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Friday, January 31, 2025

New all-inclusive sorority on campus

Social sorority Gamma Rho Lambda has just been added to Longwood’s list of organizations and a part of the Independent Greek Council.

The sorority accepts students who identify as non-binary and women. Although classified as a sorority, the organization also accepts members who are transgender and identify as male as well.

Gamma Rho Lambda aspires to achieve diversity, tolerance, unity and trust, explained the President of Gamma Rho Lambda (GRL), Jena Martin.

“They are the four pillars we strive for, and we represent each one and we take each one very seriously,” said Martin.

The sorority is currently a colony, which is a trial period before the organization can officially be recognized by Nationals as a chapter. The organization will become a chapter within the next two years by following national guidelines, rather than the College Panhellenic Council (CPC) guidelines, which some other Greek organizations follow at Longwood.

The idea for a Gamma Rho Lambda chapter at Longwood originally came when current President Jena Martin was going through the College Panhellenic Council process two years ago.

“None of them seemed to feel like family,” said Martin.

Once Martin started reaching out to other people on campus, she realized others felt similar. After doing research and discovering Gamma Rho Lambda’s existence at other universities, Martin then began to collectively submit a colony petition to Nationals. Once the petition was approved, the process of bringing the sorority to Longwood began with recruiting. The organization is currently in the recruitment process to gain more membership.

Courtney Jones-Addison, associate director for Diversity and Inclusion, served as the liaison for the organization while they were developing at Longwood to work with Fraternity and Sorority Life.

“They are an amazing group of young women who have definitely worked really hard to get established here,” said Jones-Addison.

Jones-Addison worked with Martin during the process to make sure all was set in place with starting the sorority at Longwood. Jones-Addison emphasized that it’s the first organization of its kind on Longwood campus.

“I’m really excited to see what they are going to accomplish within the next year,” said Jones-Addison.

The Public Relations Officer for the sorority, Mikayla Faughnan, said the purpose of starting the sorority was to produce “a safe home” for all students.

To expand membership from their current 11 members, the organization is planning open houses as well as open socials. Nationally, the sorority has 15 chapters.

Moving forward, the organization has hopes of reaching out to local high schools and the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) in the Farmville area, in order to help mentor the students.

The main goal which Gamma Rho Lambda hopes to achieve is to be a support system for high school students that may not feel comfortable going public with their sexuality.

“(Gamma Rho Lambda hopes to) be known as a support system and a safe place for not just our members but for the community as well,” said Faughnan.

The members of the sorority plan to not participate in the rituals of a week-long rush process held by the CPC of Fraternity and Sorority Life in the years to come. The sorority will hold an interview process that will result in a bid if the current members approve.

As for anyone who is looking to join Gamma Rho Lambda, Faughnan suggests attending the upcoming open houses. The sorority plans to pass out flyers soon with contact information, as well as information on how to join.

“We are a family, we would love to get to meet you,” said Martin of potential members.

Faughnan continued, “If they have not still come to terms with their sexuality we honor that, we keep that between us, (the students will) still be able to have a family here without making it public.”