1988
USC begins to examine reasons behind growing incivility, intolerance, and harassment.
Using methods described in Kuh and Whitt's, The Invisible Tapestry: Culture in American Colleges and Universities, we discovered that our students' behavior was seldom informed or influenced by our institutional culture.
Discovered their behavior was a result of three key reasons:
I. Most aberrant behavioral incidents occurred in unstructured, unsupervised settings involving closely bonded groups where risk of discovery and personal accountability was low.
2. Students were motivated by distinct values that prized approval from peers more than from authority figures (no surprise here!).
3. The University's values and ethics for student relationships and behavior were not clearly articulated.

1989
A task force was appointed by the Vice President for Student Affairs (Dr. Dennis Pruitt) to investigate our students' relationships with each other, to clearly define the community values, standards and expectations, and to develop a means of communicating these standards and expectations.
The task force examined what other institutions were doing in this, realm, including the creation of restrictive conduct codes (which some suggested violated academic freedom and freedom of speech) and development of "social honor codes."
The task force finally settled on an approach that would allow the clear articulation of our community 'values and standards in line with our historic mission and motto, thus the Carolinian Creed was created.
Simplicity and easily understood language was purposefully applied. It was created without defining violations or remedies.
A document analysis was conducted using the content analysis techniques developed by the International Values Institute. This confirmed that the values expressed in the Carolinian Creed were identical to those expressed in the University's published mission statement.

1990
The Creed was formally presented successfully for endorsement by every major governing and decision-making body at USC, including the Board or Trustees, the National Advisory Board, the Faculty Senate, the Student Senate, the Residence Hall Association, the Greek Councils, and the parents association.
In October 1990, convocation on the Horseshoe, before over 600 students, was held to officially introduce the Carolinian Creed to the campus community .
A bronze cast of the Creed was placed on the Horseshoe and is now part of campus tours.

1990- Present
The Creed is now published in virtually all major campus publications.
The Creed is found in virtually every campus building, sometimes on boards measuring 3'x5'.
At our Fall Convocation, the Creed is formally presented to a first year student randomly selected to represent the freshman class after being read aloud by the student government president.
The Creed is incorporated into virtually all student leadership and student staff training.
The Creed is integrated into orientation activities and the instruction of University 101 classes.
The Creed has become a focal point for aspects of our assessment and outcomes measurements.
An annual Carolinian Creed Week is celebrated with essays, campus dialogues, and various other activities and learning opportunities.
All students interested in attending the University encounter the Creed on their application for admission, and with their signature indicating their, understanding of  its meaning.
It is used in a variety of teachable moments and places such as in classrooms, dialogues in residence halls, discussions in the student union, in training programs, and innumerable other campus venues.
 
 -Timeline adapted by Gene Luna, PhD (2000) from various sources, and particularly from the article, "The Carolinian's Creed" in About Campus, May-June 1996 by Dr. Dennis A. Pruitt, Vice President for Student and Alumni Services.