GreekChat.com Forums - Protest calls for abolition of USC Greek life

https://dailytrojan.com/2021/11/02/p...sc-greek-life/

Quote:

Students, parents and non-USC anti-Greek life activists gathered Monday at the Sigma Nu fraternity to advocate for the abolition of Greek life at USC. Under a boom microphone and the harsh lighting of video cameras, participants took turns offering their experiences and opinions on Greek life’s effect on university culture, while men in passing cars yelled expletives and heckled the crowd.

Leila Hilf, a sophomore majoring in film and television production, organized the protest by posting her plans on social media before she was contacted by Greek life abolition organizations and parent activists.

A documentary crew was present at the protest, part of a two-year project by parents of children who died from hazing-related incidents. They expressed their desire for reform within the Greek system. Among them was Gary DeVercelly, who lost his son Gary Jr. in 2007 to alcohol poisoning in a fraternity hazing ritual at Rider University.

"Dealing with that devastation in our lives, we decided that we wanted to help prevent this from ever happening again,” DeVercelly said.

Others did not believe reform was an option, and voiced their support for completely removing Greek life from USC. A freshman majoring in public policy at the event said that the entire system should be abolished.

“At the core of a lot of these institutions is decades of racism, decades of classism, decades of violence, decades of fear mongering, decades of toxic masculinity,” they said. “It’s almost cult-like … I just don’t think that there is a solution that is progressive, that any organization on this row or any organization in this country will understand.”

In an interview with the Daily Trojan, the student said that the issue transcends sexual assault.

“This is about years of festering ignorance becoming something that is unavoidable and something that we cannot ignore,” they said. “This is about getting rid of it all.”