{"id":49,"date":"2023-05-08T16:13:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T16:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/spring-2023\/otyler\/?p=49"},"modified":"2023-05-08T21:02:15","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T21:02:15","slug":"the-re-emergence-of-uscs-yard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascjcapstone.com\/spring-2023\/otyler\/index.php\/2023\/05\/08\/the-re-emergence-of-uscs-yard\/","title":{"rendered":"The re-emergence of USC’s Yard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1906, 1908, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1920, 1922 and 1963. These are the years the organizations that make up the Divine Nine were founded. Created for the enrichment of young Black men and women on college campuses, these fraternities and sororities have transcended their original makeup over the last century, and grow into something much bigger every year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alpha Delta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is the first Divine Nine chapter on the West Coast chartered in 1921, members of this chapter even helped to integrate the NFL. The Lambda Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., chartered in 1923 is the 11th chapter in the fraternity. The Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. chartered in 1924 is the 20th chapter to be charted in the sorority, and started USC\u2019s infamous Black Grad in the late 80\u2019s. The Beta Omega Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. The Beta Omega Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. was chartered in 1947 and has members such as John Singleton and Montell Jordan. The Iota Beta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was chartered in 1974. The Theta Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was chartered in 1980.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 80\u2019s, 90\u2019s and even early 2000\u2019s USC had a healthy Yard. The Yard is synonymous with the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) which is composed of Black Greek Letter Organizations on college campuses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost Black people tried to not have classes on Wednesday\u2019s at noon,\u201d says Gaila Sampson Williams who crossed into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. at USC in the Spring of 1986. Members of D9 organizations hung out every Wednesday by Tommy Trojan. \u201cEven the non-Greek were very active in Greek life\u2026 Tommy Trojan was the epicenter for Black life on campus,\u201d she explained. Greeks stepped, Black students hung out and bonded, but everyone used Wednesday\u2019s to promote the events and parties they were throwing for the Black community on campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She remembers an annual Martin Luther King program that Alpha\u2019s put on with Delta\u2019s, Kappa Sweetheart pageants, and one of her best friends being an AKA on the Yard. \u201cThere\u2019s still a whole lot of us that are really close from my time at USC. I don\u2019t know the number but I\u2019m going to say I have at least 300 Greeks that I\u2019m socially friends with from college.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, she believes a standard meeting time to foster unity and build friendships is what has been lost over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Members of the Iota Beta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the Beta Omega Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. in the early 90’s. Photo Courtesy of Joi Nicole.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Members of USC’s NPHC in the early 90’s during a cookout on campus. Photo Courtesy of Joi Nicole. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Things happen to every Yard. Chapters don\u2019t have lines for a few years, members graduate, and sometimes interest dies down. This is especially true on the West Coast for Divine 9 organizations as these fraternities and sororities were for the most part, created on the East Coast and are most prominent on HBCUs and in the south where there is a large Black presence. So, when a school like USC has a Yard, it takes more effort to maintain it. One, because it is a predominantly white institution, two, because the price to attend the university handicaps many African Americans from attending, and three, simply because of location and history. Where on the East Coast or in the South lines can range anywhere from 50-70 individuals, on the West Coast crossing into your organization as a solo is common. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sedaka Brown, a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. pledged at USC in the fall of 2018 when he was 43 years old. He wasn\u2019t familiar with the D9 until he got to college, but quickly had to learn the politics. \u201cOn the West, it\u2019s a little bit different. I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s not respected, but the friendship and camaraderie, I think is much deeper on the East.\u201d Younger students would flock to Brown as an older brother and confided in him about their negative feelings about low numbers and unity on the Yard, and why it turned them away from joining the brotherhoods and sisterhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then just about a year later you add on a global pandemic that shuts down the in-person college experience for a year and a half. Many Greek\u2019s graduated, there is essentially no visibility, and an entire new student body once in-person learning returned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noel Muluneh of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. started at USC in the fall of 2018. \u201cI think my year has a unique perspective because we were kind of like the middle children between old Black SC and the new age Black SC.