Letters: USC needs to admit it has a problem

Eighteen of USC’s 29 fraternities have been cited for alcohol, drug or hazing violations since 2011. In 2015, an 18-year-old Pi Kappa Alpha member at USC died from “acute alcohol intoxication.”

Yet USC cannot afford a student recovery program (“They kicked addiction, now they try to stay clean at USC,” July 2)? With a budget of $1 billion? What are the priorities of USC’s president and board of trustees? Will USC dismiss student alcohol deaths as, in the words of the 2015 coroner’s inquest, a “misfortunate accident”?

It is my understanding South Carolina’s Supreme Court has determined that a fraternal organization owes a duty of care to its initiates not to cause them injury. I am not a lawyer, but doesn’t it seem reasonable to believe that the University of South Carolina should owe a similar “duty of care” to its students? Or, at the very least, that USC should take responsibility by providing a student recovery program, when a quarter of college students say drinking has hampered their studies?