LOS ANGELES — On a warm Friday afternoon, a large crowd of young men walked along 28th Street near USC wearing sneakers, colored shorts and lanyards imprinted with their names as they visited…
By Teresa Watanabe and Debbie Truong | Los Angeles Times
In many ways, such fall “rush” or recruitment activities are a Greek life rite of passage. But they are limited at USC. In 2017, the university banned fall rush for first-year students after multiple reports of hazing at fraternity houses and longstanding faculty concerns about the negative effect of pledging rituals on student grades and health.
The university has posted a prominent warning against the breakaway fraternities on the campus Greek life portal: In fact, he said, the 15 chapters that were members of the USC Interfraternity Council last year first recommended most of the strict rules issued by a university working group after multiple allegations of drugging and sexual assault at Sigma Nu and other fraternity house parties in fall 2021.
Despite months of negotiations between USC and the fraternities, the two sides could not reach agreement on the scope of sanctions or a faster timeline to resolve their conflicts. The issue of fall rush has long been a flashpoint at USC. In 2015, the Academic Senate passed a resolution calling for deferred recruitment of first-year students until the spring, noting that more students missed class or attended class exhausted or intoxicated during their pledging commitments. The USC undergraduate student body passed its own resolution opposing deferred recruitment.
But Horras said more than 90% of fraternities across the nation are permitted by their campuses to conduct fall rush for freshmen. That includes UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Irvine and most of the other UC and California State University campuses.