Caruso to step down from Board of Trustees chairmanship

Rick Caruso will step down from his role as Board of Trustees chair “once a transition process is completed” to run for mayor of Los Angeles, he announced in a communitywide email Tuesday. President Carol Folt also released a communitywide message Tuesday morning announcing Caruso’s decision to step down. 

“Chair Caruso has been an inspired Board leader and his passion for and commitment to USC run deep,” wrote Folt in her message. “Ensuring the well-being and opportunity to excel of our students, staff, and faculty has always been his guide.”

The nomination and governance committee, which Caruso is a member of, has begun the selection process and expects to finish by the end of the semester, Folt said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. The mayoral primary elections will be held June 7, less than a month following commencement. 

The Board’s bylaws do not require trustees to resign if they hold public office, Folt said, but trustees must step down “whenever there is a conflict of interest in anything that we’re doing.”

“I don’t think he would need to recuse himself prior to the determination of the next Board chair,” Folt said. “But, again, if any sort of issue came up, we absolutely would do that.” 

Whether Caruso remains as a voting member of the Board if elected mayor is “his choice,” Folt said. Addressing the possibility of Caruso staying on as chairman if he loses the election, Folt said, “he’s made clear what he’s going to do, and the Board is moving forward with that process.”

Caruso, a billionaire real estate mogul and a Marshall School of Business alumnus, has served on the Board since 2007. He assumed his chair position in 2018 a week after former President Max Nikias resigned following multiple University scandals, including decades of former USC gynecologist George Tyndall’s sexual abuse becoming public. 

In his communitywide email, Caruso emphasized the  University’s steps since he took over as chairman, including altering Board governance policies and navigating the pandemic.

Following Caruso’s election to Board chariman, he pledged to conduct an investigation and report into Tyndall’s sexual misconduct as chairman. However, in a 2021 media briefing, the chairman said no report was ever created — saying that a report would cause “more pain and suffering to the victims.” 

The Operation Varsity Blues scandal embroiled USC during Caruso’s chairmanship. Olivia Jade was on Caruso’s yacht when she learned that the federal government had indicted her mother, actress Lori Loughlin, of taking part in a bribery scheme led by Rick Singer to admit Jade into USC. 

The Board also made efforts to modernize its voting laws and diversify its members during Caruso’s chairmanship. The changes, announced in November 2019, were set to take place over the next three years. The modifications, among others, promised to reduce the number of voting members on the Board from 55 to 35 and  to decrease the number of committees from 11 to nine. The Board currently comprises of 40 voting members and nine committees.

The reforms also included age limits, term limits and increasing diversity to mirror USC’s student population. The University does not collect information on the Board’s diversity, a spokesperson told the Daily Trojan.

USC alumna and University Park Campus congressional representative Karen Bass is also running for Los Angeles mayor. In Folt’s Tuesday email, she wrote that the University “never endorses or supports any political candidates,” but previously included that Caruso “guided the university during a period of great turmoil” and “led the way with openness and an unwavering determination that helped propel us forward.”

Folt said she intentionally only included details about Caruso’s actions at USC and did not include information about “his service within the community.” 

“We are very careful. It would be completely inappropriate for me to be selecting a candidate,” Folt said. “I’ve already spoken to several of the candidates about this, and I will be reaching out to all of them because we are really deeply committed to Los Angeles.”

Jonathan Park contributed to this report.