Content warning: This article contains mentions of indecent exposure.
Fear and frustration is mounting on Greek Row, the street that hosts most USC fraternity and sorority houses, after multiple students reported witnessing disturbing events involving an unhoused man. Residents alleged inadequate responses from the USC Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
DPS removed the man from the area on September 16, nearly one week after a sophomore residing on Greek Row said she saw him exposing himself in public, sexually harassing female students and loitering outside of sorority houses.
“I was walking on the road, and he was on the sidewalk in front of me, staring at me and my friend. He was masturbating,” the sophomore resident said. “I ran inside and called DPS and reported it, and I thought that it was dealt with until a lot of my other friends kept approaching me telling me that they were having the same experience day after day after day.”
The students quoted in this article requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the alleged incidents and concern for their safety.
DPS Chief of Public Safety Lauretta Hill confirmed DPS had received multiple reports about an unhoused man on 28th St. in the past two weeks. She added in her statement that DPS actively monitors the area and encourages students to avoid engaging with “a possible suspect.”
“We partnered with LAPD for a special detail to address this problem,” Hill said in the statement. “The individual who was the subject of the complaints on 28th Street agreed to accept services and left the area on September 16.”
The DPS statement did not acknowledge the sexual nature of the complaints made against the individual.
An Annenberg Media reporter found the man sleeping across the street from the USC Village on Sept. 17. The man declined to be interviewed.
Another resident of Greek Row studying public relations said the man had been in the area since late August.
The resident first noticed the man sleeping on the corner of 28th Street and University Avenue, one of the busiest intersections on Greek Row. She said people gave the man food, so he stuck around, but added his presence was not an issue until September 8, when the man was seen masturbating in broad daylight.
LAPD received three reports on September 11 regarding a Black male exposing himself, according to a statement shared via email with Annenberg Media. LAPD officers responded to one call made in the afternoon, detaining and releasing an individual. LAPD did not confirm the identity of the person.
“Two phone calls did not have police response due to the caller stating the suspect had already left the location and the caller advising they would call back if the suspect returned,” LAPD Officer Drake Madison said in the statement.
The PR student said that when she tried to report the man’s behavior to a DPS officer, that person told her that DPS could not take action against the man until he escalated his behavior to physical assault. She said the officer recommended confronting the man if she wanted him off her property.
“[DPS] told us to pour bleach and water on the sidewalk where he would normally sit, so he wouldn’t come back,” the student said. “Then they told us that they might be able to permanently remove him if we get a video recording of him doing it…why can’t they do it themselves? Why is it that we have to get the recording?”
The student said DPS responded to reports but were reluctant to take action because the unhoused man allegedly claimed to have a skin infection affecting his genitals. Eventually, she said DPS attempted to intervene, but the man continued his behavior.
Hill did not address these accusations in the statement from DPS.
“I witnessed [DPS] try to kick him out, and instead they aggravated him,” the PR student said. “They left me and another girl who were walking on the sidewalk to deal with this man who’s obviously not in the best mental state, who’s aggravated and following us…they put us in an unsafe situation.”
The same PR student said DPS encouraged those who reported incidents to stay in contact with university security and did not advise reaching out to LAPD. When a fellow resident called city police, the student said they were told LAPD “had bigger issues to deal with.”
“[The university] make[s] it seem like we have all these officers, all this surveillance, this two-mile radius, like you’re going to be safe no matter what around campus. That’s not at all been our experience,” the sophomore resident said. “It’s really frustrating that they are putting out this image that they are doing what they can when they’re not.”
Greek Row is located within the DPS zone and is actively patrolled due to the high volume of students, according to the statement from Hill. Yellow Jacket security ambassadors are positioned at the intersection of 28th Street and University Avenue at night, but not during the day.
According to its website, DPS patrols a 2.5 square-mile area around USC’s University Park Campus 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.
Other residents of the area raised complaints on Sidechat, a Reddit-like social media app where every post is anonymous.
One user shared a picture of the man with the caption, “Can someone get this dude out of here please.” Another user reposted the image and commented that he was actively sleeping outside of a sorority while exposing himself.
A junior studying business administration who lives on Greek Row said while most unhoused people she has come across are harmless, she has sometimes had to find other ways to enter and exit her house because of people sleeping in the walkway outside.
“It’s kind of scary, because you really don’t know where their heads are at,” she said. “You don’t know what drugs they’re on or what their state of consciousness is, or what they’re capable of.”
In June, an unhoused man was fatally stabbed by a USC student outside of a fraternity house on Greek Row. The student was arrested on suspicion of murder, but was later cleared of charges on the grounds that he had acted out of self defense and fear for his life and the safety of others.
The USC Office of Equity, Equal Opportunity and Title IX said they were unable to comment on reports of sexual misconduct due to privacy laws, but noted the office offers support to all students, faculty and staff who contact them, including “academic accommodations, workplace modifications, campus escort services and connecting to counseling.”
DPS works with unhoused individuals in communities around USC, according to the statement from Hill.
“We work with the city’s sanitation department, city council office and the Los Angeles Police Department to provide assistance to unhoused individuals. Officers coordinate with the L.A. CIRCLE Team (Crisis and Incident Response through Community-led Engagement) for shelter and various other social services that the team provides. We also connect unhoused individuals who need medical treatment with the USC Street Medicine team,” she said in the statement.
In recent years, USC has implemented various programs to address homelessness. The Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work offers resources and programs for unhoused individuals, including employment programs and housing assistance.
In 2021, the USC Keck School of Medicine launched the Street Medicine Program, offering medical care to unhoused individuals in local communities. Meanwhile, The Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research conducts intervention-focused research and trains homeless service practitioners.
While students can raise concerns in person with DPS officers on duty, Hill said students can reach DPS in multiple ways.
“We ask people to immediately contact us when they believe a crime is in progress,” Hill said in the statement. “We encourage them to use the LiveSafe app but they also can call us at 213-740-4321 (University Park Campus) or 323-442-1000 (Health Sciences Campus).”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included elements that violated Annenberg Media policy and was updated on Sept. 27 at 7:47 p.m. to reflect Annenberg Media’s guidelines for ethical reporting. A photo of the unhoused man pictured from a distance and a previous version of the Sidechat photo which included a racially discriminating comment have been removed. We regret these errors.