President Carol Folt, drawing on her roots as a biological scientist, concluded her 2025, and final, State of the University address by comparing USC’s student body to the sprawling fields of California poppies during a super bloom. When Folt was sworn in as president in 2019, California underwent one of the rare events also referred to as “poppy apocalypse.”

“Universities create the environment for our students to bloom. [Students] are the flowers of our super bloom. They come forward every single year. They’re never the same, no super bloom is the same,” Folt said. “Our amazing Trojan family is an incredible seed bank, and I’m looking forward to seeing another super bloom.”

Now, after nearly six years at USC, seven as the chancellor of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a year as the interim president of Dartmouth, Folt said this would be her last time leading a university. As she steps back to a faculty role, Folt said she is “pretty excited” to have an office in the recently-created Ginsburg Hall, which she called USC’s “greenest building” and one of the accomplishments from her tenure that she listed during the address.

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“I feel a lot like that same starting scientist that I was that started to realize I could do things no one had ever done before and what a magical feeling of empowerment that was,” Folt said. “It has continued my whole life that I am a true believer in the power of education and discovery to change the world.”

Folt said the University will continue following the law, including recent executive actions impacting research funding, immigration, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion policies. 

USC receives around $1.35 billion from the federal government annually, of which Folt said around $600 million goes to student aid and the rest goes to research. A graph displayed during the address showed that research funding has increased to $1.264 billion from just under $1 billion when Folt began in 2019. 

Folt encouraged researchers to continue submitting proposals despite executive actions — including capping National Institutes of Health funding as well as flagging studies with DEI-related terms from the National Science Foundation — and said the University will work to continue supporting the research.

“What I really wish I could tell you is not to worry, but I can’t tell you how to face it, because none of us really understand this,” Folt said. “What we’re trying to do is first understand it. We’re not going to overreact. We aren’t going to do things that we don’t understand to be necessary. At the core of all of it is doing it consistent with our mission, opportunity, the things we really value.”

With the opening of the Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. in 2023 and the creation of the Trojan Caucus Feb. 27 — the first university-based caucus in Congress, made up of five USC alumni —  Folt said USC has an increased voice in the federal government. She said the University is “advocating for all of the things we believe in” and said they should have more “clarity” on the impact of President Donald Trump’s executive actions in two or three months.

“I’ve been [at] East Coast schools and West Coast schools. West Coast schools do not get heard in D.C. unless they have a very active presence,” Folt said. “Being able to truly be a national University with a voice on both sides of the continent and beyond, is really important.”

Folt said the University’s budget began declining in 2017 and 2018 due to the end of a fundraising campaign coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic as well as multiple scandals, including lawsuits involving former gynecologist George Tyndall and the Varsity Blues admissions scandal. 

Folt said the University has been in a recovery phase after facing $2.5 billion of “legal and COVID costs.” A graph displayed during the address showed a $3 billion increase in the University’s budget since 2019 and around a 5% decrease in operating deficit — with the 2024 fiscal year’s deficit at 2.1%. According to another graph, fundraising has rebounded since 2022 and Folt said the 2025 fiscal year is projected to be the highest or second-highest fundraising year in USC history.

Folt also pointed to an increase in the health system’s rating, building the largest university student mental health team, creation of the School of Advanced Computing, renaming of the Crow Center for International & Public Affairs, a gold Sustainability Tracking and Rating System score and renovation of Student Union, as accomplishments during her tenure.

Outside of Bovard Auditorium, where the address was held, around 10 individuals gathered for a vigil hosted by USC Faculty For Justice In Palestine — an advocacy group not affiliated with the University. An Instagram post promoting the event said the vigil protested the “ongoing scholasticide Israel continues to perpetrate in Palestine.” 

“We thought it was important to raise the profile of the lack of universities in Gaza as a result of what … the [United States] government’s support has meant, using U.S. tax dollars, for the destruction of Gaza,” said Laurie Brand, a representative for FJP and a professor emerita of political science and international relations as well as Middle East studies. “It’s important to keep people thinking and talking about Gaza and that they not forget that even if there’s a fragile ceasefire, that the destruction is unimaginable.”

Zelda Fishman contributed to this report.