Greek life at the University of South Carolina erupted earlier this week when the sorority council essentially banned their members from fraternity tailgates (and any social event) until October 1 in an effort to get the fraternities to provide their women with safer tailgate environments. Here’s the official announcement, along with exclusive text messages obtained by TFM between a sorority member who sat in for a meeting with the council and a fraternity member.
Among safety concerns, there were also rumors circulating that Darla Moore, a major donor to the Darla Moore Business School, influenced the sorority council to pass this ban because she was pissed about Greek life. Whatever the reason was, it’s clear from the text messages that the sorority council thought that by withholding their girls from attending fraternity tailgates, they could get the fraternities to bow down to their demands — those demands being food and water. I understand that eating before/while drinking is important and sometimes neglected, but I also think it’s hilarious that this whole thing basically started because some sorority girls want to enjoy a hot dog along with their beer on game day. I’m with you, girls.
Sorority members reacted less than favorably to the new rules. USC’s first home is September 10, which means every sorority girl would be forced to skip out on that pivotal first game tailgate. They started a petition in order to encourage the sorority council to reconsider these harsh rules. In part, the petition read,
The actions being taken by USC to try and fix these problems are completely sexist. We are told we can’t go to the Fraternity Lots to tailgate before the game this Saturday in hopes that when girls don’t show up, fraternities will agree to abide by the new rules USC wants to put in place. In this situation, we sorority women are being looked at as a prize, not human beings, and I don’t agree with that at all… To be told the fraternity guys are allowed to tailgate and other girls outside of Greek life can still go, but not allow us girls in Greek life to be a part of that is so wrong… We are all adult women, old enough to make decisions for ourselves and I agree some of us don’t make the best decisions all the time, but it’s not USC’s place to hold our hand. Making mistakes is how we learn right from wrong and it’s also not the fraternities fault that people aren’t always responsible.
In response to the success of the petition, the sorority council recently met with the fraternity council and compromised on an agreement that would allow sorority members to attend tailgate this weekend, although there will still be strict rules in place. Tailgates are now BYOB, but only if you’re of legal age and you can only bring a maximum six beers. No hard liquor or wine. You can read the rest of the rules below.
So, not a great compromise, but at least sorority women will be allowed to attend tailgate again! While I don’t think this was the best way to go about it, the sorority council did get what they wanted: safer tailgate environments. And hot dogs.
Hooray for ultimatums!.
Nice Move193
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Cristina Montemayor
Cristina is a Grandex Writer and Content Manager. She was an intern for over two years before she graduated a semester early to write about college full time, which makes absolutely no sense. She regretfully considers herself a Carrie, but is first and foremost a Rory. She tends to draw strong reactions from people. They are occasionally positive. You can find her in a bar as you're bending down to tie your shoes, drinking Dos XX and drunk crying to Elton John. Email her: cristina@grandex.co (not .com).
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