The USC Values Poll is a promising start but not the finish line


Recently, USC students received an email titled “Share Your Voice: Take the USC Values Poll.” Some students may think of the email as insignificant, scrolling past it or instantly deleting it. However, it is important to realize what the Values Poll means for the University when the trajectory of USC is significantly changing. 

The Values Poll symbolizes President Carol Folt’s determination to transform the University and turn the page on corruption. However, the Values Poll will remain just that: a poll that lacks  the backing of other initiatives and the support of faculty, staff and students. Although the poll’s launch marks a promising starting point, much more work needs to be done for the community to see lasting, sweeping change. 

The Values Poll is the first stage in a multi-step process aimed at reshaping the University’s culture. Specifically, the cultural commission members in charge of the initiative explained that the goal of the Values Poll is to “move toward understanding and assessing our current and desired values.” 

Once the poll closes, culture session town halls will take place for people to come together to talk extensively about advances they want to see. These discussions will then shape future actions — and hopefully culture changes — by the University. All of this is planned to take place in separate stages throughout the current academic year. 

The Values Poll asks four questions: Which 10 values/behaviors most reflect who you are? Which 10 values/behaviors most reflect your experience of your immediate environment (school or unit)? Which 10 values/behaviors most reflect your experience of USC as a whole? And which 10 values/behaviors do you believe are essential for USC to achieve its highest potential?

A list of key terms follows each question that includes, but is not limited to accomplishment, ethical, fairness and mindfulness. The student does not have the option to write in their own values but instead must select from the provided options. While suggestions may help lessen the time investment of participating, if the point of the poll is to gather the opinions of the students taking it, the poll should not limit the values deemed important by the University. 

Additionally, the questions are broad and vague, making it difficult for those taking the poll to give concise, accurate answers. Moreover, with the college admissions scandal still at the forefront of the cultural identity of USC, a question specifically addressing the application and admissions process is conspicuously absent, yet could have given meaningful insight into current campus culture.

While there are certain areas in which this poll could improve, the significance of the Values Poll should not be lost on anyone. The poll marks the first time the University has sent out a poll to staff, students and faculty, asking them to contribute opinions on changing major processes and culture at USC. 

Folt wants the core groups who make up the University to decide the direction in which it is headed. Instead of leaving reconstruction up to higher management or those with the biggest pockets, the Values Poll strives to give each and every person involved with this University a voice. 

But to be most effective, the collective voice should be arrived at with more than just static poll results. Instead of a mere tally of the opinions of faculty, staff and students, a more dynamic approach would be to bring these groups together to actively discuss about change. For example, Gould School of Law professor Ariela Gross argues that there should be faculty and student representation on the Board of Trustees because the school’s culture “will not be fixed with flowcharts or buzzwords like ‘wellness’ and ‘climate.’”

Although the Values Poll certainly creates an opportunity to help frame the discussion, until the representative student and faculty stakeholders are involved in the decision-making, the initiative is unlikely to be a driving force in transforming campus culture. The poll is too broad and too vague to stand alone as it is now. Hopefully, it will at least be a catalyst for wider, sweeping changes in structure, such as putting an end to the extreme commercialization of education and increasing tuition.  

With the simultaneous delivery of this email to all USC students  this past week, Folt showed that even though she is at the helm of the ship, she intends to be collaborative. So, even if there needs to be more stakeholders at the table, the Values Poll is an exciting hint of what is likely to come during Folt’s presidency and a strong indication that substantive changes are imminent. But while the poll is promising, there’s more to be done in changing the campus culture.