By Raylee Foster | Staff Writer
4,400 people are a part of Greek life at Baylor, but few students know about opportunities available within Greek life outside of the Panhellenic community. Gamma Alpha Omega, the first Latina sorority at Baylor, is one of the many multicultural organizations available to students.
Gamma Alpha Omega holds recruitment during the spring and fall and is a nationally recognized organization with 28 chapters across the country.
At Baylor, there are four main councils that make up Greek life. There is the Interfraternity Council, Unified Greek Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council — or the “Divine Nine” — and the Panhellenic Council.
San Antonio senior Emily Rager, Gamma Alpha Omega president, said the sorority is a part of the Unified Greek Council, which makes them unable to accept new members who were previously a part of Panhellenic sororities.
Panhellenic Council recruitment occurred back in January and Gamma Alpha Omega’s recruitment was completed Feb. 19. Due to the timing and lack of communication, women who could potentially be interested in joining Gamma Alpha Omega often associate with a Panhellenic sorority before they know the Latina sorority is available.
“We’re not allowed to [recruit] anyone that’s been in a different organization before, so we’ve actually had girls from Panhellenic reach out to us and [say], ‘Hey I’m interested, I didn’t know organizations like these existed at the time, am I still allowed to join?’” Rager said.
2018 Baylor and Gamma Alpha Omega alumna Fatima Chavez said the lack of communication between the Greek councils shows the small amount of students that are familiar with Greek life outside of the Panhellenic Council. She said communicating these different options to college students who are planning on joining a sorority is important.
Chavez said Gamma Alpha Omega gave her a community like no other; she said she even considered transferring before finding her home in this group of women.
“I found people who spoke Spanish and, me being from Houston which is 45% Hispanic, it was very comforting to see people that were just like me,” Chavez said. “It really motivated me because I was considering transferring out of Baylor but once I found Gamma, I found a family at Baylor and honestly for the rest of my life.”
Chavez said for her, finding a community meant finding people similar to herself. Rager said these similarities extend far beyond backgrounds. Though Gamma Alpha Omega is Latina founded, they are not Latina exclusive. Their members are chosen based on their character, values and beliefs.
“We’ve had sisters in the past who don’t identify as being Latina, so we just go about seeing if they have the same morals and ethics and beliefs as we do and what we stand for as an organization,” Rager said.
Rager is currently the only active member of the sorority but said recruitment this year went well. With the current community being so small, she said she hopes this semester will be a transitional stage for the sorority as they pave a new way for the future.
