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UPDATE: This story was updated at 12:43 p.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2026.

When Syracuse University alum Zhamyr Cueva first arrived on campus, he wanted to create a space for Latino students to find support at a predominantly white institution. As a sophomore in 1991, Cueva and five other students helped charter Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity, the first Latino fraternity on SU’s campus.

“We needed a space to find community support and provide a family, because all of us were first generation Latino students, and it was a predominantly non-Latino institution,” Cueva said. “The fraternity would help bring out traditions and perspectives and what we feel is necessary in a brotherhood.”

The SU chapter of the fraternity, also known as La Unidad Latina, celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. The chapter was chartered at SU on April 27, 1991. It was originally founded at Cornell University on Feb. 19, 1982, when the first 14 members were initiated. Thursday is their national fraternity Founders Day.

Since there was not yet a council for Latino Greek life at SU, La Unidad Latina received their charter through association with the National Pan-Hellenic Council. The fraternity eventually joined the Latino Greek Council, which transitioned into a part of the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations. This created a permanent national affiliation and established an independent Latino Greek governing structure at SU, Cueva said.

Patrick Ramos was looking to be a part of something bigger than himself when he first came to SU. Ramos said it “immediately felt like home” when he joined Lambda Upsilon Lambda in the spring of 2007.

The LUL Softball Classic brings out the most engagement for the national organization, Ramos said. The yearly softball tournament started in 2005 and draws hundreds of people from chapters across the country every summer. This summer will be the 21st edition.

SU’s Theta chapter of Lambda Upsilon Lambda has won two out of the last three championships, but Ramos said that his biggest win of the tournament was sharing moments and conversations with younger Hermanos, or how Latino fraternity members refer to their brothers.

“From older guys, younger guys, and feeling like you have an extended family that in and of itself, is just amazing,” Ramos said. “A lot of the time that family is sometimes even bigger or more impactful, in a way, than your own personal family.”

Brandon Medina, who joined Lambda Upsilon Lambda in spring 2012, wanted to further elevate Lambda Upsilon Lambda’s presence on campus. He aimed to win the La Copa Dorada award, an award given to the Lambda Upsilon Lambda Chapter of the Year.

In the summer of 2014, the summer after Medina graduated, the Lambda Upsilon Lambda’s Syracuse chapter won La Copa Dorada award.

“It kind of put us in a different stratosphere, because other chapters across the nation were starting to see, ‘Wow, Syracuse, the Theta chapter, is really doing some really cool stuff,’” Medina said. “But the more important thing was elevating the work that we were doing, both on campus and within the community.”

An event that gave Medina the opportunity to stay connected with the Theta chapter is Coming Back Together, a reunion event put on by the Office of Multicultural Advancement every three years that creates connections between Lambda Upsilon Lambda undergraduates and postgraduate students.

Medina, who has attended three of these events since his graduation, said it’s a great opportunity to reconnect with people from the chapter from his time on campus, while reminding the undergraduates of the support system they have around them.

La Unidad Latina aims to create a tight-knit bond among their Hermanos, one that continues years past graduation. Courtesy of Angel Caceres

Cueva has also returned to campus after he graduated. On one visit with his mentor, Cueva noticed the Black fraternities and sororities had plaques on the Shaw Quadrangle to honor their history and presence. He later found out the National Pan-Hellenic Council fundraised for years to get those plaques up.

For Cueva, the plaques represented a way for the fraternity to represent themselves at SU. Cueva decided to pay for the NALFO plaques himself.

“What’s really important is when you have students that take open house tours, they come to Syracuse, and they might be of Latin descent, it gives them an opportunity to see that there’s a few communities here for them,” Cueva said.

Joseph Cruz said his first Coming Back Together event was right after his class was initiated — or crossed — and it gave him the opportunity to meet over 30 alumni.

“That was my first experience that it was like, ‘Wow, this is wholesome,’” said Cruz, who joined Lambda Upsilon Lambda in 2021. “This is actually a brotherhood.”

Cruz was initiated after COVID-19 pandemic, which he said brought the Hermanos closer together.

“It was more intimate. It was just us. It was us talking to each other, getting to know how our day was going, any family issues that’s going on,” Cruz said. “Those were the times where we were intimate and vulnerable with each other, to get to know each other a little bit better.”

Joshua Moran, who joined Lambda Upsilon Lambda in the spring of 2016, wanted to keep this family-like connection among Hermanos after graduation. Every few months, Moran curates events the Hermanos have never experienced to bring them.

Moran said it is uncommon in male-centered friendships to reach out to each other to plan hang outs. He wanted to make a space for Hermanos to hang out and enjoy each other.

One of the yearly postgraduate events is Secret Santa, which, with organizing help from Cueva and Medina, drew in a crowd of 30 Hermanos this past year. It was run out of one of Cueva’s restaurants in New York City. This was the largest turnout for these postgraduate events yet, which usually draw in about 10 to 15 Hermanos.

La Unidad Latina was first founded in Cornell University in 1982. In 1991, Zhamyr Cueva and five other founding members established the Theta Chapter in Syracuse University.Courtesy of Angel Caceres

As a 21-year-old Latino man from Washington Heights, New York, Secret Santa had a big impact on President Angel Caceres, who joined Lambda Upsilon Lambda in the spring of 2025. He said he was deeply impacted by being surrounded by other educated Latino men.

“When I went to that Secret Santa, I realized for the first time, like it actually hit me, I was surrounded by so many educated Latino men who spoke both English and Spanish,” Caceres said. “That’s so significant for me because growing up, if you were an adult and you spoke Spanish, you typically did not speak English.”

Whenever Caceres plans events for Lambda Upsilon Lambda, he said he does so with intention, always thinking of ways to serve the campus community in a meaningful way.

“We were made for this activism, we were made for this support, and we were made for facilitating that community space away from home for people, so that people can feel safe,” Caceres said. “Especially at institutions like PWI, and then you want to add in everything that’s happening around the world with ICE. It’s important for people to have these safe spaces.”

Joining Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Caceres said the most important thing was the “brotherhood” he felt. When he came out in early April of last year, he was received with love from Hermanos he had never met before. Whether it’s at events in the city or visiting different schools in upstate New York, he has felt nothing but love and respect.

“I really have felt like my time here, I’ve really gotten that brotherhood that I joined for so it’s not like a singular memory,” Caceres said. “It’s not one particular event. It’s truly been an experience for me.”

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this article stated the fraternity celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. SU’s chapter of Lambda Upsilon Lambda celebrates it 35th anniversary. Nationally, La Unidad Latina turns 44 years old this year.

Published on February 18, 2026 at 11:59 pm