\u201d She explained that the upperclassmen at that time had laid a foundation for what Black SC was going to be and she loved it. They even added her to \u201cPetty SC,\u201d a GroupMe chat that is a right of passage for any new Trojan to connect with the Black community on campus; there are currently 1,712 members. Muluneh reminisced on memories like Black Student Assembly meetings where lines were all the way down the steps of the Ronald Tutor Campus Center, Labor Day Cookouts and when the men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. threw the best parties. \u201cIt just felt like we had these older siblings to kind of guide us and help us and then it all kind of just went downhill. I have an ongoing joke with my friends that we were just there [USC] at the wrong time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muluneh attended Meet The Greeks her first semester of freshman year and all nine organizations were present but were not actually on the Yard, so she was unclear on what her options were. Fast forward two years to the spring of 2020, Muluneh was undergoing her process to join her sorority. Then COVID hit and everything was put on pause until the fall, when she was on the line that re-activated the Upsilon Chapter at USC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devin Walker, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. started his role as the Director of Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development at USC during the summer of 2022. He already knew he was walking into something that \u201cwas not fully established,\u201d but knew the NPHC had a chance to grow at a school with so much Black history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker\u2019s prediction came true at Meet The Greeks in January of this year. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can accurately express how excited I was to be in that space where we barely had enough room for all the students that were interested in joining this community. That\u2019s not something I\u2019ve seen in the five years I\u2019ve lived in L.A.\u201d  Students continuously come into Walker\u2019s office to find out all they can about the chapters on the yard, so he hopes that during his time at USC he can oversee a NPHC that consistently sustains membership to have a prominent presence in the community, which is what these organizations were created for in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Members of USC’s Yard at Meet the Greeks, January 29, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walker is constantly working with his colleagues at other universities in Southern California on how to grow the NPHC experience, especially with organizations that have city-wide chapters that span across multiple universities like Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. \u201cWe as professionals have to make sure that we are constantly communicating about what’s going on with Beta Omega and Lambda. We want to make sure that we\u2019re not leaning heavily to one campus so much so that we can maintain interest and visibility on all the campuses that are a part of a chapter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Wilson of the Beta Omega Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi\u2019s college experience began on zoom at the height of COVID. When in-person learning returned it was difficult for him to acclimate. \u201cI was craving knowing some Black people and being in that community.\u201d He knew that if he joined a Black fraternity he would have an easier gateway into Black SC, something he really wanted for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson\u2019s mother was a Kappa sweetheart in college, but other than that he has no familial ties to Greek life. However, when he saw the men of the Beta Omega Chapter, he knew he wanted to be one of them. \u201cI thought they were the coolest dudes on campus and I was going to do anything to get into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had met some men from the chapter in person and was able to talk business with them, but Instagram became his best friend to keep up with the fraternity because of low visibility on the Yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jai Robinson, Ireoluwa Omitowoju, Princess Isis Lang, Kyla-Drew Simmons and Joshua Wilson pose after they performed at USC’s Black Alumni Association Scholarship Benefit, March 31, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kharee Hoggs of the Theta Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. had a much different experience finding her way into the D9 on USC\u2019s Yard. The sorority was not active when she came to campus, but as a legacy who was seeking to find what her mother had, she was able to get in contact with a member who crossed into the chapter years prior who was working at USC\u2019s Leavey Library. Then came the spring of 2022, and Hoggs and her two line sisters brought the chapter back to the Yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dylan Smith, Kharee Hoggs, and John Russell at the Latinx and African American Community Mixer for newly admitted students, April 2, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aziza Hutcherson crossed into Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. in the Fall of 2021, a semester before the other D9 organizations crossed in the Spring of 2022. \u201cAt first it was definitely a little isolating, you’re the only organization, you’re trying to navigate that, you’re new, but as people started to join we were able to figure out how we fit in as the NPHC grew.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once everyone on the yard got into the groove of things, prior friendships are what helped aid the swift revival. \u201cA lot of our friends or people we came through this undergraduate process with, we\u2019ve all been able to get to know each other, so when you hear about new members joining you’re really trying to connect, support and uplift those people,\u201d says Hutcherson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were handpicked like, seriously, not just coming from my line but from all the lines that came out [in 2022] it was just like we are doing this, we have to make something shake,\u201d says Princess Isis Lang of the Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Members of USC’s Yard at a January 2023 NPHC meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and the women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. held a Pie-The-Coleman Kidz event in early April to fundraise for their chapters. Yannick Haynes, a Fall 2022 initiate of the Lambda Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. is embracing all that comes with USC\u2019s Yard after hearing what his Greek parents’ experience was like in the 80s. After some students were laughing at him for passing out party flyers for his organization at the fundraiser event he responded, \u201cThat\u2019s how it was done. People would post flyers on telephone polls and stuff like that. That\u2019s how word of mouth about parties, events and fundraisers got out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n