A Guide to Multicultural Greek Life at NYU

Multicultural Greek Life is a network of cultural affinity-based sororities and fraternities. They were founded to build community, cultural pride, and support for historically underrepresented students. In 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was established at Cornell University, to support and uplift Black men. Over time, eight more sororities and fraternities were established with commitments to service, civil rights advocacy, and cultural pride.

These nine organizations today make up the Divine 9 who are pillars in leadership and empowerment in Black communities around the world. The Divine 9 helped pave the way for the development of broader cultural Greek life. This includes the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations and the National APIDA Panhellenic Association. Many of these organizations have unique and rich cultural traditions. At NYU, this includes stepping and strolling—rhythmic movement used to showcase unity, new member presentations, nicknames, and more.

Here at NYU we have 14 Multicultural Greek Organizations, who together make up the Multicultural Greek Council:

• Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Alpha Phi Alpha
• Alpha Kappa Delta Phi
• Delta Kappa Delta
• Kappa Phi Lambda
• Lambda Upsilon Lambda
• Mu Delta Alpha
• Nu Alpha Phi
• Pi Delta Psi
• Sigma Gamma Rho
• Sigma Iota Alpha
• Sigma Psi Zeta
• Zeta Phi Beta

While Greek Life at NYU as whole is smaller than other schools (10% of students) it still holds a large impact on the lives of many. Multicultural Greek Organizations at NYU are smaller than Panhellenic and interfraternity with usually less than 30 active members per organization. That being said its closeness and community is what I think makes it so special.

When speaking with Azari’ah Teague, the president of the Multicultural Greek Council and Vice President of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., she described the interconnectedness of Zeta Phi Beta despite having chapters all around the world.

One amazing MGC tradition that happens every Fall is Fusion. All of the organizations get together and have Stroll and Stepping performances. Teague expressed her excitement in planning it for the Fall 2025 semester, and her plans to, “take it to a new level this year, integrating games, donations, and philanthropy.”

Personally, I came to NYU with no intention of joining a sorority and no knowledge of Multicultural Greek Life whatsoever. But within such a large, diverse community such as NYU and NYC as a whole, I have found it such a great, interconnected support system. Its smaller nature, my own sorority Sigma Psi Zeta having ~15 active members this semester, has allowed me to close unique bonds with each individual member, and make larger connections within the MGC community as a whole.

Furthermore, being half Korean has always been a large part of my life, and being in an Asian interest sorority has allowed me to further connect with my culture and also relate to my syzters on a deeper level.

A unique thing that is present in much of Multicultural Greek life is new member presentations, also sometimes referred to as probate. These reveals are times for the newly initiated members present themselves and knowledge they have learned about their organization to the community in a demonstration of strength and unity. There is stepping, strolling, songs, skits and other unique traditions depending on the organization.

When speaking with multiple members of different organizations, new member reveal was cited as a favorite and pivotal moment. Brandon Tang, a brother of Pi Delta Psi, described his own new member presentation stating, “while at first I was nervous to perform in front of so many people, it ended up being a very special moment for me. It was a great feeling to have all my practice and hard work pay off and cement my place in the brotherhood.”

Unlike other Greek councils that have one recruitment process for multiple organizations at the same time, MGC organizations each have their own recruitment process each semester. To learn more about each organization’s recruitment process, find all of the organizations on Instagram through @nyumgc. Furthermore, each semester all Multicultural Greek organizations will have tables at both Clubfest and Meet the Greeks!