#SaveTopping luncheon focuses on program restructuring

Norman Topping Student Aid Fund scholars and faculty members gathered together on Tuesday at the USC Town & Gown for a previously canceled faculty-student luncheon. Following the elimination of Christina Yokoyama’s position as program director on Feb. 1, this event was repurposed for the scholars’ “#SaveTopping” call to action movement.

According to Yokoyama, faculty-student luncheons like this one provide Topping scholars with the opportunity to establish a relationship with their professors outside of the classroom. But at this luncheon, which marked the first major event since Yokoyama’s elimination, Topping Fund members thought of ways to work more closely with the University to make sure that they agree with the administration’s restructuring efforts in the future during the luncheon.

“It was different in that we weren’t talking about what Topping does,” Yokoyama said. “We were talking about what’s happened since Jan. 2 when I was informed of the elimination of the position … I felt compelled to really applaud the efforts of the movement.”

Sabrina Enriquez, a Topping Scholar and senior majoring in mathematics, and Topping Governing Board Chair Sierra Williams provided updates on the program’s Call to Action efforts and meetings with Provost Michael Quick and Vice Provost of undergraduate programs Andrea Hodge.

Enriquez said that there were issues with scheduling the luncheon. After Yokoyama’s removal, the official master calendar of events were taken off of the program’s website. According to Enriquez, she was notified by Hodge that the luncheon scheduled for Tuesday was canceled.

“We never had an event that was planned so far in advance changed,” Enriquez said. “So we took it upon ourselves to still plan the event [for] when it was supposed to take place.”

On Feb. 7, Hodge released a memo to the Topping Fund. Hodge said that another faculty-student luncheon will be held at The Vineyard Room on March 28. Hodge will be attending the event to meet the Topping scholars.

After Enriquez addressed this lack of communication with Hodge via email, Enriquez was told on Feb. 16 that in response to the backlash from the program in response to the cancellation of the original date, the March 28 luncheon will still be set on the program’s calendar.

“I offered if she wanted to fund [Tuesday’s luncheon], and I offered if she wanted to write an update or memos that I could read … at our faculty-student luncheon, and she emailed me [Monday] that she thought about it and that she would be giving updates at the later date,” Enriquez said. “She decided that she was not going to help fund [this luncheon].”

The luncheon followed with a keynote speaker address from Sumun Pendakur, the Chief learning officer and director of the USC Equity Institutes at the Rossier School of Education, and closing remarks from the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Professor George Sanchez.

“We still have a lot of questions that have not been answered by the administration, specifically by Provost Quick or by Vice Provost Andrea Hodge about why the actions that they took at the beginning of the semester happened,” Sanchez said. “I talked about the fact that this is very disturbing because it’s not the University’s money. It’s the students’ money over the last 50 years that have contributed to the Topping Fund.”

During the event, Topping scholars brainstormed ideas for their next actions moving forward with the program. According to Sanchez, while Topping scholars are unsure of what to do in the next few weeks, collectively coming up with ideas at the luncheon was a step in the right direction.

“We don’t know what the program is right now,” Sanchez said. “It’s not clear if the same program that faculty have supported over the last 50 years is the same program the University now has … And this has to be cleared up.”