During the Men’s Basketball Greek Week event, Ethan Bennett of Alpha Epsilon Pi takes the ball up court. Photo by Chelsea McKeown.

As fans yell louder and louder, a player is compelled to play harder to match the fans’ intensity. When those fans are friends, victory is a matter of gaining respect among peers. But when the stands are filled with brothers or sisters, victory is about honor for the family.

At Greek Week, 16 fraternities and sororities compete in five different events to bring home glory for their organization. The events — which include lipsyncing, men’s basketball, girl’s football, pizza eating and coed futsal (a type of indoor football) — show a diversity not only in the participants, but in all the organizations competing.

Outside NCAA sports, Greek Week is UC Santa Cruz’s largest sporting event on campus.

Kappa Zeta representative to the Inter Greek Council (IGC) Michelle Manno finds Greek Week’s mission important in her life as a sorority sister.

“It’s meant to unite Greeks with friendly competition,” Manno said. “It’s the biggest Greek event on campus, and it’s our chance to all hang out with each other beyond our regular cliques.”

UCSC’s Greek system is growing at a rapid pace. UCSC has 24 organizations, each with a membership approximated between 20–100 students. IGC organizers for the events say that maybe 10 percent of students are current members of fraternities and sororities.

This number has grown from the 1 or 2 percent reported by organizers for the event three years ago.

While she’s unsure of the total number of Greeks on campus, IGC president and Alpha Psi sister Jenny Vizcarra says that the growth may continue well beyond the next few years.

“Greek life has changed since I joined,” Vizcarra said. “We’ve never had this many organizations. Three more asked to join last year and two more asked for this year, and we have a hold on new organizations. There’s so many more Greeks than before.”

Tri Chi representative Renee Marquis said growth in the Greek system is positive for UCSC. She said with more Greeks on campus, UCSC students may stop thinking their Greek system is less prominent than systems found in other universities.

“At a campus like UCLA, Greek life is an institution to be reckoned with,” Marquis said. “Here, we’re smaller, and we have to constantly prove that our system is not like others, or like the movies.”

At Sunday’s basketball event, the average attendance hovered around 75 for each game played. Often, an overflow crowd of onlookers would wait outside the East Gym, watching their friends play with conviction. Loud chants were heard from as far away as the bus stop above OPERS. The competition, which climaxed in a Sigma Pi victory on Monday, was followed by friendly handshakes between competitors.

The events, which run from May 5–11, will end Friday with a lipsyncing event. Each organization will present an eight-minute choreographed skit to music of their choice. Vizcarra confirmed that over 500 people will compete against each other in this year’s event. Manno said the event will be bigger than last year’s, which saw a capacity crowd occupy the Kresge Town Hall.

“We expect close to 700 people,” Manno said. “It’s our biggest and loudest event by far.”

For all three members of IGC, competition and unity among Greeks on campus was considered key to completing a successful Greek Week. Vizcarra said Greek Week helps students find themselves within their organizations, and in their place in campus life.

“It brings together students to be part of something more,” Vizcarra said. “I know that’s why I joined.”

Sorority and Fraternity members gear up for a day of volleyball at their annual charity event. Photo by Isaac Miller.

Rain or shine, Gamma Phi Beta was going to have its Crescent Classic Volleyball Tournament.

On Sunday, several dozen students from various sororities and fraternities huddled into Shoreline Middle School’s gymnasium to participate in the high-spirited event. The tournament was “one of the biggest events Gamma Phi Beta throws throughout the whole year,” said third-year Kayla Bartos, Gamma Phi Beta’s philanthropy chair.

Gamma Phi Beta’s charity tournament was an event to raise money for Campfire USA, a not-for-profit youth development organization.

“Campfire USA is basically like a coed girl-scout-like summer camp,” said third-year Sophia Reller, Gamma Phi Beta’s public relations vice president. “It’s great to see so many people willing to help the cause.”

Despite problems from the outset — a change in venue due to rain, a nearly four-hour delay before the tournament’s originally listed start time, and the comings and goings of students due to pressing midterms — the event was a resounding success, Reller said.

“This year’s Crescent Classic did a lot better than last year’s,” she said. “Last year we raised about $600. This year we raised nearly $3,000.”

