WTF!?!

As reported earlier, there was a terrible tragedy at a beach house on Sunday morning.  One of the things I was most proud of was how USC handled the situation.  They held a press conference to acknowledge their grief for the students and the families.  Best of all they kept everything confidential.  They did not release names, ages or any of that.  They also stated that they would offer counseling to students but did not disclose a location to keep the media away.  However, that privacy seemed to reverse somewhat today.  I saw a news van in front of the Russell house today ( our main student building which has a large food court, theater, mailboxes, help desk and conference rooms) and figured it was just there to cover the ticket distribution for the Florida game.  I thought it was strange that they let a van in because that section of the street is usually blocked off by large iron gates between the hours of 10 and 5. Apparently some students camped out and the line reached as far as two city blocks today.  So, at first I thought nothing of it.  I came back about 2 hours later after finished my lab work and saw that now there were about 8 news vans equipped with huge satellites to send news feeds. I also saw several cameras and several students wearing the greek letters of those who were lost in the fire.

I dont believe that I knew any of the victims in the fire, nor am I in a greek organization.  But to me, it is very inappropriate to allow the news cameras to come onto our campus and set up their trucks on a section of the street that is blocked throughout the day just so they can get a story for their evening news.  So much for the privacy the school wanted to preserve to the students in their mourning.  That site made me feel even worse about the whole incident.