UW-Madison is full of fraternities and sororities, but the houses that line Langdon Street are not the only ones on campus.
From honors fraternities to Latina sororities, UW-Madison not only has a diverse Greek system, but an outstanding one as well.
Lambda Theta Alpha Latin sorority was recently awarded with the 'Undergraduate Chapter of the Year' award from the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organization, said UW-Madison senior and member of LTA Gaby Aparicio.
Aparicio said there were over 200 chapters from various Latina sororities that applied.
'The panel chose LTA from Madison for outstanding community service efforts and great contributions to the campus community,' Aparicio said.
The 11-member sorority is academic-based and service-oriented, Aparicio said.
'We perform numerous community service events each month, have a few fund-raisers a month and weekly study sessions,' Aparicio said.
The sorority does not have a house on campus and does not get members through rushing, but rather through something called an interest group where eligible girls fulfill certain requirements, such as involvement in community service and fund-raising, Aparicio said.
UW-Madison junior Bridget Schigoda has been a member of Alpha Zeta, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences co-ed honors fraternity, for a year and a half.
'Alpha Zeta is strictly for CALS students,' said Schigoda, adding that there is a certain grade point average cutoff to be in the honors fraternity.'
Alpha Zeta has about 15 members and meets twice month.
'We do outreach activities that benefit CALS and the university as a whole,' she said.
According to Schigoda, some of these activities include etiquette dinners'which are open to all students on campus'and CALS Day for Kids.
Schigoda also explained that Alpha Zeta is evaluating and supporting the program to receive a CALS Leadership Certificate that is newly available to students this year.
Another fraternity on the UW-Madison campus is Alpha Phi Alpha, a black fraternity, established in 1906 at Cornell University.
Members in Alpha Phi Alpha must have a minimum grade point average of 2.5 and hold 12 credits at a four-year institution, said UW-Madison senior and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Remi Aregbesola.
'We believe men should be interested in Alpha by our membership and, most importantly, our service to the campus,' Aregbesola said.
According to Aregbesola, Alpha Phi Alpha used to have a house on Langdon in the '70s. He added that it would be nice to have a house again, but said it would take time away from planning events.
'We provide social programs, academic scholarships, mentoring to teenagers, political development programs and many other activities to develop brotherhood within our chapter,' Aregbesola said.