The significant boost in donations this year is a direct result of changing the Crescent Classic into a volleyball tournament, Reller said.

“It used to be a bowling tournament,” she said. “But Kayla and I figured we were not making as much money as we could doing that. We’ll definitely be doing a volleyball tournament again next year.”

The Crescent Classic had nine teams competing, with only one — Team “Sir Francis Pirates” — not directly affiliated with any UCSC Greek chapter. Each of the teams, while expecting a fair amount of competition from one another, was just pleased by being able to help Gamma Phi Beta’s cause.

Minutes before his team’s first bracket match, Cameron Kolk, captain of Team “Sir Francis Pirates,” played down the seriousness of the competition.

“In the brackets, things will get intense, sure,” Kolk said. “But last night [the team] just hung out, partied, and really we’re here to support Campfire USA.”

While a team from UCSC’s Sigma Pi chapter went on to win the tournament and claim the right to sport the bright, lime green Crescent Classic T-shirts, the real winners, said Bartos of Gamma Phi Beta, were Campfire USA.

“The serious volleyball players were busy today,” Bartos said. “The girls’ team has a tournament while the boys had practice. Everyone here is pretty much here to help out Campfire USA and to have fun.”

Dancers take the stage in performances showcasing the diversity of Asia. Photo by Andrew Allio.

Despite the rain on the night of Tuesday, May 25, approximately 400 students packed the Stevenson Event Center for this year’s Cultural Celebration Night (CCN) to enjoy an evening of free food and performances. The night showcased the heritage of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community at UC Santa Cruz.

CCN is an annual event put on by the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Resource Center (AAPIRC) to share the culture and heritage of Asian-American and Pacific Islander students with the greater UCSC community. The performance-centered event is a collaboration of the AAPIRC, ethnic student organizations, and Greek societies on campus.

Arthur Chen, a second-year business management major from College Ten, volunteered at the event through his fraternity, Lambda Phi Epsilon.

“We help set up tables, greet everyone who comes through the door, serve food, and basically make sure everything runs smoothly,” Chen said. “I enjoy seeing so many of my friends spending time to acknowledge how wonderful our culture is.”

This year marked the first performance by the Indian Student Organization at CCN. As the hip-hop-infused Bhangra beat blasted out of the event center’s sound system, dancers clad in flashy, yet traditional, outfits moved to the cheers of the entire audience.

Isha Kakkar, a second-year legal studies major from College Ten, performed with the Indian Student Organization’s Bhangra dance group.

“I thought it was amazing. We had a pretty good time on stage,” Kakkar said. “We really enjoyed the cheer at the end and all the applause. It was a very high-energy crowd, and we love that feedback.”

Fellow Bhangra dancer Amandeep Singh, a third-year information systems management major from Crown College, reflected on the impact of the show’s cultural diversity.

“When you say ‘Asian,’ there is one type of community most people think of, but there is more than one type of Asian community,” Singh said. “There’s not that many shows that bring together all these different communities, so it’s great that we can all come together and share our cultures.”

Carmen Chan, an intern at AAPIRC, was in charge of the committee that planned the event. Her role included booking performers and securing a date and location for the event. In addition, she was also one of two emcees for the evening’s program.

“The committee chose two people to emcee and I happened to be one of them. It was my first time speaking in front of an audience that big,” Chan said. Despite her lack of experience, Chan caught on quickly. “At first, it was pretty nerve-racking, but, as the night went on, I got more comfortable and didn’t need the script. I learned how to improvise and just go with the flow,” she said.

The evening’s program included performances by numerous ethnic student organizations, such as the Vietnamese Student Association, the Filipino Student Association, and the Chinese Student Association, as well as a raffle with prizes ranging from bags of rice to skimboards.

With the exception of a jazz combo that performed while students took their seats, the performances were all dance routines. While their medium was the same, the content of each act reflected the diversity of the ethnic organizations involved.

AAPIRC had originally intended for the event to take place later in the week, so that students would not be worried about school the next day, but due to conflicts of availability, was forced to hold CCN on a Tuesday night.

Carmen Chan said that despite her fears of a lower turnout because of the heavy rainfall and the event’s place early in the week, the CCN planning committee is proud of the event.

