LATINO-GREEKS ARRIVE

Robert Manley, Manley Burke

Now that the people of Hispanic ancestry have been recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Census as the largest identifiable minority group in the United States, they are going Greek in an enthusiastic way on campuses where their numbers are growing.  There is a National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations which consists of 24 members.  Each member has chapters.  The membership of the Latino-Greek organizations associated with NALFO is estimated at more than 30,000 by Jeffrey Vargas, who is with NAFLO.  In addition, there are ten other groups that have not affiliated with NAFLO.

At the same time, among the traditional fraternities, Latino participation is growing on campuses that have growing Latino student populations.

On the West Coast, for more than a decade, there are campuses where European students of non-Iberian ancestry are far outnumbered by the aggregate of Hispanic and Asian students.

This demographic trend has been conspicuous in census data over the last 15 or 20 years.  Finally, it is arriving.  Latino-Greeks are bringing a new energy along with their rich cultural heritage.