[CarolinaDG]

One thing that I've always been impressed about is how GC shows us the differences and similarities of our greek experiences. So with that in mind I thought I'd start a thread about that.

Tell us the following about your campus.


University: University of South Carolina, Columbia
Location: Columbia, SC
Year Founded: 1801
First Greek Chapter: I'm not sure about this, but I believe it was Chi Psi.. If nothing else, they are the oldest continuous fraternity (i.e. others have closed and returned)
More commuter or more residential: Residential
Total Enrollment: Undergrad, 17,000
% Greeks: 16
# of NIC Fraternities: 13
# of NPC Sororities: 9
# of Locals: 0
# of NPHC groups: 6
# of Multi cultural groups: 2 (not including NPHC)
Wet or Dry Campus? Wet

What type of housing arrangements does your system have (BE SPECIFIC - none, dorm floors, chapter houses close to/on campus owned by chapters, chapter houses far off campus owned by chapters, normal houses rented by chapters off campus, etc.)
Chapter Houses on campus and dorm floors
Are there plans for construction of Greek housing soon?
Already there
Do those with chapter houses have sleeping dorms, open airs, cold airs, porches, etc.?
I'm not sure what open and cold airs are, but they have sleeping dorms and porches

Parties thrown in the fraternity houses?
Not technically
Your city easy on underage drinking?
NO! Last I checked, there were rumors going around about SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division... notoriously known as the ones who are the underage drinking Nazis) starting to carry around scanners for ID's in 5 points (our "strip")
Are bars in your city easy to drink underage in?
Some, yes, some no

Type of Fraternity Rush (Open, structured, summer, other)
Fall formal, spring informal (still pretty formal for fraternties), illegal summer parties often go on
When Sorority recruitment takes place for your system:
Fall

Do Greeks run things at your school?
Yes
Last Time Greek was Student Body President?
Currently (Kappa Alpha Psi)
Last Time Greek was Homecoming King?
Traditionally always are
Last Time Greek was Homecoming Queen?
Traditionally always are (Chi O had a long winning streak while I was in college... I don't know who last year's was, though)

Describe your typical Greek social Semester?(Are they called mixers/parties/exchanges, must they be registered, how many do you have a semester, any other "greek" sponsored social outlets, is having a party with another house a common thing or a rare thing, describe as much as possible)
Called mixers and they must be registered (but they look away if they are not). Um... It's hard to say how many a semester because it's been so long, but I think we used to have 3/semester. There are two large parties... Southern Triad (KA, ATO, SAE) and Southern Belles (DDD, KD, ZTA) and other multi-group mixers (in other words, multiple sororities/fraternities).

Good relationship with the University Administration?
Yes (President is a Pi Kappa Phi)
Good relationship with Greek Affairs/Greek Life?
Yes
Is your director of Greek Affairs Greek? From your Campus?
Yes, not from campus

Average dues associated with being in a chapter? More or less than living in Residence Halls?
Um... Mine were 800/year, and that was among the lowest (Chi O was as low as us). I'm assuming that most everyone now is in the $1500-$2000 range because of houses.
Hazing, common or uncommon?
Uncommon with sororities, common with fraternities

Describe the types of philanthropies chapters do?
Dance Marathon and Clemson/Carolina Blood Drives are the two biggest all-greek philanthropies... other than that, there's Sigma Nu Gameball run, Sigma Chi Derby Days, Pi Kappa Phi PUSH America, DDD Golf Tournament, ZTA Golf Tournament, KD Shamrock Project, Chi O War of the Wings, Alpha Chi Volleyball Brawl, Kappa Kickoff, DZ Turtle Tug, Gamma Phi Flamingo Bingo, ADPi's I Spy an ADPi... Sorry if I left stuff off.. it's been a while since I graduated

Any notable traditions for the Greek System?
Homecoming's huge and competitive... Other than that, bid day on the horseshoe (though maybe they don't do it there anymore... but it used to be a huge tradition)