When Rocio Gonzalez arrived at the University of the Pacific campus in Stockton and saw the row of sorority houses, she was confident she already knew what type of women lived there.

"I had a bad impression," said Gonzalez, 20, an education major from Ceres. "I thought it was a really big clique based on appearance and money, which aren't things I think should be held so highly."

At Pacific, none of the four sororities appealed to Gonzalez. So she and seven friends blazed a new trail.

They researched about three dozen organizations and brought a new Latina-based sorority, Gamma Alpha Omega, to the Pacific campus.

The sorority's arrival is part of a growing trend at Pacific, where fraternities and sororities founded by black, Asian or Latino students are opening or reopening chapters on campus.

More and more Asians and Latinos are going to college and founding their own Greek chapters with the intention of providing service to their respective racial or ethnic communities.

The creation or resurgence of culturally based Greek chapters led last spring to the formation at Pacific of the Multicultural Greek Council. The council joined the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council, which govern traditional Greek fraternities and sororities on campus.

Because the traditional and multicultural Greek chapters have differing procedures and policies, including those governing the rushing of new members who are known as pledges, the Multicultural Greek Council was created to provide oversight.

But that has prompted criticism that the Multicultural Greek Council amounts to self-segregation, erecting a wall between traditional and culturally based fraternities and sororities. Pacific officials dismiss the suggestion and note that the multicultural Greek chapters give students a support system that assists with student retention.

"It's about which group best fits that student's values and sense of connection," said Julie Sina, vice president of Student Life at Pacific.

Ultimately, Sina said, the traditional and multicultural Greek chapters all participate together in campus programs.

Traditional Greek organizations argue, however, that the creation of a Latino or Asian fraternity or sorority draws membership away from their own groups and limits the diversity of their memberships.

The rise in culturally based Greek organization may be no accident; last fall Pacific welcomed one of the most ethnically diverse freshmen classes in three decades. Some of those freshmen now have enough class credits required by campus policy to pledge a Greek chapter.

Lawrence Henderson, 22, of Stockton, a senior majoring in graphic design, originally started pledging with a traditional fraternity but stopped just a week before becoming a member.

"They were just trying to get more bros on campus and get their recruitments up and not connect with us as people," said Henderson, who later pledged Phi Beta Sigma, a historically black fraternity, with his twin brother, Clarence. "I felt like it was a waste of time."

With the Sigmas, he already knew the members. The bond was already there.

"We are all about connecting on other levels than just being students. There are not a lot of black males on campus, and we all go through the same things. We talk about it," Lawrence Henderson said. Still, he believes he could have joined the other traditional fraternities without experiencing discrimination.

With a total of 622 people, Greeks make up about 20 percent of the university's student population.

Three campus organizations oversee the Greek chapters: The Interfraternity Council governs five fraternities with 254 members, the Panhellenic Council supervises four sororities with 330 members and the 38-member Multicultural Council keeps tabs on five organizations.

The culturally based Greek chapters are Gamma Alpha Omega, a Latina sorority installed on campus in October 2003; Delta Sigma Theta, a black sorority that returned to campus in 2001; Phi Beta Sigma Inc., a black fraternity that returned in 2002; Omega Delta Phi Inc., a Latino fraternity that started in January 2003; and Xi Chi Sigma, an Asian fraternity that was founded on the Pacific campus in February 2003.

In addition, students are discussing bringing another black sorority and a new Asian sorority to the Stockton campus.

Rex Nicolas, 19, of Hawaii is one of 10 founding members of Xi Chi Sigma.

"We wanted to do something to promote the Asian culture," said Nicolas, a junior majoring in finance who is the group's treasurer.

"There are negative stereotypes that when you see a bunch of Asians and it's like a gang or something. We emphasize that we are gentlemen and help out in the community. ... The group is small, and there's more chances for leadership," he said.

Graduate student Henry Chan, 25, adviser for Xi Chi Sigma, said members sought a group that catered more to their interests, such as promoting Asian awareness and Asian pride.

Megan Hemingson, a 22-year-old senior, finished her term as president of the Panhellenic Council earlier this month. She is one of 86 members of the Alpha Phi sorority, which was installed in 1998 and has a house on campus. All of the culturally based Greek chapters do not have a house on campus.

"We are about a third Asian," said Hemingson of Seattle. "There's diversity in all the different social sororities and fraternities. ... None of them are all white."

It's not hard to recruit multicultural students to traditional sororities and fraternities at Pacific, but the pool is small, Hemingson said.

Last fall, the university had about 3,400 undergraduate students: 47 percent are white, 27.3 percent are Asian, 10.5 percent are Latino and 3 percent are black.

In spring 2003, Student Life officials interviewed 70 black, Asian and Latino freshmen and senior students about recruitment to the university, their prior perceptions of attending college and their campus experiences.

The freshmen who were surveyed said it was not important for them to attend a school with students who looked like them.

But once they got to school, they wanted to find people who looked like them when they were seeking connections, a social life and a place where they could fit in, Sina said.

Seniors had a different viewpoint, the university learned.

"By that point, they had established relationships with faculty. And they found places where they felt supported and could go for support," Sina said.

As their numbers grow, the culturally based Greek groups are working to find their voice on campus. Carlos Martinez, 22, a senior majoring in computer engineering from Stockton, did not want to pledge or rush with a traditional fraternity just to fill up a fraternity house.

He became one of the founding members of Omega Delta Phi, a Latino fraternity.

"We build leaders. ... It's about finding out who you are," Martinez said. The group's motto -- one culture, any race.

Earlier this month, applications were due for several Greek Life Awards to recognize community service and academics. They will be bestowed in April.

"I was trying to encourage everyone to apply for the community service award," said Akossiwa Lawrence, 21, a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. "I didn't want them to be discouraged by the question by how much money is raised.

"Community service is much more about getting out there and planning activities and social action instead of raising money," said Lawrence, a senior majoring in education.

It will mark one of the first opportunities for culturally based Greek organizations to win a Greek Life Award.