“Let’s not quit”
By Maria P. Lopez
TAMPA, FL—Chris Moreno’s choice to change his fraternity inspires him today to change
Greek Life for the better.
Ten years ago Chris Moreno and a pledge brother vowed they wouldn’t quit Lambda Chi Alpha,
despite the relentless hazing they endured. Instead, they braved the mundane tasks their older
brothers forced them to perform. Moreno never imagined that the pledge they made would come
to radically shape their chapter.
“Eventually, one of my associate brothers became president, and that’s when the changes started
to happen.”
According to Moreno, the chapter lost half of its members because members refused to haze the
incoming pledge class.
“We cleaned out all the hazers, all the people who don’t get
what fraternities are”
Today, Moreno works at the USF Office of Fraternity and
Sorority Life doing everything from advising to research in
the media regarding Greek Life. Moreno is in fact a member
of The Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors, better
known as AFA. His research requires him to be up to date
with articles in the media regarding fraternities and sororities.
Moreno still sees some of the behaviors that have earned
Greeks their notorious reputation as party animals. However,
he has seen a decline since the 60’s and 70’s. “As national
organizations we’ve taken a hard look at ourselves.”
Moreno cites insurance as one of the factors for the decrease in wild behavior, “The more and
more that those situations are happening, the less and less insurance companies are willing to
insure fraternities and sororities which can eventually lead to their downfall.”
Looking forward, Moreno does see a change, a slow, crawling change, but a change nonetheless.
He admits it’s taken long for that change, but that now that it has built momentum it can bring
about the change that fraternities and sororities so badly need.
From a Public Relations standpoint, Moreno expresses his frustration with Greeks that fail to live
their organizations’ ritual and value system. He calls for Greeks everywhere to live the teachings
of their founders because “that should never be hidden.”
In fact, the implementation of Standards of Fraternal Excellence states minimum expectations for
Greek organizations. The purpose of these standards is to ensure that Greek organizations place
the proper emphasis on academics and campus involvement.
In addition to the Standards of Excellence, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life have
adopted their own Core Values: Integrity, Leadership, Learning and Service.
To listen to a clip from the interview with Chris:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/890061069521dcb3/