Alpha Zeta was founded at
Cornell University on January 1, 1890. In the fall of 1889, international Latin American students decided to establish a fraternity that would cater to their needs. Since traveling was more of a challenge in 1889–1890, during the winter break, the organization's founders stayed in
Ithaca, New York. On New Year's Day in 1890, at a meeting on campus, the founders created the first Latin American student fraternity in the United States. This was long before the establishment and quick expansion of today's
Latino,
Asian or other cultural-affinity or
Multicultural Fraternities and Sororities. These constitute a second wave of cultural-affinity fraternal growth. To explore further the initial wave of cultural-affinity fraternities,
Psi Alpha Kappa, founded at Lehigh University in the fall of 1900, was the first
inter-collegiate Latin American fraternity to be established in the United States. This movement of fraternities that catered to international Latin American students included Phi Chi Delta,
Sigma Iota,
Phi Lambda Alpha, Lambda Sigma Alpha Fraternity, Phi Beta Mex,
Phi Iota Alpha, and many others. ==See also==