Outdoor events will face increased safety measures

The university’s heightened security policies will now apply to all USC outdoor events, something that will affect clubs and organizations.

With the recent security enhancements, entry guidelines and minimum security staffing requirements have become more strict.

Depending on the entry to the event — whether the event is limited to only USC students or whether it is open to affiliates outside the university — there are specific entry guidelines and security staffing requirements that need to be met.

Organizations like Colleges Against Cancer and the USC Program Board will be impacted more strongly, primarily with events such as Relay for Life and Springfest.

Activities hosted by Program Board, a branch of Undergraduate Student Government, will be affected as well.

For example, Springfest, an annual music concert held on McCarthy Quad, might be affected financially.

Program Board executive director Juan Espinoza said though security is important, related expenses will cause some funding challenges.

“Before, we could spend a little more on talent, but now we have to budget accordingly to pay for security and fencing, which is all very expensive, so this might affect the quality of our programming in the level of talent that we can bring the campus,” Espinoza said.

“I do think that the attendance will definitely be affected. There will be a lower number of attendees, depending on what the talent is. .. I agree that we have to prioritize security for our students, but I do not believe isolation is an effective criterion for security.

Relay For Life Co-Event Chair Dana Horowitz said though the new security measures might inconvenience future events, the events won’t necessarily be any less successful.

“It could have a drastic effect in terms of where we’re going to have to get funding to finance the [Dept. of Public Safety] officers,” Horowitz said.

“But I think that the fact that our event takes place at Cromwell, which is inherently gated, and the fact that we’re an established event with a campus following, is definitely going to help us maintain the quality of our event that has existed over the past years. [It] has the potential to make things a lot safer, but it also has the potential to make things a lot more inconvenient.”