About SLB

Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity is a historically Latino-based social fraternity that was founded in 1986 at the University of Iowa based on cultural understanding and wisdom. Most noteworthy is that 16 of the 18 founders were of Hispanic-Latino origin/descent.

We believe in the ideals of fairness, opportunity, and equality of all men without regard to their race, culture, or ethnic background. Our biggest goal is to see that all of society can realize the importance of these three ideals. In order to achieve this goal, we all strive to model these behaviors and present ourselves in a gentlemanly and educated fashion.

Founding Fathers

During the fall of 1985, Baltazar Mendoza-Madrigal began to explore the idea of establishing a Latino-based fraternity at the University of Iowa. Having seen the impact organizations like Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity had on their constituency, Mendoza-Madrigal knew something similar could be done for the Latino interest. Without knowing the impact he would have almost 30 years down the road, Baltazar starting doing research on this possibility.

After months of dedicated research, Mendoza-Madrigal called for a special meeting on March 7, 1986. Held at the Chicano Indian American Cultural Center (now known as the Latino Native American Cultural Center), this meeting would bring together the Latino students to discuss the feasibility of creating a social fraternity that would focus on the Latino culture.

“The Latino community was divided among several social groups at the time,” said Mendoza-Madrigal. The enthusiasm in favor of establishing a social fraternity that could help in unifying the community was so great that word started to spread quickly across the University of Iowa campus. Everyone knew that something great was about to take place. After much planning, the ideology and philosophy of this new organization were finalized on April 4th, 1986. Henceforth, this day is recognized as the official founding date of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity at The University of Iowa.

Eighteen men gathered at the University of Iowa and founded Sigma Lambda Beta. These men came from all sorts of backgrounds and exemplify what Sigma Lambda Beta stands for today. These men are:

Bro. Mario Buendia