Hundreds pack Russell House theatre for university forum
USC officials said fraternities might be able to offer bids as early as Wednesday during a packed Russell House forum that brought hundreds of frustrated USC students and dozens of questions for USC officials — some thinly veiled as stinging criticisms.
That decision won’t be finalized until USC officials meet with alumni groups and national organizations today, said Anna Edwards, USC’s director of student services.
“I think in my heart, there will be a bid day this week,” said Keith Ellis, USC’s associate director of Greek Life.
But Ellis also highlighted arrests, hospitalizations and strippers in a detailed three-page time line that implicated six fraternities and showed a rush week that spiraled way out of control.
Yet over and over, students pointed out this reality: Only a third of USC Interfraternity Council groups had been implicated for breaking the rules. Consider Beta Theta Pi.
The newest fraternity on campus had invited USC officials to every event, and national leaders were in Columbia to ensure no rules were broken.
All that didn’t matter when the order came from USC to halt fraternity recruitment late Thursday, and Beta Theta Pi’s 30 potential new members — along with hundreds of others who wanted to join organizations not accused of wrongdoing — weren’t allowed to join.
Punishing an entire set of organizations for the sins of a few just isn’t right, Beta Theta Pi recruitment chair Dann Publicover told agreeing Greek students who wanted answers four days after an unprecedented crackdown.
“I’m not going to let our fraternity be thrown under the bus,” Publicover, a third-year elementary education student, said. “We did 100-percent dry recruitment, and you were invited to every single event ... Why not let judicials handle this and let this be a judicial thing?”
Publicover’s exchange seemed to sum up a debate that has stirred for days and bubbled over in clear view Monday afternoon. USC officials have maintained fraternity recruitment failed to meet both national and university standards. They say students weren’t safe, fraternity leaders weren’t honest and real solutions weren’t proposed after days of urgent pleas.
But fraternity members, who trickled to the microphone one by one and often stood waiting, didn’t always agree. Several of the questions referenced a four-page statement, approved by a majority of fraternity presidents, that called for an internal university audit into the Office of Greek Life and a mediation meeting with the board of trustees.
A sampling of the questions: Why did university officials decide to punish all fraternities when only six fraternities were caught drinking? Why have university officials made public statements attacking Greek leaders? Why don’t USC officials offer more positive support to fraternities on campus? Was this year’s rush really worse than every other year? And why aren’t USC officials also considering the positive aspects of Greek Life?
“There’s no trust between us,” said Rhett Postal, Sigma Nu’s president.
USC officials were sympathetic to some of the criticisms. Others — like why USC had suddenly cracked down so hard — didn’t receive much room for negotiation from Ellis, who came to the university two months ago.
“Alcohol at recruitment is not going to be tolerated,” Ellis said. “I’m here now, and I’m expecting we’re going to follow thevalues and rules that are set in place for us.”
Ellis said 51 of USC’s 115 alcohol hospitalizations came from Greek students last year. That’s almost 45 percent of all hospitalizations in USC’s student body, and only 20 to 25 percent of the student body is affiliated with Greek organizations.
USC officials said they offer positive support to fraternities and have “open door” policies for fraternity leaders to meet with university officials. They promised to further promote the community’s GPA and community service hours, which often exceed university averages.
“I want us to get back to being good pillars of society, that when people look at a man that’s a member of a fraternity, they say he’s a good, upstanding citizen,” Ellis said.