USG Vice President resigns following allegations of complicity in racial misconduct

Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Rose Ritch resigned her position Wednesday following allegations of her complicity in racial misconduct on campus. In her letter to the USC community, Ritch wrote that student harassment on social media regarding her identity as a Zionist led to her decision to resign. 

“I have been accused by a group of students of being unsuitable as a student leader,” Ritch wrote. “I have been told that my support for Israel has made me complicit in racism, and that, by association, I am racist.”

Ritch’s resignation comes after the monthslong efforts of student activist Abeer Tijani, a rising senior majoring in global health. Tijani circulated a petition calling for the resignation of USG President Truman Fritz, who resigned July 7, and filed a formal impeachment complaint against both Fritz and Ritch with Speaker of the Senate Gabe Savage. Her actions were supported by the Black Student Assembly. 

Days after Tijani launched the petition, she shared on Instagram that being pro-Israel is not an impeachable offense. However, she wrote that Ritch’s silence surrounding several posts on the @black_at_usc Instagram account claiming Fritz’s racial misconduct and microaggressive behavior demonstrates complicity. 

“The assumption that Rose accepts the human rights abuses occurring to Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] simply because she supports the Jewish right to self-determination is, by nature, antisemitic,” Tijani shared on Instagram June 27. 

According to Tijani, Ritch should not have to bear the complete responsibility to represent the issues that are brought about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Regardless, Tijani wrote she believes it is important to acknowledge the dissatisfaction of Palestinian students and amplify their voices on campus — a “bigger issue that is greater than Rose and her personal affiliations.”

In her letter, Ritch wrote that the harassment she had received over the past few months took the form of an “aggressive,” antisemitic social media campaign, with students calling to “impeach her Zionist a**.” 

“An attack on my Zionist identity is an attack on my Jewish identity,” Ritch wrote. “The suggestion that my support for a Jewish homeland would make me unfit for office or would justify my impeachment plays into the oldest stereotypes of Jews, including accusations of dual loyalty and holding all Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.”

According to Ritch, the USC community has seen a culture shift in which students “cancel” those they disagree with through comments and retweets via social media instead of in-person conversations. Ritch wrote that this kind of shift, which is not isolated to USC, has impacted her negatively, with students making presumptions about her Zionist identity without asking her about her own thoughts regarding Israel. 

“No one asked to learn together, to try to understand and build connections,” Ritch wrote. “Instead, the people with whom I have shared a campus with for years, the people whom I desperately want to serve, have tried to make me feel ashamed, invalidated, and dehumanized because of who I am.”

Ritch reiterated her gratitude for Vice President for Student Affairs Winston Crisp’s suspension of her impeachment trial, which was scheduled to take place July 14, in light of USG removal procedures that he labeled “insufficient to ensure integrity.” However, she criticized the University for not recognizing the need to publicly stand in solidarity with Jewish students who, like herself, have endured similar antisemitic harassment.

According to Ritch, USG has consistently failed to provide an inclusive space for all communities on campus, with the organization being selective in which members to highlight on social media or promote to higher positions in leadership. However, Ritch wrote that complicity in racism on campus is not exclusive to USG and the team of professional staff that guides the organization but rather throughout the University and beyond. 

“What happened to me is wrong and unjust, and now it is my turn to make sure this never happens again,” Ritch wrote. “While I regret not speaking out more actively about this during my time in the organization, these issues persist well beyond myself, my Cabinet, and the current organization.”

A day after Ritch’s resignation, President Carol Folt announced a Universitywide initiative called “Stronger than Hate,” launched by the USC Shoah Foundation, to fight against biases and stereotypes through exhibitions, workshops and programs.

“What happened to Rose Ritch is unacceptable, and we must all take up her challenge to do better,” Folt wrote in a communitywide email. “This initiative is designed to help foster a campus culture of connection and compassion that empowers us to listen, learn, heal, and dream together.”

This article was updated at 7:17 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6 to include information about the “Stronger than Hate” initiative announced by President Carol Folt.