Daily Trojan, Los Angeles, CA (2025)

08/18/2025

Join a legacy! Staff applications are open until Sept. 7 for students of all majors and levels of experience. Apply at dailytrojan.com/apply or through the link in bio.

Check out dailytrojan.com/positions for more information about the available positions, and email [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.

Graphic: / Daily Trojan

08/07/2025

Glorya Kaufman, philanthropist and founder of the Kaufman School of Dance, died Tuesday, the University reported. She was 95 years old.

The Kaufman school, one of the University’s newest schools, celebrated its ten-year anniversary in May. Kaufman never disclosed the amount of her gift to the school, wanting people to focus on the opportunities the school presented to students rather than the amount of money she provided. She helped create the Kaufman International Dance Center at University Park Campus, in 2016.

“Glorya was a visionary in every way, particularly in recognizing the profound impact that dance brings to people’s lives daily,” said Julia Ritter, dean of the Kaufman school, in a USC Today article. “Her legacy will continue through every USC Kaufman graduate who carries her ideals forward on stages around the world.”

In 2008, she founded the Glorya Kaufman Foundation, which supports community dance and arts programs. Kaufman also donated to the Los Angeles Music Center and helped fund the renovation of UCLA’s dance building, which was named Glorya Kaufman Hall. Kaufman helped found the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in 1979.

USC’s Board of Trustees elected Kaufman as a member in 2012. Interim President Beong-Soo Kim told USC Today he had spoken with her “just last week” at a board meeting.

“Glorya’s love for dance was contagious, and she spread that love by creating opportunities for people everywhere to experience the transformative impact and joy of the arts,” Kim said. “Her legacy will continue to touch generations of USC Kaufman students for decades to come.”

Kaufman is survived by four children, along with 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Read the full article at the link in bio.

Photo: Greg Grudt / USC Photo

08/07/2025

Layoffs have begun at Keck Medicine of USC and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, according to an email sent to staff on Tuesday. This follows interim President Beong-Soo Kim’s recent statement on the University’s poor financial situation.

Keck Medicine and the Keck school wrote that they will complete most layoffs by the end of the week.

The email read that additional positions may be impacted because of the “cascading nature of workforce restructuring.”

Steven Shapiro, senior vice president for health affairs, Rodney Hanners, CEO of Keck Medicine and Carolyn Meltzer, dean of the Keck school signed the email.

“Despite our best efforts, we were unable to avoid layoffs,” the email read. “This tough decision is one of the several we are making to stabilize the finances of Keck Medicine and the Keck school, and to ensure economic stability.”

USC did not provide a number of layoffs, when asked for the amount of staff that will be affected.

The layoffs are part of an operation restructuring USC’s over $200 million operating deficit. Additional plans to address the deficit include selling unused properties, consolidating duplicative functions and adjusting compensation for the most highly compensated individuals.

Photo: Noah Danesh / Daily Trojan file photo

08/05/2025

The University will no longer require ID scanning to enter University Park Campus for students, faculty, staff and community members during public operating hours, interim President Beong-Soo Kim said in an interview with the Daily Trojan on Monday. The change could take place as early as Tuesday, Kim said.

The decision walks back a portion of the heightened security and surveillance measures at campus entrances implemented amid the Spring 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment protests. The measures included increased fencing, cameras and security personnel presence — all of which will remain.

Fencing around Alumni Park and the lawn in front of Bovard Auditorium, which also emerged following the protests, have been removed since the end of June and will remain down unless needed for events, Kim said.

Kim said the University will continue to employ ID scanning, entrance closures and other stricter security measures on a temporary basis as it deems necessary. The University has closed campus entrances several times in the past due to pro-Palestinian marches and vigils near the gates. The change would also provide some “financial benefit” to the University amid its more than $200 million operating deficit from the 2025 fiscal year, but Kim said finances were not the main driver of the decision.

The University’s security protocol has been criticized as exclusionary and excessive by some community members. A December 2024 survey of 345 faculty members by USC’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors found that nearly three-quarters of respondents had negative feelings about the security checkpoints.

The survey noted that a minority of respondents said the checkpoints made them feel safer by preventing what they described as potentially dangerous people and antisemitic protests from entering campus.

Kim said the University will monitor results from the change over the coming months and decide if adjustments are necessary, or if it should return to the prior heightened level of security.

Read the full article at the link in bio.

Photo: Fin Liu / Daily Trojan file photo

07/29/2025

Wallis Annenberg, USC’s longest-serving trustee, prominent Los Angeles philanthropist and namesake to Annenberg Hall died Monday morning due to complications related to lung cancer while at her L.A. home, the Los Angeles Times reported. She was 86.