“In the beginning of the night, one of the people on my committee came up and asked me where I wanted the extra chairs put, because the [seating] we set up wasn’t enough,” she said. “We really didn’t expect to need extra seating. That made me feel like we had accomplished our goal.”

Photo by Maggie McManus.

Illustration by Kenny Srivijittakar.

It’s about that time of night: eleven o’ clock — maybe 11:45 on a lucky night. Less inebriated attendees sense it will happen any minute. It’s sudden but predictable: knock on door, music stops, expletives are hurled, beers fall out of hands — the cops have arrived to break up yet another Santa Cruz house party.

This recurring scenario seems to be something that students have grown to accept. It has become an unavoidable part of attending college in a city that refuses to be called a ‘college town’.

“Basically, the university and the community have been in conflict since day one,” remarked city council member Ryan Coonerty, former mayor of Santa Cruz and legal studies lecturer at UC Santa Cruz. “Both sides have a distrust of each other almost completely.”

Most students can sense that they are not always unequivocally welcome in this small coastal city. What may not be as clear, though, are the exact roots of this acrimonious relationship.

UCSC third-year Uday Mathur says that as a student and member of the Sigma Pi fraternity, he often feels like an outsider in Santa Cruz.

“As students and fraternity members we’re not very accepted,” Mathur said. “When I wear my [Greek] letters in town I stand out — and not in a good way.”

Coonerty explained that the geography of this town, as well as its history, both play a role in the equation.

“If anything causes the tension it’s just that geographic reality of not having specific neighborhoods where students can live like students,” he said.

In addition, Coonerty explained that some residents have objected to the existence of UCSC since its founding in 1965, but often for opposing reasons.

“When the city was recruiting for the university to come here, [more conservative residents] thought they would be getting a football team and city growth was considered a really good thing,” Coonerty said. “Then the university came and it turned out to be a very different university than what Santa Cruzans thought it was going to be.”

Other residents, who tended to be more politically liberal, opposed any university coming to Santa Cruz, rejecting the idea that the city needed to grow.

“It’s hard to be in politics here because the university has historically been disliked by the most conservative and the most liberal residents,” Coonerty explained.

Nevertheless, years later, the university remains.

Santa Cruz Neighbors, a local nonprofit group, is at the forefront of local efforts aimed at relieving tension between residents and students.

The organization, founded in 2000, seeks to foster good relations in the community by engaging students with their neighbors and holding community forums where residents can discuss their concerns.

“I’ve heard every possible story from neighbors saying, ‘Help, help, help!’ and this is how the Loud and Unruly Gathering Ordinance came to be,” said Deborah Elston, founding member and president of Santa Cruz Neighbors.

Illustration by Kenny Srivijittakar.

Party Blues: The Loud and Unruly Gathering Ordinance

Santa Cruz may not accept the college town moniker, but it’s still home to numerous college students and their parties, which has long been a curse to their neighbors.

“A couple years ago student parties were a large number of [the city council’s] complaints,” Coonerty said. “Both the size of the parties and also some of the impacts such as noise, parked cars, trash, etcetera”

The Loud and Unruly Gathering Ordinance, more commonly referred to simply as the party ordinance, was passed by Santa Cruz City Council in 2005 to combat these problems.

Upon a noise complaint from a neighbor, the ordinance allows police to issue a warning for any house that throws a party as a first-time offense. These houses are then flagged for 12 months, and subsequent offenses result in fines.

Many students believe the ordinance creates an “us versus them” mentality, pitting off-campus students against their buzz-kill neighbors. Santa Cruz Neighbors president Elston insists that the ordinance was created to do just the opposite, however.

“We look at it as an opportunity for better communication,” Elston explained. “Prior to the ordinance, there were no tools for police or students or neighbors to [use] if something got out of control.”

June Coha has been a Santa Cruz resident since 1968, and has lived in a neighborhood close to campus for over 20 years. Coha estimated that in any given year, five houses on her street off of Western Drive may be occupied by students, and if each hosts two parties a month, that amounts to ten nights a month where she is kept awake at night.

Coha also said that engaging students and voicing her concerns directly to them is always her first course of action.

“Calling the cops is a last resort for me and I won’t do it unless I’ve talked to [the students] first,” Coha said. “I hate that it’s us versus them, but with the disparities in lifestyle I don’t know how it’s going to work out.”

