March 25, 1996
The women of Alpha Rho, one of USC’s early sororities, in the 1898 El Rodeo yearbook. (Photo/Courtesy of USC University Archives)
Women were always considered an important part of the educational configuration on campus, according to
Southern California and Its University, a 1969 history written by Manuel P. Servín and Iris Higbie Wilson. The charter that created the university spelled out that it would be “open in every respect for the equal education of both sexes.”
This was a fairly progressive statement for the 1880s. Some universities feared “feminization,” believing that donors would shun institutions that admitted too many women.