Annenberg held various leadership roles — including president and chairwoman — at her family’s nonprofit organization, the Annenberg Foundation, which was founded by her father, Walter Annenberg. He was also a major donor to the University before his death in 2002, supporting the creation of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with an $8 million donation in 1972.

“Wallis was our champion, particularly as a lifelong advocate for the essential role communication and journalism play in advancing our society and sustaining our democracy,” said Willow Bay, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “Her legacy, here, carries on in every life her generosity touched.”

In 2010, the foundation gifted USC $50 million of the $59 million used to build Annenberg Hall, which houses the Annenberg Media Center. A $5 million donation from the foundation in April funded the creation of a multimedia production studio at USC’s Capital Campus.

Through both her foundation and her own personal funds, Annenberg has contributed to a variety of projects throughout L.A.

She contributed more than $75 million to help create the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, often called the Wallis, in Beverly Hills, for which the foundation gave a $38.5 million low-interest loan to aid in its construction.

Multi-million dollar donations also helped create the Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center, the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace and the in-progress Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, a bridge that will allow animals to travel over the U.S. Highway 101 in Agoura Hills.

Wallis Annenberg is survived by four children: Roger Annenberg Weingarten, Charles Annenberg Weingarten, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Lauren Bon. She is also survived by five grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Read the full article at the link in bio.

Photo: Tucker McWhirter / Daily Trojan file photo

07/20/2025

Vanessa Gomez Brake knew she was an atheist from the age of 12.

Despite majoring in religious studies, she didn’t see becoming a religious leader as an option, let alone earning a national award for her work, because it was unheard of. That is, until she became the first.

In February, she was named chaplain of the year by the Association for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life in Higher Education, becoming the first humanist to win the award.

“I can’t explain the affirmation, how that really feels for me to be seen,” said Gomez Brake, senior associate dean of religious life at USC. “I’m grateful that I have such a great network of chaplains across the nation and that many of them agree that I’m doing good work.”

Being a part of the humanist community has allowed Gomez Brake to connect with students of all religious beliefs and backgrounds, she said.

In her role, Gomez Brake helps manage around 80 student religious groups, provides individuals with support through one-on-one sessions and advocates for new religious spaces and accommodations on campus.

Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni said Gomez Brake does the best work he has seen in his 20 years at USC’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and, in particular, serves as a welcoming and understanding presence for students.

Robin Mitchell Stroud, director of student engagement programs for ORSL, described Gomez Brake as the glue that holds the office together.

“She’s a humanist chaplain, and so she’s just very good about centering voices not only for students but for other people who are — I will just say — often overlooked in those kinds of conversations,” Stroud said.

Read the full article at the link in bio.

Photo: Daniel Park

Design: Isabella Mancinas / Daily Trojan

07/14/2025

USC will implement layoffs to “deal decisively with our financial challenges,” wrote interim President Beong-Soo Kim in a message to faculty and staff Monday afternoon. Kim wrote that the University ended the 2025 fiscal year with an operating budget deficit of over $200 million, an increase from the 2024 fiscal year’s operating budget deficit of $158 million. The statement named the “structural nature” of the deficit, along with poor financial performance from the health system, as contributors to the larger deficit.

A decrease in international student enrollment, as well as USC facing a potential $300 million loss in federally sponsored research funding, contributed to the decision to implement layoffs.

The statement read that USC plans to take additional steps to cut costs, “including selling unused properties, consolidating duplicative functions, and adjusting compensation for the most highly compensated members of our community.”

These steps come in addition to measures announced in March, including a staff hiring freeze and continued budget reductions. On June 4, the University also announced its intent to sell the USC Peace Garden by June 30.

A website linked in the statement provides a suggestion box for students, staff, faculty and alumni to suggest ways for USC to combat its financial challenges, which will also include future updates from the University on budget developments.

Kim wrote that he and members of the senior leadership team would meet personally with the Academic Senate, the Staff Assembly and other community groups to receive feedback and questions regarding the upcoming changes.

“I know this is not the news we were hoping for, but by speaking forthrightly to you, I hope you will understand both the reality of our situation and the deep respect I have for every member of our Trojan Family,” Kim wrote.

Photo: / Daily Trojan file photo

07/10/2025

Join a legacy and apply to the Daily Trojan masthead at dailytrojan.com/apply or through the link in our bio.

Applications for all leadership positions close Friday, July 25 at 11:59 p.m.

