Before pledging a Latino-based fraternity, Ricardo Leon said he felt alone and insecure.
As a gay Latino, he struggled to find a group that he could identify with.
"I was trying to keep to myself, and I didn't really have that many friends," Leon said "I was alone, and there was no one to help me."
Leon, an apparel and textile design junior, said he wanted to find his place at MSU.
He said he finally learned to understand his sexuality, his culture and the struggles of being a minority student when he joined Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc.
"I would have never pictured myself finding straight Latinos being so open-minded," Leon said. "I didn't expect this. I didn't get that support from my family and to get that support from my fraternity brothers, who I just met, was overwhelming."
This week, MSU fraternities and sororities are looking to rush prospective members and some students are searching - just like Leon did - for a place to belong.
Students who have joined minority fraternities and sororities say the groups provide a built-in campus family.
But others say minority greek organizations are inadvertently creating racial barriers on and around campus.
About 30 percent of MSU fraternities and sororities are non-academically based and are either multicultural or for a specific minority group.
Matt Wong, the social chair of Pi Alpha Phi, an Asian fraternity, said he joined for the brotherhood of the organization and to forge a deep bond based on shared traditions, ethnic celebrations and language.
"It's not all about the parties and all of those common greek myths," Wong said. "It's about family and camaraderie."
Wong said many people join ethnic organizations because they can't find the diversity they seek within the university.
"We do feel misrepresented," Wong said.
National Pan-Hellenic Council President Erica Evans said the greek system can forge a sense of community among all races.
"On a predominately white campus, it's a good outlet. If you're far away from a brother or a sister, it's like a family." Evans said. "I now have sorority sisters who are white, Asian and Latina."
And with the strict academic guidelines of greek organizations, the greek system helps increase university retention rates for minority students, said Margarita Gonzalez, president of Sigma Lambda Gamma.
"It's hard for Latinos to survive," Gonzalez said. "We needed more support."
Mechanical engineering senior Keith Redmond said he joined Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., a black fraternity, over an engineering fraternity because he felt more of a connection with the black organization.
"The members were really brotherly," Redmond said. "Alpha Phi came to me; others didn't seem personal."
But not every student is eager to join an organization for minorities of a certain ethnicity.
When psychology sophomore Alexandra Oh came to MSU from Singapore, she said she chose to join a multicultural honors coed fraternity over an Asian sorority because she wanted to make friends from different backgrounds.
"The more you look at differences, the more of a problem it becomes," Oh said. "I'm proud that I'm Chinese, but that culture is something I already know about. I want to learn about other cultures."
Oh said sometimes groups for specific ethnicities can segregate themselves from the rest of the MSU community.
"I know it can be a good form of support, but sometimes you need to just get out of your comfort zone," Oh said.
But she isn't the only student to notice a racial and ethnic divide on campus.
The MSU greek system might conjure images of brotherhood, sisterhood and unity, but some members of National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities, which are historically minority or multicultural, say there is a racial divide within the greek community.
Advertising senior Dionna Kinlaw said two of the largest minority groups at MSU, blacks and Latinos, need to start working together instead of fighting.
Kinlaw is one of the founders of a new sorority, Alpha Omega Chi, which aims to bring the Latina and black communities together to raise awareness on health issues such as diabetes, AIDS and cancer, which affect both blacks and Latinos in large numbers.
Leaders of both communities said they had noticed a tension between the two ethnicities both on and off campus. Because no one could pinpoint where the tension came from, Kinlaw felt it was time to bridge the gap.
"There was so much hatred between us, and it was time to for us to come together," Kinlaw said. "We have a lot in common, and we all share the same views in some way."
Still, some students who are rushing this week would prefer to join a more diverse group.
"We all have different races and different homes, but the education process is automatically something that we can relate to," said forensic science junior Aida Cuadrado, who is rushing a multicultural sorority. "Multiculture is a great example of what the world should be today."
Amy Davis can be reached at davisam8@msu.edu.
