IFC institutes revised social policy for The Row

The Interfraternity Council held a draft-like selection event on Jan. 28 for all IFC fraternities to select social event dates.

This process was put forth by IFC in compliance with the new university social event policies. All IFC fraternities were represented and given the opportunity to select dates for hosting social events at chapter houses throughout the semester.

According to a new university policy, the Dept. of Public Safety is allowing four chapter houses to host social events each weekend night, a maximum of 12 chapter events per weekend.

This policy only applies to The Row, meaning that a fraternity can host a social event off The Row without the event being counted toward the four event maximum.

IFC decided that a draft-like system was the easiest way to fairly choose dates for the semester.

IFC President Tanner Sandoval discussed how the university and Greek leadership created the new policies and processes for regulating and reforming social life at USC.

“This draft system seemed like the most fair and equitable way to let houses do what they wanted; everyone had the equal opportunity to choose the dates they wanted,” Sandoval said.

Phi Delta Theta social chair Tay Vaughn commented on how the process took place and the implications it has on the future of Greek social life at USC.

“The actual process was fairly simple and smooth,” Vaughn said. “I think generally people across the board were satisfied with the picks that they got,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn said there is still ambiguity on how the policy will turn out.

“I feel like we don’t really know how it’s going to play out yet. I am personally very optimistic about it, [but] we don’t know if people are going to follow the rules all the time,” he said.

Vaughn also spoke about how this draft selection was the beginning of the implementation of new social policies on campus.

“This first week is just a trial run,” Vaughn said. “The dynamics of social events have totally shifted. We don’t know how big parties are going to be [and] we don’t know how many people are going to be going out every week. It’s also a trial run for the university to see if it’s going to be successful at reforming social policies.”

The IFC draft selection this week was the result of a discussion between administrators and student leaders looking to reform social events in the school’s official policies.

Sandoval noted how the alcohol and social life forum held last semester was the starting point for discussion and reformation of university social policies.

“The forum really started the conversation about what to adjust in terms of social policies and how to make social life safer at the university,” he said.

Since then, university leaders including Dr. Ainsley Carry, USC’s vice provost for Student Affairs, have crafted new social policies focusing on three subjects: education, enforcement and environment.

The university is also increasing involvement with DPS to ensure enforcement of new social policies as a first step toward reformation of social life at USC.

UPDATE: This post has been updated to show that IFC instituted the revised social policy for The Row.