Latino sororities and fraternities from around the nation took part in activities, workshops and social events last weekend in the Kansas Union.

The second annual Latino Greek Leadership Conference featured nine greek organizations from Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Maryland. The Multicultural Resource Center hosted the event.

Juan Izaguirre, conference chair and assistant director of the MRC, said the theme of the conference, “Ahora es El Tiempo” or “Now is the Time,” was about the opportunities for greek organizations to have more of a voice on campuses nationwide.

He said the conference gave the nine organizations an opportunity to meet new friends and talk about ways to advance the Latino greek community.

“We are Latino brothers and sisters first, and members of our organizations second,” Izaguirre said.

Jose Interiano, Wichita senior, was one of 11 members of Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity to volunteer at the conference, assisting 40 participants in workshops and activities. Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority volunteered at the conference as well.

“The goal is to have our participants be leaders in their respective communities,” Interiano said.

Activities at the conference included workshops on how to prevent discrimination, deal with derogatory terms, hate speech and hate crimes.

Izaguirre said a separate workshop gave information about each organization and what it stood for, and allowed participants to see the similarities of the nine unaffiliated organizations.

Other workshops included ways to raise money, market, recruit and retain members, he said.

Izaguirre said there are about 70 Latino greek chapters nationwide and three in Kansas.