Students seek to start first Latino fraternity

It is with hopeful hearts that four IU students seek to become the founding fathers of IU's first Latino fraternity, Omega Delta Phi.\nNow at club status, the potential fraternity finished its first semester with seven members. Three alumni, who formed the interest group last year, are included. \nThe president of Omega Delta Phi's national organization, David Ortiz, is a doctoral student at IU. Ortiz has been involved with the fraternity for 10 years and is the founding father of the Delta Chapter at Texas A&M University. He also served as Midwest regional director. \n"There's a small, yet vibrant greek scene here at IU," Ortiz said, "ODPhi creates a niche at IU, and we are founded on the principles of supporting the Latino community, but we also embrace all concepts of diversity."\nA year ago, Ortiz met with ODPhi alumni graduate student Jesse Mendez and Matt Romero, a New Mexico State University alumnus. They decided IU would be an ideal place to begin an ODPhi chapter. They then publicized an informational meeting and found four undergraduates willing to take on the project. \n"Gamma Phi Omega (a Latina sorority) started here, and we'd like to follow in their footsteps," senior Gabino Zapata, ODPhi president, said. "I was totally up to the task and thought it was a perfect opportunity to contribute to the Latino community at IU."\nThere are several steps a fraternity must follow to become an official chapter, both with the national and IU organizations. The founders must form an interest group; then they can be promoted to club status. The club might be approved as a "colony." It can take up to a year to get permission to become an official chapter. \n"The men right now are going through a 10-week founders program, and they need to get a true sense of what it means to be a brother of ODPhi," Ortiz said. "The reason for all these processes is to ensure that the organization shows it is liable to survive and prosper on campus."\nFounded in 1987 at Texas Tech University, ODPhi has grown, with more than 30 chapters, colonies and clubs across the country and in Mexico. \nODPhi's motto is "One culture, any race."\nThe national Omega Delta Phi Web site says the purpose of its brotherhood "is and shall be to promote and maintain the traditional values of unity, honesty, integrity and leadership." The site concludes that the fraternity was founded "in order to provide, to any man, a diverse fraternal experience which coincides with higher education."\n"I got involved with it because of their dedication to community service and diversity," Mendez said. "I'm a big advocate of racial diversity, and this is by no means just a Hispanic fraternity. It's very multicultural."\nOrtiz said he thinks because most fraternities are so big, a member might not really be able to know all of his brothers. But since ODPhi is smaller, Mendez said, members are able to "experience the true meaning of brotherhood, a more passionate definition."\nVice-president and sophomore Jaret Fishman became dedicated to the cause of creating this fraternity at IU after attending the informational meeting last year. Fishman said he was attracted to the house in part because of its diversity and multiculturalism.\n"This fraternity is out to make a difference and serve the community, especially the minority students," Fishman said. "We are looking to do something no other fraternity has done on this campus -- to create a multicultural group that is compiled of every type of person, made up of all races, ethnicities, religions and cultures."\nThough there are no plans for building a house, members predict by next fall they will be ready to participate in the normal recruitment process. Fishman said the group anticipates much growth in the next few years. \n"ODPhi is important because it gives the person a chance to get more involved in the University and the community," Romero said. "This is a long process, but we are well on our way"