternal organization, with the goal of raising cultural awareness and community upliftment. This was a first for Wesleyan, as there had never been a Latino Greek-lettered organization on campus.

On May 20, 2005, the founders reunited at Wesleyan's Reunion & Commencement Weekend to celebrate 10 years at Wesleyan, along with the 18 other members who have since joined the organization. The event was held to commemorate the anniversary, and to thank the Wesleyan community for 10 years of support.

The event was held on the lawn in front of North College under a tent, and was open to the entire Wesleyan community. Special thanks were given to Robert Conn, associate professor of Romance languages and literatures; Frank Marsilli, coordinator of the Campus Center; Migdalia Pinkney, a former financial aid counselor who now works for Wesleyan’s Center for Community Partnerships; Francisco Carreno, a Wesleyan senior and now president of his class; and Ajua Campos, Wesleyan Latino Student Group. Cari Macdermott, former director of the Wesleyan Student Assembly Center, was also acknowledged for all her help and patience throughout the years.

The evening began with a fine buffet of Mexican food and drink, and the brothers arrived in matching Guayabera shirts, alternating in the colors brown, gold, and white (the colors of their fraternity). People mingled and became reacquainted with faculty and students currently at the University.

Miguel Guadalupe ’98 commented, “We just really wanted to say thank you to the Wesleyan community. We’ve been here 10 years, we’ve accomplished a lot, we know there is a lot more to do, but one thing we wanted everyone to know is that we know none of this could have been done without Wesleyan. We are a unique organization, and this is a unique university, and we just matched. There’s nothing we can do that can repay the people we are thanking tonight. They believed in us, and their believing gave us the motivation to move forward. It’s the reason why we stay together, still active, and why we love this University so much.”

The theme of the evening was indeed family. “We believe in family—our motto for La Unidad Latina is ’La Unidad Para Siempre’ and that means a lot to us. it means ‘Unity Forever’ not only within the fraternity, but within the community we serve,” Guadalupe added. “Wesleyan has been the focal point of that community. Part of the reason we are here 5, 6, 10 years after graduation is because we take that commitment seriously. We are here to stay connected to Wesleyan, and we hope that Wesleyan continues to support us going forward.”

The event continued well into the late hours with festive dancing and drinking. Couples danced on the lawn to the rhythmic sounds of salsa, merengue, bachata, and old-school hip hop and R&B. The brothers of La Unidad Latina even provided everyone with a brief display of their “strolling” talents (strolling is coordinated line dancing done by fraternal members at parties). In all everyone had a great time, and it added to a successful Reunion & Commencement Weekend.