Flooding in Fluor exposed racism, USC must now respond

A false alarm on Fluor Tower’s Latinx floor, El Sol y La Luna, triggered massive flooding last Tuesday after the fire alarm was set off. Due to the sheer amount of water, 32 students were relocated to New North and South Residential Colleges.

And the damages were not only physical — apparently, the rate of flooding was great enough to unearth residents’ well-buried racism. Instead of uniting as a community during the ordeal, some Fluor students felt it was justified to attack their fellow residents. That same night, memes targeting the floor were posted on social media, followed by a petition calling for the immediate eviction of students responsible for the flooding.

One meme included Larry the Lobster from Spongebob and the message: “You can’t make tamales at 3 a.m. and then forget to turn off the microwave.” The other image was of the “Hellmo” picture and read, “There are enemies among us … it appears as though tamales were made improperly in suite 608.”

This was no case of microaggression, where the bounds of political correctness and racism are blurred by societal normalcy. The memes and petition were acts of blatant antagonism, attacking West Residential College’s Latinx floor with cultural stereotypes. They reeked of ignorance, the favored perfume of the privileged. 

Regardless of the mistakes made by the students who inadvertently triggered the fire alarm, such a negatively charged response is unacceptable — especially from members of a student body who, according to USC News, sold itself as “empathetic” and “caring” to USC on its applications. In truth, the whole situation displays the offending students’ inability to express their frustrations through mature channels.

An email was later sent out to students in West Residential College addressing the night’s events and students’ concerns — due procedure in such circumstances. However, the incident’s  implications have exceeded the limits of West Residential College. Because of the student-made memes, misinformation concerning the cause of the flooding has dispersed campuswide. This perpetuation of destructive stereotypes only gives power to this ignorant attempt at humor.

Despite technically being adults, USC students are somewhat shielded from the realities of greater society. Within the bubble of campus life, it seems that people have confused the right to free speech with freedom from repercussion. Anonymity does not equal invincibility, and there must be consequences for one’s actions — especially when said actions involve rhetoric that encourages racist stereotypes.

It is the University’s responsibility to uphold certain standards of conduct among its student population, one of which is respect for others and their cultural backgrounds. Amid conversations of racism concerning USC’s John Wayne exhibit and the slow-moving procession toward Von KleinSmid Center’s name change, the University needs to take an active role in the resolution of this situation. 

If measures cannot be taken against the perpetrator(s), the University needs to make a more public statement to the student body. This is an absolute necessity — not only to dispel misinterpretations of the night’s events but to quash any illusions that such forms of hate are accepted within the so-called Trojan Family.

This article was updated to reflect that the causing of flooding has not been stated. The Daily Trojan regrets the error.