Ben Gesing, a second-year UCSC student and the social chair for Sigma Pi Fraternity, agrees that engaging with neighbors is an effective way to prevent the problems caused by differing lifestyles. He feels that the party ordinance goes slightly overboard in its punishments, though.

“This isn’t a college town — Santa Cruz has been around a lot longer than UCSC and it’s not okay for us just to barge in on that,” Gesing said. “The basic problem with the party ordinance, though, is that you can’t legislate morality. College kids are going to keep partying.”

Amid other concerns, Gesing believes the fines specified by the ordinance, which increase with each offense from $250 to $500 to $1000, are too egregious to be applied to struggling college students.

Mathur echoed his fraternity brother’s dislike of the ordinance.

“It’s a bit heavy-handed and harsh,” Mathur said. “And we haven’t stopped throwing parties — nobody has.”

Councilman Coonerty understands students’ concerns, but he noted that actual implementation of the ordinance isn’t quite as harsh as some might assume.

“I think it would be silly to say students have embraced the party ordinance,” Coonerty said. “When its matched up against the reality though, which is that very few people are getting cited and that its mainly being used as a tool, I think in that way it has been effective.”

Economic Engine

While a Santa Cruz free from UC students might make for quieter neighborhoods on Friday and Saturday nights, most agree that the culture and atmosphere of the city would be markedly different without the presence of a major institution of higher education.

Bill Tysseling, the executive director of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, explained that the commercial influence of the student population on the city is significant.

“The mix of businesses would be substantially different if students were not here,” Tysseling said. “There would be fewer businesses that are entertainment-oriented, such as movie theatres, music venues and even bookstores.”

Bookshop Santa Cruz, a locally-owned store that has been perched on Pacific Avenue since 1966, has seen both the benefits and downsides of doing business in a university town.

Casey Coonerty-Protti, sister of Ryan Coonerty, took over ownership of the shop from her father, who bought it in 1974. Coonerty-Protti explained that being in a university town has helped Bookshop Santa Cruz remain profitable amid the shift toward purchasing books online as well as an overall national decline in independent bookstores.

“For an independent bookseller to thrive it needs to be in an environment that’s debating ideas, and the students and professors bring that to the community,” she said.

However, Coonerty-Protti concedes that the presence of students means the presence of chain store competitors, such as Borders, which opened on Pacific Avenue about ten years ago.

“One segment where we lost sales [when Borders opened] was among students because they’re used to seeing a Borders in their hometown, so they go there,” Coonerty-Protti said. “I wish students would think about supporting businesses that are unique to Santa Cruz and that can help them become Santa Cruzan while they’re here, instead of a large multi-national corporation.”

In addition to the stimulus provided by student pocketbooks, a landmark 2007 agreement drafted by UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal and then-Mayor Coonerty placed greater financial responsibility on the university to compensate for its massive strain on local resources.

“The university actually agreed to provide some subsidies for services like fire and water to the city, and also to participate in repairing some streets and providing transportation subsidies to Metro,” Tysseling said.

Coonerty explained that he and Blumenthal, who is the first UCSC chancellor to also be a longtime Santa Cruz resident, drafted the agreement with the intent of finding ways that the university could lessen its overall impact on the city.

“It’s not just about paying their fair share, it’s about actually doing things that improve life here,” Coonerty said. “[The city] gave UCSC incentives so the more traffic they reduce, the less they have to pay, and the more students they house on campus, the less they have to pay.”

Won’t you be my neighbor?

If goodwill is to prevail despite the drastically different lifestyles of residents and students, active engagement from both sides will undoubtedly be key.

In an attempt to foster community engagement, Santa Cruz Neighbors enlists the help of two student interns from the Good Neighbor Initiative, part of UCSC’s Office of Government and Community Relations. These interns run outreach programs and provide resources to students and residents alike.

Sarah Finder, a second-year student and Good Neighbor Initiative intern, focuses her efforts on educating students before they move off-campus.

“We target on-campus tenants and begin teaching them that when they move off-campus they have to be respectful and responsible,” Finder said. “It’s an ‘us and them’ situation and not an ‘us versus them’ anymore.”

