Last spring, during the pro-Palestine encampment at Alumni Park, the editor in chief of the Daily Trojan and many other journalism students and faculty, including myself, signed a letter to President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman calling for greater transparency, improved access to the administration and better treatment of student journalists.

As the co-executive editor of Annenberg Media, the other student-led news outlet on campus, I know firsthand the critical role student journalism played in those moments and how it continues to foster accountability, transparency and truth — values that USC, as a leading institution, claims to champion.

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More than 90 protesters were arrested, scores of Los Angeles Police Department officers swarmed our campus at the University’s request and access was cut off to anyone not affiliated with USC, including many journalists.

During that time, Annenberg Media reporters and Daily Trojan staff camped out for days, reporting every development. For many of us, it came at the cost of finals, our mental health and more. I can still hear the helicopters overhead and LAPD officers threatening to arrest us for simply asking what was happening.

But we covered the story anyway — because that’s what one of the best journalism schools in the country taught us to do.

Yet recent decisions by the University tell a different story.

The decision to slash the Daily Trojan’s funding undermines not just one newsroom but the very foundation of student journalism. The Daily Trojan — a historic institution that has served as USC’s independent student voice for 112 years — relies on University funding to produce impactful reporting that holds our community, including the administration, to account. Cutting their resources is a blow to this mission.

It also signals a disregard for the work of student journalists. I’ve signed the petition demanding the Daily Trojan’s staff pay and daily publishing schedule be fully reinstated. Trojans, I hope you will too.

At Annenberg Media, we are fortunate to receive support from the school of journalism, but that does not blind us to the inequities here. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues at the Daily Trojan, whose commitment to informing our student body and documenting campus life is no less vital than our own. USC cannot claim to value journalism while simultaneously undercutting those who practice it.

USC has made its priorities clear — in more than one way.

If USC can shell out over $28 million in one year to hire, fire and relocate its football coaches, surely it can spare a fraction of that to support the Daily Trojan. 

If President Folt can pocket more than $1 million a year, it’s hard to believe there’s no room in the budget for student journalism.

I’ll graduate in Spring 2025 after watching the cost of attendance soar to over $95,000 from around $80,000 since I started in Fall 2021.

But sure — no room in the budget for student journalism? 

This is how the independent student voice, democratic institutions and freedom of speech are eroded, one step at a time. First, you curb protests. Now, you strip resources from the very institution dedicated to shining a light on it all.

Annenberg Media will continue to fight the fight. We — the many reporters, producers, editors, writers, operations team members and tech support workers — condemn this dismantling of the Daily Trojan.

It’s time for Folt and the University’s leadership to revisit their priorities. Funding journalism is not an expense; it’s an investment in truth.

Folt must right this wrong, or her legacy, no matter her achievements, will be defined by a disregard for free speech and a free press.

In the meantime, it falls to us — the students, the journalists, the activists and the campus leaders — to step up. We must answer the call.

I turn to the Undergraduate Student Government. With a budget exceeding $2 million, funded by a $64 per student programming fee as part of students’ cost of attendance, I implore you to either stand true to your role as representatives and publicly oppose this decision or do us one better: create a budget for the Daily Trojan. 

To my colleagues at the Daily Trojan: We stand with you. Your fight is our fight, and this university needs to do better.

Signed in solidarity,

Zain Khan 

Co-Executive Editor | Annenberg Media