<p>i agree the greek scene is def. not diverse whatsoever
you can find most of the members on facebook or their webpages</p>
<p>To return to the question asked by the original poster, I don’t think the social atmosphere at USC is related to the school becoming a more selective academic university as much as it’s related to the types of the students that a university like that will attract. Still though, part of the reason why I was so interested in USC was that I knew I would have all sorts of social choices. I believe that USC is a school where you can choose from a broad range of social paths. If you want to be extremely social and party a lot you can meet people with similar interests or join a frat. If you want to focus on academics and create a solid group of friends who aren’t out to party every night you can do that too. I think USC will be like that for a while.</p>
<p>If by debauchery, you mean parties, then obviously USC is a heavily Greek school with a large social scene.</p>
<p>The fact is, however, that Greek parties are much more contained, regulated, and safe than anything that takes place off-row. If something goes wrong in a fraternity, there is a clear accountability structure. People take responsibility and are held responsible. </p>
<p>Take away the row, and you have a bunch of house/apartment parties Its not like people would stop drinking or stop walking back at 3am. Seriously, just look at the last time we had a lot of off-row parties riot police had to be called in for 30th street. Ask any DPS officer and they will tell you how much safer and less problematic row parties are than off-row parties. </p>
<p>Im not even going to respond to the comments about buying friends or partying with 17-18 year olds. You clearly dont get the concept of a fraternity, and thats fine. Its not for everyone. Were doing just fine without you.</p>
<p>But people shouldnt be so naïve as to blame every college inconvenience drunk people, noise, etc. on the row. Its called college. Itd happen whether there was a row or not.</p>
<p>Anything that goes on off the row? The RA presence in USC housing is a blaring refutation to that. In fact, two parties got shut down by the RA a couple of doors down from me the first week of this semester. The second time write-ups were issued for alcohol consumption despite the fact that most of the attendees were 21+. Who issues underage drinking write-ups on the row to the predominately freshman/sophomore population? DPS, who according to you don’t turn the blind eye? Sure, that’s why a good 2-3 houses on the row usually have beer pong going on their front lawn, haha.</p>
<p>Also, put away the argument that partying would be out of control around campus without the row. Nowhere else would enough people and alcohol be able to physically amass without being broken up. Be logical – you can’t make such a hasty claim based on one instance of uncontrolled partying. </p>
<p>And I think I can take a stab at the essence of the greek scene, but I’d rather save my thoughts on that touchy subject for someone impartial. Just don’t act as if membership deactivation isn’t much, much more likely once the “bro/sis” hits 21/senior year.</p>
<p>Lastly, the noise pollution from the row would be mitigated if the fraternity houses were more dispersed; so in actuality, it would NOT happen if there was not a row. I’m not trying to blame all of my perceived inconveniences on the row (don’t put words in my mouth) – I’m simply trying to refute your whole spiel on the pristine perfection of greek life at USC. I’m going to wholeheartedly apologize for saying this, but I honestly chuckled when I read your posts which implied that.</p>
<p>Guys…get this…</p>
<p>AQUAMAN!</p>
<p>Its like Spiderman, underwater…</p>
<p>boom.</p>
<p>Kyle?</p>
<p>10char</p>
<p>“Regarding Adriana and Marcus, yes the drivers were at fault, and what happened was truly tragic – but let’s not fool ourselves and ignore the fact that they were walking home from the row at 3AM on a Tuesday. How long did it take you to convince yourself that they didn’t drink and that alcohol/partying played no role?”</p>
<p>Thank you, I couldn’t have said it better myself! it was actually a Sunday morning at 3am… so you’d have to be completely deluded to think they weren’t coming back from a party.</p>
<p>Stressed4College, I don’t know if you’re doing this for paid PR or just wasting your time whining about how Greek stereotypes are untrue because you have nothing else to do. Your pathetic reply to my post made it even clearer that you’re in denial/steadfastly lying. You remind me of a girl who put an article in the Daily Trojan, saying something like, “I don’t pay dues to have fake friends… a sorority involves sisters for life.” I don’t understand how you can deny that the whole thing is buying friends.</p>
<p>I know many people involved in Greek scandals, but clearly posting such “anecdotal hearsay” is not worth my time. Maybe you’ll eventually grow up :)</p>
<p>To the freshman and people who have yet to come here, I love USC. Don’t let the large Greek population worry you… most of us ignore them and go about our business. I’ve been to some parties on the Row, but usually I go elsewhere. The latter are far more fun anyway =)</p>
<p>I went to a few Frat parties the first couple of weeks. At one party they had a guard who was watching the vodka and other hard stuff – not to keep underage drinkers from getting it, but to reserve it for the GIRLS! Hmm, why would they want to be plying underage girls with hard liquor?. Needless to say, I personally know of one freshman girl who ended up upstairs in bed with some guy after liberally availing herself of the “girls only” refreshments. Its just sad when a girl thinks she’s having the “college experience” by getting drunk and having casual sex.</p>
<p>Wow, very sad. That’s someone’s daughter ;/</p>
<p>I’ve seen much of that go on, and I’ve heard much worse from my frat buddies during casual conversation while hanging out in the privacy of my apartment. Hence my need to point out that while people like stressed4college can put up a front and fool non-USC students, many USC students know first-hand what goes on, and can’t be fed rhetoric.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s not just happened at USC but other colleges as well. The frat dues are going to buy alcohol. They are free for a reason.</p>
<p>Well I don’t know how to better illustrate the cultural shift at USC than by reading the posters above me. You’ve got the annoying pests who live near the row them complain about noise, partying, whatever. It’s weak if you ask me but it’s just the changing face of the school. If you are looking for peace, quiet, and serenity, there are plenty of other schools out there. Don’t ruin USC because of your aversion to having a good time.</p>
<p>And thankfully posters like the one above, who exemplify the worst that USC has to offer (ie they are not used in the USC informational pitch mailed to prospective students), are being phased out. Though my concerns are common and within reason, I’m being called an annoying pest. I suppose that it’s fine that greek-minded snobs like to forget that they are there as a privilege and only make up a marginal part of the student population. It’s almost amusing, albeit frustrating. </p>
<p>BTW sfgiants, I bring something to the table at USC. I haven’t been here for very long and I’m already quite involved. I am not ruining USC because I grew up with basic manners like let people fu cking sleep and have the right to focus in the privacy of the place they want to call home. I’d rather bar hop and run a muck elsewhere than disrespect fellow USC students with my immaturity stemming from the excitement about the ounce of freedom I just got.</p>
<p>Funny: never heard the words manners and f’ing in the same sentence. just saying.
:)</p>
<p>cc, you’ve never heard the statement:</p>
<p>“Have some f’ing manners!”</p>
<p>?</p>
<p>haha, good point. I was just kind of heated and inebriated (note the time).</p>
<p>…though that doesn’t invalidate my response. I’m hoping that my classmates will counter…</p>
<p>i would just like to say that as a USC student going on his 4th year, i whole-heartedly agree with the sentiments expressed by grey_syntactics. of course i’m not condemning all greeks, as that would be ridiculous, but you have to be delusional to think that many “partying problems” don’t originate from the greek scene.</p>