RADFORD -- When Yanil Escobar was a freshman, he said people on Radford University's campus would call him "wetback" and other racial slurs. Now, as a junior, he's working to help students embrace Hispanic culture.

The Virginia native, whose roots trace to Nicaragua, is spearheading an effort to get the first Hispanic fraternity, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, chartered at Radford.

He said he believes that Hispanic students on campus "can do more if they have more groups."

On college campuses across the nation, multicultural organizations are sprouting. The National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations Inc., founded in 1998, now oversees 23 organizations at hundreds of schools, including Virginia Tech. The groups, which try to focus on specific cultures but are open to all ethnicities, pride themselves on education before socialization. NALFO was created as an umbrella organization for all Hispanic groups with Greek ties, or Greek letter organizations, said spokeswoman Roxanna Latifi.

"These organizations gave students a sense of home," she said. "Students of color, especially in rural areas, were first-generation students who needed a support system."

But at Radford, increasing the interest in Hispanic organizations has been slow.

For the past year, Radford has had one full-fledged Greek group devoted to Hispanic culture -- sorority Chi Upsilon Sigma. It was chartered last fall after less than a year as an interest group and has four members.

To even be considered on campus, an organization must get anywhere from three to five people to show they'd be committed to a new group. Specific rules depend on the national organizations, and Radford works closely with the larger organization and local students to get them chartered on campus.

Escobar's journey has been tedious -- it has taken two years, and has included filing a letter of intent, finding students and selecting causes both locally and across the region -- but he's not giving up.

He said he has close to 20 men interested and "this is not going to die."

In 2003, RU reported a 1.7 percent Hispanic student population to the state's Council of Higher Education. In 2005, the percentage had grown to 2.3 percent, or nearly 60 students. The latest numbers from last fall show a 2.1 percent Hispanic population.

"You think 1 percent or half a percent is not a lot, but to our population it is," Escobar said.

The growth warranted some culturally specific groups for men, he said. Sure, clubs and organizations without Greek letters attached do exist, but they don't receive as much publicity or respect on college campuses, he said.

With a national Greek affiliation, students are committed to one another, adopt specific causes and people take notice, he said.

To become recognized as an interest group, Escobar had to find at least five people willing to say they'd commit to Lambda Upsilon Lambda. For the past year, those men have been taking part in service days and education sessions in Virginia and the Washington, D.C., area.

But the biggest issue they face is making the nationally required cumulative grade point average of 2.8, Escobar said.

"This has been challenging because we want to leave a legacy."