Fraternity presidents reminded social ban stands
Interfraternity Council leadership reminded presidents during their annual retreat that last year’s social prohibition on The Row still stands, IFC President Pat Lauer said.
Party off · The social prohibition placed on Interfraternity Council member fraternities remains from a string of events in 2010-2011. - Carlo Acenas | Daily Trojan
Lauer reminded presidents of the ban at their retreat Aug. 6 and Aug. 7.
“We heard from the administration that if there were any incidents like there were last year it would jeopardize having recruitment altogether,” Lauer said. “We all decided that we didn’t want that to happen.”
What the university community has generally called “Pre-Rush” parties, which take place before recruitment, are not allowed this semester because they take place on weekday nights, prohibited by the current ban.
Lauer said no exact date had been set to lift the ban, nor had specific provisions for lifting the ban been set. He said he heard that the ban would be lifted around the first week of September.
“We’re still working with the vice president’s office to see what we have to do on our part to ensure that social events are safe,” Lauer said. “We want to start the first weeks off with no alcoholic incidents.”
Vice President of Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson placed The Row on social prohibition in April for the second time during the 2010-2011 school year after several negative events took place within the Greek community.
Last year, a misogynistic email sent on the Kappa Sigma fraternity listserv and photos of a suspended Kappa Sigma appearing to have sex on a USC rooftop spread virally.
The Row was first shut down Aug. 30, after 16 IFC chapters were cited for prohibited parties. Eight students were taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.
The ban was lifted two weeks later after all 16 fraternities met with the Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards committee and agreed to enforce rules that had been violated that Monday.
Fraternities agreed not to let alcoholic beverages outside the house, have large groups of people congregate or play loud music. Sorority presidents signed a letter about preventing irresponsible drinking.
DChi you knowww
Am I understanding this correctly? The “Row” has always been and remains all about alcohol consumption? I’m a third generation Trojan alumnus, and no stranger to alcohol; yet, I thought our alma mater was all about education not inebriation. Then again, 28th Street has never been and is not now part of University Park, technically nor sociologically speaking.
Back when I was on the Row (’48 to ’52) chasing skirts, we had lots of men who came back from WWII and Korea on the GI Bill. They knew how to drink and didn’t need an ambulance or ride to the hospital after couple of beers like today’s kids. If you didn’t know how to drink, those older experienced guys sat you down and taught you how to drink without making a mess of yourself. We took care of our own and led the university unlike today where the university leads the Row. Sad to see today’s Greek generation can do anything right!
Who raised this current group of pansies? Oh yeah, those wacky free-love 60s and 70s dirt-bags…
I have fond memories of my time at SC and on the Row in my fraternity who I shall not name here. We were gentlemen drinkers who served our country and knew our limits and took care of fraternity and the younger members who had not see action in War as I did. It’s true we GI Boys knew how to drink and shared that knowledge with the younger members. Often a bottle was purchased of whiskey, bourbon or sometimes gin just for the purposes of training the pledges on the proper way to consume and enjoy adult beverages. There were no drugs around (except the Mexican gardeners that moved the lawns on campus smoked marijuana occasionally) so we did not worry about people mixing things like today. Pledges were given a small glass and drank without ice cubes or mixers as only sissy boys drank fancy mixed drinks. We were men and no one wanted to be considered a sissy in those days. Seems everyone is a sissy today.
As a student who was also on the row during my 4 years, I can tell you that the people getting taken to the hospital were predominantly underage freshman girls who were not “taught how to drink” by parents or “older experienced guys,” unless they were clearly being taken advantage of. However, I do agree that our country has been raising a bunch of wusses who have been rewarded for losing their entire lives so that their feelings don’t get hurt. But in this case, it’s a pretty irrelevant argument. I can’t really blame anyone for not teaching their daughters how to properly binge drink before college. The only person to blame when a girl needs to be taken to the hospital for alcohol reasons is the girl and the friends she’s with. You can’t drink heavily without being smart about it.
You also can’t blame today’s Greek generation for not being able to do anything right, blame the PC society that we live in now. They’re doing everything they’ve been doing for decades, it’s just that university presidents and whatnot need to get off their high horses and stop acting like the Row doesn’t exist predominantly to party. They either need to accept it or get rid of it. Pussyfooting around clearly isn’t working. And since I’m guessing a large amount of money is coming from alumni who were Greek, there’s no way they could afford to get rid of it.
Excellent points ’11. However you failed to mention the “sissification” of the beverages served to these binge drinkers. All the sweet mixers high in carbs hide the true flavor of the beverage from the “transport”. Maybe if they could taste the alcohol, they wouldn’t over consume and we would all be better off. Before you start talking about closing the row, I would start by banning mixers and any sugary frozen drinks used to hide the alcohol from the under experienced drinker.
These rules may apply to all the other fraternities at USC, but Sigma Chi lives by its own rules. We will have social, because social is what we are all about. If people can’t handle alcohol its not our fault, they need to learn how to drink.
I’m sure your president is thrilled by your public comment.
Nothing more to say!