Coonerty observed that, in fact, students and residents get along more often than they realize.

“I think the reality is that the tension is more loud,” he said. “If you have one interaction where someone says something negative to you because you’re a student, you’re going to remember the one negative one rather than the twenty positive ones. The positive ones are everyday events in which we all live harmoniously together.”

Chamber of Commerce director Tysseling agrees with the notion that it’s not all tension, all the time. He holds a more measured view of the daily interactions in Santa Cruz.

“Obviously when you live with a lot of people in a small space you’re going to have problems, but don’t mistake that for a general judgment about UC students,” he said. “It could just as easily be the farmer down the street that’s taking your parking space.”

On Sunday, October 4th Santa Cruz Neighbors and the Good Neighbor Initiative will host ‘Santa Cruz Neighbors Night Out’ — a series of block parties hosted throughout the city to promote friendliness and familiarity among all residents. http://www.santacruzneighbors.com

Photo by Dylan Chapgier.

Eleven Greek organizations met for a lip-sync event in the Media Theater April 30 at the conclusion of Greek Week. Photo by Dylan Chapgier.

A beer pong table is an uncommon sight outside of the Bay Tree Bookstore. However, during the first two weeks of spring quarter, there one was. 

This beer pong table had no beer. Instead, the cups were filled with Red Bull energy drinks.  Behind the table, members of the Theta Chi fraternity sat in plastic chairs. 

Occasionally students would come over and a spirited game of “beer” pong would erupt. Students would attempt to bounce the balls into their opponent’s cups, forcing them to drink. 

“At a lot of our parties we do play beer pong with each other,” said Samuel Levin, a third-year math major and Theta Chi member. “We might as well be honest.” 

With his fraternity, Levin sat at the Theta Chi stand during Rush Week as he and his brothers tried to recruit news members. They wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the words “RUSH THETA CHI” in bright neon pink, yellow and green. 

Although Theta Chi and other fraternities and sororities were front and center during the first weeks of spring quarter, Greek organizations have a history of contention at UC Santa Cruz. 

In the 1980s some students went through a battle to get the university’s approval of Greek organizations, while others went through great lengths to oppose their formation. Today the establishment of Greek organizations at UCSC remains controversial.

Three percent of the student population at UCSC is affiliated with one of the campus’ 23 total fraternities and sororities. Photo by Rosario Serna.

The emergence of Greek life and early opposition

City on a Hill Press (CHP) conducted a poll in February of 1987 that asked participants whether Greek organizations should be allowed on campus. The survey determined that 65 percent of students and 63 percent of faculty felt that there should not be Greek organizations on campus. 

On Sep. 24, 1986, Student Services released a study entitled “Social Fraternities at UCSC?” as a response to a petition from students calling for the establishment of a Greek system.

A task force composed of three students, faculty members and administrators collaborated to decide the fate of Greek life at UCSC. In 1987, the task force concluded that instead of allowing fraternities and sororities to become established on campus, the university should put its energy into re-establishing the college system as the main focus of student life.

The conclusion was reached due to concerns that allowing Greek organizations on campus would lead to hazing, underage drinking, drug use and sexism. It was also a concern that Greek organizations would be racially exclusive and limit diversity. 

In 1988 some members of the student body began to protest the start of Greek life on UCSC’s campus. 

Janet Young, who has been employed at McHenry Library since the mid-1970s and currently works in its special collections department, remembers the student protests against the establishment of Greek life.

“There was this huge uproar about it,” Young said. 

Young recalls the formation of a group called Students Against Greek Establishment (SAGE) and how they led protests against Greek organizations. According to a 1987 CHP article, one protest that took place in 1988 gathered a crowd of between 150 and 200 people. 

Dean McHenry, UCSC’s founding chancellor, did not openly oppose Greek life at the university, but felt that it meant that his dream of the “college system” being the unifier of student life at UCSC was becoming less of a reality.

“If frats were organized it would be another sign in the wind that the colleges have not provided everything that we had hoped for,” McHenry told CHP in May 1986. 

Mariel Harrison, a fourth-year literature major and president of the sorority Alpha Psi, said that she joined a sorority because she felt the system of having separated residential colleges was inadequate. 

