For the first time in Chapman University's history, students will have the option to join a multicultural Latinx sorority on campus, Omega Phi Beta (OPBSI).

Areas surrounding Orange County have some of the largest Latinx populations in California. Santa Ana is one, with a 76% Hispanic population. Despite President Daniele Struppa’s desires to make Chapman University a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in the coming years, some current Latinx students feel that they are not proportionally represented on campus, especially within Chapman’s Greek life.  

“My personal experience being Afro-Latina — I don’t see a lot of that on campus. I don’t see it at all on campus, period, actually,” said Aizzy Portillo, a junior political science major who is also a member of the Golden Panthers, a group of female students interested in bringing the multicultural sorority to Chapman's campus. “Most likely, there are people that are just like me that are on the sidelines and in the shadows that don’t really have anywhere to bring up the culture that they have.”

This sparked Daisy Figueroa — a lawyer who also works as the president for OPBSI’s Los Angeles alumnae chapter — to step in with the prospects of bringing the sorority to Chapman. 

Omega Phi Beta, a national sorority that was founded in 1989 at the State University of New York in Albany, is dedicated to the empowerment of diverse women seeking higher education. According to the OPBSI website, the purpose of Omega Phi Beta is to serve and educate people of diverse backgrounds through sisterhood, leadership and guidance. 

Omega Phi Beta also welcomes members that identify within the LGBTQIA+ community, claiming to be a transgender-inclusive sorority committed to opening its membership to “all self-identified women, regardless of any identities they held, hold, or will hold.”

“I did the research and thought that if (Chapman) wants to be an HSI, that can make sense,” Figueroa said. “I wondered what I could do to help, and that’s when Dr. Reginald Stewart and I met in 2022. We had this conversation as fellow Greeks, since Stewart is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, with this idea to bring OPBSI to Chapman.”

Figueroa has been coordinating with Stewart, Chapman’s vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, since September 2022 to bring the sorority to Chapman. Recently, Figueroa recruited and started working with the formal interest group of students, the Golden Panthers, who want to make OPBSI at Chapman a reality. 

When Figueroa first guest-lectured in 2021 at Chapman, she noticed that despite being a university with the goal of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution, students still felt that there was a deficit in Latinx and multicultural resources. 

“I noticed that there were some Latinas in a class that were wearing letters that belonged to Panhellenic sororities,” Figueroa said. “While I applaud Panhellenic’s strides towards inclusivity and being as welcoming as they are, I couldn’t help (but) question which multicultural Greek organizations existed on campus. That’s when I was informed that there weren’t any.”

“How is it possible that Chapman is trying to become an HSI, but there are no multicultural Greek letter organizations available as an option for students of color?”

Figueroa also commented on her personal undergrad university experience at the University of California, Berkeley in sororities, noting that as a first-generation student in the U.S., she felt isolated in Greek life. 

“As somebody that grew up in the United States as a first-generation student, from a low socioeconomic background, I wouldn’t feel comfortable joining a sorority where I don’t fit in,” Figueroa said. “I come from a very different background, and I felt ‘othered.’ This is why Panhellenic sororities were not for me. I never looked at them in college, nor was I intrigued by Greek life in general, until I saw OPBSI and what they are doing.”

Cintya Felix, a Golden Panthers member and a first-year Spanish and political science double major at Chapman, spoke up about how she didn’t feel that she fit in during sorority rush, despite her prior connections in Kappa Alpha Pi.    

“I am involved in a professional fraternity, the pre-law co-ed, and my big is (on) the executive board of Delta Delta Delta, so, naturally, it felt like I should also belong there,” Felix told The Panther. “But I did not feel like that was the case.”

That’s when Felix met Figueroa, who was tabling a booth at the Spring Involvement Fair to discuss bringing a multicultural Latinx sorority to Chapman.

“​​I saw Daisy, and I felt that instant connection,” Felix said. “She told me she was a lawyer, and I want to be a lawyer. She then told me she had done work in the immigration realm, which was so specific to what I wanted to pursue, and to see someone like her succeeding in that field inspired me to follow up on what she was doing here on campus.”

This motivated Felix to join the Golden Panthers, alongside what is currently five other students.  

Natalia Trejo, the president of the Golden Panthers and a third-year sociology and business major with an entrepreneurship minor, had been trying to independently establish a multicultural Greek organization since the beginning of the school year. When she found out about Figueroa’s OPBSI initiative, she was immediately interested. 

“I believe specifically because we are at a predominantly white institution, it’s important for our institution to create spaces for minorities on campus, especially with Chapman’s mission to become a Hispanic Serving Institution,” Trejo told The Panther. “They should create more spaces for the Latinx students that are here, and I think that this (OPBSI) is one way to make that happen.”

Alesia Orta, a Golden Panthers member and a junior double majoring in screenwriting and communication studies, has already felt a strong sense of community from working with interest group members.

“This is the first time I’ve had a sense of home,” Orta said. “I think that’s what also really stuck with me too was definitely that home feeling, and I am here for it. I was shocked to hear that there is such a thing as a Latina sorority. I did not know about that before, and I think that speaks volumes as well.”

According to Figueroa, she is excited for Latinx students at the university to feel a sense of support and community — something she has personally gotten from Omega Phi Beta. 

“I love being surrounded by like-minded women that genuinely support me and my growth,” Figueroa said. “I think the biggest reward that I’ve gotten from being a sister in OPBSI has been that sense of community (and) that sense of belonging. The women on this campus deserve to feel that sense of belonging and to be included. I don’t think that I would have become a lawyer had it not been for my sorority, my support system (or) for all of the leadership.”

Although it is not determined when Omega Phi Beta will become official at Chapman, Figueroa aims to have the sorority at the university by 2024.

“It’s happening, and we are coming,” Figueroa said.