Dear Trojan Family,
I’m writing to let you know the steps we’re taking now to ensure students finish their finals in a quiet, safe academic environment – and that our graduating students can enjoy peaceful and joyous commencement ceremonies worthy of their accomplishments.
Across the University Park Campus, there is a flurry of activity as teams work around the clock to prepare for over 100 Commencement ceremonies, celebrations, and receptions, which begin on May 8.
I’m writing to give you an update. The recent events at USC have been hard on all of us – I know you’re seeing it, hearing it, and that you have many questions about how we’re maintaining safety, honoring free speech, and ensuring we can host our 141st commencement to give our graduates the celebration they have earned.
We are working to establish an operations protocol that will ensure a safe, secure, and smoothly running campus during these unprecedented times. Thank you for your patience. We know the last couple of days have been frustrating.
These past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for all of us. As your president, my responsibility is to uphold our Trojan values so that everyone who lives, learns, and works here can have safe places to live, learn, and speak.
This update provides information about our upcoming 2024 commencement events. To ensure we host commencement activities and celebrate our graduates safely, we will be implementing additional security measures. These include ticketing of all commencement events taking place on May 8-11 and directing all campus access through specific points of entry.
We are writing to let you know that our University Park Campus is in the process of being returned to normal operations. University gates will remain closed to anyone without proper USC identification or verifiable business purpose, at least through the weekend, similar to our weeknight and weekend entry protocols.
I want to give you an update on what has been happening on our campus today. As always, our highest priority and responsibility is to protect the safety of our community and ensure our academic programs and university activities continue unabated.
Earth Month begins today, and I hope you’ll take the time to reflect on our planet and join USC’s efforts to create a more sustainable future. For inspiration, I encourage you to visit the Earth Month event calendar, where you’ll find over 50 sustainability-focused activities and events to help you do just that!
On behalf of President Folt, I am excited to announce that Franita Tolson has been appointed as the new dean of the USC Gould School of Law, effective April 1, 2024. Dean Tolson will hold the Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law.