Persevering Together
How a multicultural sorority creates community in the face of adversity
Taylor Powers
Sydney Mulford
It was like any other chapter meeting. Cheyenne Worrell gathered in a classroom with her fellow Gammas — members of Sigma Lambda Gamma, a multicultural sorority at Miami University — on a Sunday afternoon in late March.
The group discussed upcoming events, goals they accomplished last week and anything that could have gone differently. It was fun like always. But the air was sucked out of the room when chapter President Lina Miesse acknowledged the recent passing of Senate Bill 1 (S.B.1).
S.B.1, also known as the Advance Higher Education Act, institutes several changes to education such as shutting down diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and prohibiting conversation about “controversial topics” in classrooms. This was signed into law on March 28 and officially took effect at the end of June.
This wasn’t the first time the members had considered S.B.1; many of them had individual conversations with Miesse and each other before its passage. The bill was previously addressed at a Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) meeting, and two members had gone to the State House to speak against it.
The chapter was confident they could continue functioning in some capacity as they still had the right to assembly. But they wondered if any changes would be necessary to ensure compliance with the bill.
The group was reassured the university had a plan, and they were advised to operate as usual, but it's hard under the constant presence of a dark cloud of despair.
“It just kind of feels like a storm's coming, and we don't know where or when or how bad it's gonna be,” Worrell said. “You know, fun stuff.”
Sigma Lambda Gamma (SLG) is a national multicultural sorority and is a part of MGC at Miami. Unlike Pan-Hellenic, MGC does not have a formal recruitment or rush. It also focuses on celebrating and preserving various cultural identities and heritages.
SLG was originally founded at the University of Iowa in 1990 as a safe space for Latina women on a predominantly white campus. Since then, more than 131 chapters have been established across American universities, and it has evolved into a multicultural organization that welcomes people of diverse backgrounds. Miami’s own chapter was founded in 2007 and became the first multicultural sorority on campus.
Its national philanthropic cause is the Breast Cancer Awareness Research Foundation and the Trio Foundation, which is a set of federally funded programs to support college students from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to the U.S. Department of Education. SLG’s core principles are academics, social interaction, cultural awareness, community service and morals and ethics. It showcases these values through events and community service such as trash pick-ups and workshops on how to be an ally for undocumented immigrants.
Miesse, a senior studying environmental earth science with a sustainability co-major, said SLG aims to uplift women from all walks of life.
“At its core, SLG is about empowering women to learn about themselves, to learn about their sisters, to celebrate their own culture and the culture of the people around them,” Miesse said, “as well as serving their community and interacting with society as a whole.”
Miesse joined SLG in the spring of her first year. A friend suggested joining a multicultural sorority, and shortly after, she met now-alumna Mónnica Gay through the Latiné Student Alliance. From there, she attended study sessions with the other members.
“It was a very natural progression, and that's sort of how [our] recruitment is in general: It's not like a formal rush,” Miesse said. “[It's more] like, ‘Let's get to know you. You get to know us.’”
Miesse has been the chapter president since January. Since it’s small, most general body members will likely take on an executive position at some point.
There are currently eight active members: four set to graduate, three sophomores and one junior.
Even with small numbers, SLG strives to create a tight-knit, welcoming community where everyone has a bond and a sense of trust with one another. It aims to involve all members, whether they’re currently active or have graduated, and lots of alumni still keep in touch.
“There should never be a reason why we look at a sibling and say, ‘You know, I haven't talked to her in a long time,’” Miesse said.
The bonds are something that Evelyn Meza Rivas, general body member, values about the sorority. She joined back in May, and although this is her first semester being actively involved, she has made genuine connections with her Gammas.
“[One] thing [I love] is just how close I get with my sisters,” Rivas said. “I think that sister bonding does happen immediately, or it comes within time.”
Rivas, a sophomore nursing major with a minor in nutrition, has formed a close friendship with one sister in particular, Veronica Casias. Rivas said that when she's around Casias, she can forget about nursing for a while.
From their first conversation, Rivas knew they would have a strong connection. Both sisters grew up in a Hispanic/Latino community in the Cincinnati area and have bonded over their shared struggles.
“Being able to share that Latino connection was something I absolutely love … I was like, ‘I finally made a friend,’” Rivas said.
The sorority’s motto, “Culture is pride, pride is success,” resonates with Rivas and motivates her to succeed and grow into herself. The multicultural aspect of the sorority is extremely important to the group and is not something they’re willing to set aside.
“Cultural awareness is one of our pillars,” said Worrell, vice president of SLG. “It's something we all hold really deep to us.”
Rivas’ introduction to SLG was extremely similar to Worrell’s, a junior majoring in professional writing and creative writing who joined during her sophomore year.