“When you first move into the dorms you are strictly meeting people in your dorms,” she said. “I wanted to meet other people in other colleges [and] older people, and it was a really good way to social network and get involved in the university itself.”

Since 1986 Greek life on campus has grown from nonexistence to include about 3 percent of the student population. There are currently 23 fraternities and sororities affiliated with Student Organization and Advising Resources (SOAR).

But Greek life on the UCSC campus is still small compared to other UC campuses — UC Davis has 66 recognized Greek organizations, UC Berkeley has 65, UCLA has 60 and UC San Diego has 31.

However, UC Santa Cruz does have more fraternities and sororities than UC Irvine, which has 20, and Riverside, which has 22 recognized Greek organizations. 

Lee Maranto, a program manager at SOAR, believes that Greek organizations have a positive impact on the UCSC community, a drastic shift away from the university’s original opposition to Greek organizations. 

“The Greek organizations bring diversity to campus, diversity of perspective, diversity of structure,” Maranto said. “I think they can bring a lot more awareness to the philanthropy they do.”

Delta Omega Chi now, MTV’s “Fraternity Life” and the Porter Koi Pond incident 

In the 23 years of Greek life at UCSC, controversy and tension between Greek organizations and the university have been a mainstay. 

The members of Delta Omega Chi do not appear today to be different from any other fraternity on campus, and for the most part they perform a lot of the same activities, like having house parties, performing community service at least twice a quarter through events such as the Human Race — a multipurpose charity relay along West Cliff — and having socials with other Greek organizations. 

“We work with Habitat for Humanity, we do beach clean-ups, we used to work with Special Olympics — one of our alumni used to be the regional planner for them,” said Graham Sorkin, a UCSC alumnus and former president of Delta Omega Chi. 

However, in 2003 Delta Omega Chi received national recognition when MTV decided to feature them on their reality TV show “Fraternity Life.” 

At the conclusion of the show a Koi fish disappeared from Porter’s Koi pond, and it later became evident through TV coverage that members of Delta Omega Chi had stolen and barbecued the fish. 

For this reason Delta Omega Chi can no longer table on campus during Rush Weeks, have meetings in campus facilities, participate in the annual events of Greek Week or do anything associated with the university.

Sorkin believes that Delta Omega Chi is one of the most notorious organizations on campus. He and other members of the fraternity, though they did not participate and were all in high school when the incident involving the Koi fish occurred, have had to take the responsibility of trying to improve Delta Omega Chi’s relationship with the university and better its reputation. 

According to third-year Tim Obert, a politics major and the current president of Delta Omega Chi, the fraternity got rid of members who were having a negative impact on the fraternity’s image, rewrote their constitution and risk management policy, and even attempted to change their name. 

But after talking to judicial affairs and the chancellor’s office, Delta Omega Chi was still unable to regain their affiliation with SOAR. 

“We basically did everything we needed to change the organization,” Obert said, “and they said, ‘Tough luck.’” 

Greek Multiculturalism 

In popular culture, Greek organizations are often seen as a homogenized conglomeration of rowdy parties, highly exclusive membership and inflated egos. 

Many UCSC Greek organizations defy these stereotypes. There are co-ed fraternities, Jewish-interest fraternities with some non-Jewish members, a number of Asian-interest sororities and fraternities, African-American-interest Greek organizations, and a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender “frarority,” Delta Lambda Psi. 

However, some students decide not to take part in Greek life not because of the reputation of fraternities or sororities or their stereotypes, but just because they are not interested. 

“I am just too busy with other activities and I find there are better things on campus to do, like better clubs that have better social responsibilities,” said third-year sociology major Leah Lampa.

Fourth-year sociology major Maegan Tanner believes that Greek organizations excluded her for superficial reasons. 

“They never handed anything to me because I am a large woman and clearly that does not go with the typical status quo,” Tanner said, referring to recruitment flyers typically handed out by fraternities and sororities during Rush Week. 

Members of the Greek organizations appear to each get something different out of Greek life at UCSC, but they all find good friends, acceptance and potential to grow as individuals.

Sigma Pi’s members could be seen during Rush Week wearing shirts with a picture of John Belushi from the 1978 cult classic fraternity comedy “Animal House,” in colors similar to those seen on Shepard Fairey’s “Hope” poster that was prominent during Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. 

