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UC Berkeley's Rowdy Fraternities On TV

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday May 11, 2010 - 12:14:00 PM

CBS's Inside Edition reported May 7 on a class action lawsuit filed in January by Southside neighbors seeking respite from UC Berkeley's rowdy fraternities. 

 

The program, which used some footage taken by southside resident Paul Ghysels as well as some taken by the network, shows loud and unruly behavior spilling out into the streets, with fraternity members passing out drunk on the sidewalk. 

 

One scene shows drops of blood outside someone's house after a fight between fraternity members. 

 

UC Berkeley currently has 2,700 students in 40 fraternities and 21 sororities, roughly 11 percent of the campus population. 

 

A lawyer representing the neighbors told the Planet in an earlier interview that more than 600 complaints and service requests were filed to the police against 34 fraternity houses in Berkeley in 2007, with an average of 18 calls for each frat house. 

 

Ghysels has put up a website about problems with fraternity behavior.