Both participated in MADE at Miami, a pre-semester program to help first-year students transition into college. Both had now-alumna Arianna Nooks as their Peer Group Leader, who spoke highly of SLG. Both also had interactions with Gay, who was also a Peer Group Leader and another factor in their decision to join.
One evening, while Gay and Worrell were having dinner at Pulley Diner, Gay mentioned she was heading to a study session with her fellow Gammas soon. Worrell, who had been curious about SLG, found her opportunity to ask about the sorority.
When Gay hadn’t joined the others in their study room, Nooks came by to check on her. That’s when she saw Worrell for the first time since MADE, and the two were excited to see each other.
“You two know each other?” Gay asked.
“Yeah, she's my MADE kid,” Nooks replied.
***
When Miesse learned about the passing of S.B.1, the first thing she did was go to her chapter liaison.
In accordance with the bill, Miami closed three offices: the Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence, Miami Regionals Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI).
“As we navigate these changes to comply with the law, we will be guided by our core values of Love and Honor and our enduring commitment to providing a supportive community where all students, faculty, and staff can thrive,” according to a statement published by Miami.
Miesse was told by the chapter liaison that although the sorority has Latina roots, it is not Latina-exclusive and markets itself as a multicultural organization. Because anyone of any background can join, SLG can continue to operate as it has previously. The one note Miesse was given was to ensure that any advertisement for the group was not exclusive or targeted to one specific community.
Afterward, she immediately went to SLG and reassured them that the chapter would not change fundamentally. However, some sisters were still personally impacted by the bill, losing money, resources and safe spaces.
Gay had previously worked in the CSDI, and many SLG members spent a lot of time in that space. Miesse herself was an ambassador for Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, which eventually lost funding due to an executive order.
Miesse said she's addressing these concerns by giving her sisters space for grief and reminding them she is a support system, even if there is nothing she can do to fix the situation.
“The CSDI is closed, but that space is still there … maybe these resources are gone, but here are the new resources that we do have,” Miesse said. “And so I think saying this sucks, and it is terrible, but here is what this is going to look like, and here are the resources that are still here for you [has] been really important.”
She intends to run the chapter as she has before, standing firmly behind each decision she makes. During this time, Miesse has learned the value of the little moments she gets to spend with just the chapter.
“It is really important to me in this difficult time to have this cut-out time internally, for us to just be people, like casually hang out and bond with each other, so that we can be a stronger support system once we have to go back out into the world and deal with all of this happening,” she said.
One of Rivas’ favorite memories with SLG was a presentation night. Topics ranged from niche internet references to a “Who's Most Likely To” superlative-style slideshow.
Someone made a presentation about what each member’s drag name would be, and Rivas received “CadavHER” because she once told a story about a cadaver lab in high school. She finds it sweet that the women remembered this.
Miesse’s favorite memory was a convention two summers ago in New Orleans, which she attended with five other members. She got to meet other chapters and even a founder of SLG. She enjoyed learning from alumni while also spending time with her sisters.
“We went and got pizza on the French Quarter and took it back to our room and [debriefed] for the day, [and] my now roommate and I got tarot cards read,” Miesse said. “It was overall just a really fun memory that I don't think I would have ever had if I was not [in] an organization.”
***
Chapter ended a few minutes ago, but the members hung around afterward, which Worrell said is a common occurrence. Senior Sabrina Costello was talking to Casias and senior Stella Hudson about clogs, and Costello turned to consult Miesse, who is a big fan of this type of shoe.
Miesse pulled out her phone to show the Doc Martin clogs she had recently bought on Depop, while she shared her thoughts on Dansko versus Birkenstock clogs, which she said run too big and don’t support your feet. Costello joked about how Miesse discusses clogs a lot or often talks about the potential of getting new ones.
“You are a really big fan of clogs. You have the most clogs out of any person I’ve ever known,” Worrell said, to which Miesse replied that she only has three pairs. Miesse joked that they were “the most true to my spirit.”
“The first time I hung out with you privately this semester, you were like ‘Hey, look at my new clogs,’” Worrell said.
“They [had] little doggies on them,” Miesse replied, which prompted a big laugh from everyone.
Conversation continued to flow as the members filed out of the classroom, ranging from how hard it is to get quarter rolls for a $20 bill to the silly behavior of Miesse’s dog, who tried to hide under a table when they were leaving.
***
Miesse doesn’t know what to predict for the future of SLG. Nor does Worrell. They’ll operate as usual, as advised, but how could any organization function with this cloud of uncertainty hanging over it?
But the one thing the government can’t take away from the Gammas is their connections to one another. The memories, the jokes, the Mario Kart tournaments and movie nights are treasures no one could erase. Worrell knows the community of SLG will never change.
“We are family at the end of the day, and that's one thing I love about us,” Worrell said. “No matter what the executive order is, that's not going to change.”