However, instead of “hope,” the word “rush” was written below Belushi’s face. This may give the impression that Sigma Pi is trying to appear to be a stereotypical fraternity, but the members tell a different story.

Second-year student Ryan Ayers, a founder of Sigma Pi, said that the purpose of his fraternity is to “diffuse culture.” Ayers describes himself as “a little gay boy from San Diego” who does not believe he fits the profile of a typical fraternity member. He also believes that Greek life at UCSC is completely different than on other campuses. 

“It is different here at Santa Cruz to join a fraternity, because you can’t really be that crazy here, it’s Santa Cruz — you have to be more aware and do something,” Ayers said. 

Greek life at UCSC for Ayers has been accepting of his sexuality, and has helped him grow as a person and feel more comfortable with his peers.

“I used to have a horrible time socializing with straight guys,” Ayers said. He reflected on how he was approached to help found Sigma Pi.

“They just came in and were like ‘Ryan, we love you, we think you’re rad,’” he said. “It was really good for me, it was really good.”

Theta chi’s Luau Party resulted in rowdy behavior and the destruction of a car window. Photo by Lollie Brande.

As of right now, the way I’m feeling toward Theta Chi fraternity can best be summed up with one finger. With a passenger-side window and a repair bill of $256, it’s fair to say that I’m pretty heated.

Last Saturday, the Theta Chi fraternity threw a luau-themed day party at 161 Archer St. that took six police cars and two motorcycle cops to break up. By midafternoon, an estimated 200 students were in attendance, and most (if not all) of them were intoxicated. Once the party had been broken up, guests were left to drunkenly lurk around the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, residents and families of the area were furious about the noise, vandalism and disrespect Theta Chi’s festivity caused.

One community member reported walking outside with her 10-year-old son only to discover a girl peeing on her driveway. When she told the girl to stop, the girl gave her a dirty look and stumbled off.

Another reported that her children could hear all the drunken debauchery taking place nearly a block away, as well as a violent fight right outside her house, which resulted in four police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck being called to the scene.

Regardless of whether or not those directly involved in these incidents were Theta Chi affiliates, the host of the party must assume responsibility. The fact is that they held the party under inappropriate circumstances, putting families at risk of vandalism and violence.

“These narcissistic kids think that the sun rises when they wake and the sun sets when they sleep,” a resident* of the area said. She was absolutely livid, with a voice that quavered with rage. “They had the gall to tell me that I should have known this type of stuff would happen when I moved into a college town. How dare they!”

As university students, we represent UC Santa Cruz. We are ambassadors to the community. To enable and engage Theta Chi’s behavior not only severely damages the school’s reputation, but the campus’s place within the city as well.

Greek life is a privilege that should not be abused — as an organization, every fraternity and sorority has a responsibility to be courteous and respectful. Throwing a wild bash in the middle of a family neighborhood is not only irresponsible but rude and absolutely neglectful.

UC Santa Cruz prides itself on having Greek life that is different from other universities. We have a small Greek community that centers itself on responsible volunteering and community interaction. For Theta Chi to be so inconsiderate negatively affects the reputation of all fraternities and sororities and furthers the already-present tensions between students and the community.

If these guys took even a minute to consider those outside of their little sphere of comrades, someone might have stood up and said, “This is probably not the best neighborhood to host a party.” Sadly, it seems the members were incapable of even this simple thought. 

When attempts were made to reach him for comment, chapter president Eric Yao would not return my phone calls about the incidents. When the head of this chapter fails to acknowledge the negative effects of the organization’s party, the sense of moral and social integrity of the fraternity as a whole is called into question.

If Theta Chi ever wants to be respected by anyone other than their “brothers,” they need to grow up and face the music. The incidents surrounding their luau-themed alcoholfest impacted everyone around them, and unfortunately neighborhood members got caught in the crossfire.

This issue has much wider implications than drunk frat boys littering and tussling, but in the meantime my proposal is that Theta Chi submit public, individual apologies to the community, the university, and all of the fraternities and sororities in Santa Cruz. 

And by the way, Theta Chi: you owe me $256 for a broken window.

——–

*Names of residents have been withheld to protect their privacy.