Check out dailytrojan.com/positions for more information about the available positions, and email [email protected] if you have any questions.

Design: / Daily Trojan

07/10/2025

The USC Office of Cybersecurity is eliminating the roles of current employees to prepare for a departmental restructuring, USC Information Technology Services confirmed Wednesday evening.

“To meet the demands of today’s threat landscape, we are creating a new organization as part of our ongoing efforts to continuously improve cyber operations, be threat informed, and enable cyber resilience for the university,” the department wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan.

Impacted employees will be able to apply for positions in the restructured USC Office of Cybersecurity, which launches on Sept. 30. The statement did not confirm how many positions would be available in the new organization.

07/09/2025

USC Athletics has eliminated 12 jobs, including six current employees, the department confirmed to the Daily Trojan Tuesday evening. The department declined to state which positions were eliminated. The decision was first reported by Ryan Kartje for the Los Angeles Times.

The adjustment comes shortly after the approval of the landmark class action settlement of House v. NCAA on June 6, which will allow members of the NCAA, and its “defendant conferences,” ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, alongside other participating universities, to directly pay student-athletes through revenue sharing starting July 1. House also removes athletic scholarship limits, and the amount of scholarships universities can offer now depends on new roster limits.

In a “State of Troy” message to the community on June 12, Jennifer Cohen, athletics director, wrote that the University would utilize the full $20.5 million maximum that House set on paying student-athletes in the first year. Cohen also wrote that “a broad and challenging transformation” in college athletics has created a time of “financial stress.”

“Championship programs require championship resources, and while we are excited to provide additional benefits and opportunities to student-athletes, we are also realistic about increased costs,” Cohen wrote. “[We] must increase revenue, reduce costs, and utilize our resources wisely and responsibly.”

Photo: Gina Nguyen / Daily Trojan file photo

07/06/2025

The University announced three industry-leading alumni as new Board of Trustees members June 4: Bret Johnsen, chief financial officer of SpaceX, Wil Smith, president and chief executive officer of Greenlaw Partners, and Glenn Sonnenberg, president of Sonnenberg Real Estate Holdings.

The Board of Trustees is the “ultimate decision-making body” of the University, according to the Student Handbook, and will select the next permanent University president following Carol Folt, who stepped down on July 1. The Board previously selected Beong-Soo Kim to serve as interim president in the meantime.

Board of Trustees Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson told USC News that the SpaceX CFO brings “great experience” in financial management to the Board.

“He has been at the forefront of developing the next-generation aerospace industry in our country,” Johnson said. “He has been an active and prolific recruiter of Trojans with accounting, business and engineering degrees to the sector, and he has been a strategic ally in driving USC’s leadership in the space sciences.”

“[Smith] brings broad life experience and another set of diverse perspectives to our board table, both as an accomplished real estate developer in Orange County and as someone raised in rural Northern California,” Johnson said in a USC News article.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Glenn back to the USC Board of Trustees,” Johnson told USC News. “He has been a commercial and civic leader in a number of important institutions in Los Angeles and has long been actively engaged with the Jewish community and fostering interfaith dialogue throughout his career.”

Read the full article at the link in bio.

Photo: / Daily Trojan

Design: Isabella Mancinas / Daily Trojan

06/26/2025

Thanassis Rikakis will step down as dean of the Iovine and Young Academy on July 12 and will return as a professor at the academy, he wrote in an email to IYA students on Wednesday.

Josh Kun, vice provost of the arts, will serve as IYA’s interim dean beginning July 13, the Office of the Provost wrote in a letter to USC senior leadership obtained by the Daily Trojan. A search for the school’s next dean will begin later this summer, the letter read.

In his email to IYA students, Rikakis wrote that he stepped down to spend more time with his kids and to work as a faculty member, which better aligns with what “feels most meaningful to [him] at this point in [his] life and career.” Rikakis also wrote that running the academy during “hard financial times” was taxing.

“The application of IYA’s transdisciplinary pedagogy ... are areas strongly aligned with my teaching and research interests,” Rikakis wrote. “I am looking forward to continuing to contribute to the IYA community as a faculty member.”

Rikakis took over as the second dean of IYA in August 2021 after Erica Muhl stepped down following eight years in the role. IYA was founded in 2013.

The Office of the Provost wrote that Rikakis had “significantly increased visibility and resources” for the academy and the school’s interdisciplinary efforts during his tenure. IYA currently has joint programs with 10 other USC schools.

Photo: Vincent Leo / Daily Trojan file photo

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