This year, the University of Southern California’s faculty criticized the administration’s handling of anti-Israel protests and the decision to halt the principal commencement ceremony for the graduating class.
The USC Academic Senate voted 21- 7 in favor of censuring the school’s senator, Carol Folt, and rector, Andrew Guzman. According to National Review, six university members reportedly abstained from casting ballots.
USC leaders originally canceled the dean Asna Tabassum’s initiation talk,  , who holds pro- Arab views and has made anti- Semitic and nasty comments formally. Eventually, the school claimed that the meeting was canceled because 93 anti-Israel activists were arrested due to safety concerns.
According to the censure quality,” the faculty expressed widespread dissatisfaction and concern about operational decisions and communication regarding these events.” In a campus-wide notice on April 15, Guzman wrote that the threats “appears to have created significant risks relating to safety and disruption.”
A task force will be set up to examine the college government’s response to those events now that the condemnation resolution has been passed. By September 15th, the job force’s findings will be made public, according to the file. Both Folt and Guzman are expected to totally cooperate with the task agency’s research.
In an email sent to National Review, Folt said,” I understand there are many different beliefs among people of the Trojan Community regarding our current choices.” ” I’m committed to working with the Academic Senate, and the wider faculty who were n’t present at today’s session”.
Instead of holding one big initiation, which was expected to bring an estimated 65, 000 people to school, USC opted to carry multiple smaller rites and celebrations over the course of four days, starting Wednesday. This month before, Columbia University made a similar choice. Due to its withdrawal, USC’s primary graduation service was actually scheduled for Friday.
Folt praised the newly formed process force’s continued cooperation, adding,” Provost Guzman and I welcome.” ” For then, our focus is on celebrating the 19, 000 alumni of USC’s School of 2024″.
