No valedictorian speech. No celebrity speakers. No main-stage ceremony, and no massive graduate walk to “Pomp and Circumstance” before tens of thousands of guests.
Instead, USC’s graduating seniors are being thrown an alternative party Thursday night, a “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration,” at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the eve of smaller campus commencement ceremonies where diplomas are set to be awarded at individual school events.
The Thursday night event was billed as an “electric atmosphere” — capped to six tickets per grad maximum — featuring a drone show, fireworks and a “special gift” for the Class of 2024: a hat from Travis Scott’s collegiate clothing brand.
The university had pitched it as a “Southern California-style” celebration to compensate for the loss of the traditional main-stage ceremony with a a valedictorian and keynote speeches and the presentation of honorary degrees. But turmoil and campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war upended the ritual.
Citing unspecified safety threats, USC President Carol Folt rescinded pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speaking slot and then canceled the main ceremony. After students set up a pro-Palestinian tent encampment and demanded that USC divest its financial ties with Israel, Folt and her team called in the Los Angeles Police Department, and 93 were arrested. On Sunday morning, police cleared a second encampment, but no arrests were made.
On Wednesday, USC President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman were censured by the Academic Senate, a body of representatives for USC faculty. The members cited “widespread dissatisfaction and concern among the faculty about administrative actions and decisions surrounding protests and commencement.”
Folt has defended her actions and said in an interview with The Times that campus safety is her “North Star.”
“For me, I have a very clear North Star: that I am the person at the university, no matter how complicated the issue and how much I empathize with everybody involved — which has been true for me — I still in the end have to sit back and say, ‘What can I do to keep my campus and my people as safe as possible?’”
Typically, the annual Baccalaureate Ceremony — a nondenominational, interfaith celebration — is held on the eve of graduation at Bovard Auditorium in the center of campus. This year an “in-person blessing” is planned for the Coliseum bash, as well as an “online interfaith blessing” that can be viewed on a commencement website.
Security at the Coliseum leading up to commencement on campus was tight.
On Thursday, access to USC’s campus, which was already restricted to USC students, faculty, staff and registered guests, became even stricter. Students and staff had to show USC identification, and anyone else trying to access campus needed a commencement ticket.
Metal fences and black gates were posted around campus. Guests walked through metal detectors and were asked to carry clear purses or bags. Since the Sunday encampment sweep, USC officers from several law enforcement agencies have been stationed at the center of campus.
“They include officers from the Baldwin Park Police Department, La Habra Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Airport Police,” according to David Carlisle, assistant chief of the university’s Department of Public Safety.