Hispanic fraternity discusses migration

Empathetic sharing was orchestrated within the campus community Monday as about a dozen IU students convened at the La Casa Latino Cultural Center to explore the difficult assimilation process of Puerto Rican migrants into mainstream American culture.\nThe brothers of Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity held a night of education and comedy about common Puerto Rican interpretations of their arrival in New York City, capped off with free pizza during the viewing of the film "La Guagua aérea" -- A Flight of Hope.\nLa Casa is conducting several Latino cultural events throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month, scheduled to conclude Oct. 15. However, most non-Latino campus community members do not attempt to seek out Latino experiences, organizers say.\nAmong a student body of 38,589 student body, 816 students identify themselves as Hispanic, according to the IU Factbook for 2003-2004. \nLa Casa community member and sophomore Eduardo Cardenas said he believes diversity is the focus of all Latino events.\n"Different organizations under La Casa do different things to recognize Latino cultural awareness. We try to do something everyday of the week at least. There aren't many Latinos on campus." he said. "If students take a chance on different cultural experiences they will find out it's better than what they thought. La Casa is full of culture; everybody brings something different to the group."\nCampus community members attending the night's event squeezed together next to one another, four people deep, on three couches in the La Casa basement in front of a large screen television. Attendees were treated to free drinks, free food and warm friendship. Although the film's dialogue was in Spanish with no English subtitles, non-Spanish-speaking campus community members like senior Jennifer O'Neal enjoyed the camaraderie created in the room. \n"I thought tonight was nice, a homey type of setting," she said. "I could pick out certain words and I tried to put it all together. Students should come to the Latino cultural center; it might be something they like."\nLambda Upsilon Lambda brother and sophomore Jeremiah Ashe called the night a success, considering the mission of their social fraternity is to unite the general IU campus community with the Latino IU campus community.\n"Students can feel comfortable coming to our events, either at La Casa or elsewhere on campus," he said. "Students will be able to interact with different kinds of people, get to know different kinds of people, and increase their friendship base with different peoples."\nLambda Upsilon Lambda brother and senior Johan Gamboa reiterated the fraternity's purpose in hosting the event, since he believes students are often repelled by the combination of the words "greek" and "minority."\n"We are a community of people who want to help each other help others. If you want to help others while participating in a social organization, our group is for you," he said. "We are a diverse collection of students working with other diverse groups. We are just trying to help people, period."\nCurrently, Lambda Upsilon Lambda is represented by six students, but the fraternity is always seeking diverse minded individuals to join in their philanthropic events such as rake-a-thons, couch-a-thons, domino tournaments, poetry slams and safe Halloween activities. All proceeds are given to Riley's Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.\nIn addition, Gamboa and his fraternity brothers are planning to collect holiday gifts from the campus community during the winter to be distributed to hospitalized children, when the brothers are not reading to young people at the Monroe County public library.\n"Some groups stay in their own community all the time. We want to get our message out to the student body, faculty and administration," he said. "We have events so people can meet people, create friendships and make up for the areas we are lacking. We all must be a part of the whole community." \n-- Contact staff writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu .