Third spaces are homes away from home
Students find communities separate from work and school in alternative spaces.
By SOPHIA KANG & LANGSTON JAMES WILKINSON
As to-do lists pile up and midterm cramming begins, there is a strong desire to escape from the domestic and professional responsibilities of our daily lives. Students who both live in University housing and work on campus may find it difficult to feel a stark separation between being on the clock and off.
Consequently, USC students have both sought out and created third spaces, places solely dedicated to building community and socializing.
With the various facilities offered by USC, some students find what they need right on campus rather than venturing into different Los Angeles neighborhoods. Elise O’Neill, a freshman majoring in international relations, likes to take advantage of on-campus facilities like Doheny Memorial Library, Lyon Recreation Center and the dining halls.
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“I like to go out of my dorm to do work,” O’Neill said. “I feel like it’s easier for me to focus. That’s why I go to the libraries and the dining hall to eat and then also to spend time with my friends.”
In addition to these locations, Javier Avelar, a freshman majoring in environmental studies, tends to be drawn to the greener parts of campus to wind down. Nature spaces, like the crisply mowed grass of the USC Village Great Lawn and the red roses in Alumni Park, give students a space to sit in the grass and take a break in the sun.
Alumni Park’s fences were taken down in fall 2025, after being implemented in the previous year, allowing students better access to green spaces on campus. (Marissa Ding / Daily Trojan)
“It’s calming. The greenery, it brings you back,” Avelar said. “I usually don’t go there to work or anything; I just go there to relax. Just passing by, I think, is enough.”
Although he enjoys the foliage campus has to offer, Avelar said he believes the University could expand its efforts and add to on-campus nature. For students looking to engage their green thumb, rather than just lounging on the grass, they can join USC’s green projects, like Parkside Garden — an organic garden fully managed by SC Garden Club students that’s equipped with sustainable systems, like full-scale aquaponics and food-scrap composting.
“I would really like to be able to bring it inside, start growing plants, stuff like that,” Avelar said. “If I’m in an area where there’s a lot of greenery, then I absolutely would thrive, and I would definitely be a lot happier.”
Since the University removed campus gates in Aug. 2024 and ID requirements over the summer, students are now able to utilize the open spaces and seating 24/7. Natural areas on campus, like Alumni Park, have become more accessible. Trojan Event Services outlines at least 21 separate outdoor spaces available for reservation by University clients throughout the year.
Alternatively, some students find community through USC’s over 35 recognized chapters of fraternities and sororities. These organizations not only provide students with socializing opportunities through events and activities but, for some, also through their off-campus houses that are available to members outside of event hours.
Elsa Krapf, a sophomore majoring in writing for screen and television and a member of Delta Delta Delta, said that even though she doesn’t live in the sorority house, she spends time there during weekdays to have dinner, attend meetings or spend time with her friends. She explained that although the physical house remains unchanged, as new sorority members enter and previous ones graduate, the space acts as a third space for an ever-changing group of people.
“I think that for me, specifically this semester, I’ve been there a lot more because it’s more people that I know,” Krapf said. “So it feels more like a social thing, rather than just like a house where you don’t know anyone.”
Other students gravitate toward the various cultural and community centers offered on campus, including the Middle Eastern and North African Lounge as well as the LGBTQ+ Student Center. One of these culturally affirming centers is La CASA, which offers programs and services focused on the Latine community.
Although David Padilla, a junior studying American studies and ethnicity, initially went to La CASA for student organization events, he has continued to stay for the community he found there.
“You just really feel at home because it’s a lot of people from different backgrounds, different places, but we’re all a little, small community,” Padilla said.
Padilla praised center supervisor Leticia Delgado for her leadership at the center and allowing La CASA to be a welcoming space for underrepresented groups at USC.
Earlier this year, USC officially replaced “diversity, equity and inclusion” with “community” on its list of stated values after pressure from the Trump administration to dismantle DEI programs in universities across the country. In spite of this, Padilla believes on-campus cultural spaces like La CASA will continue to thrive.
“You would think that these spaces would be challenged, and they wouldn’t be as strong as they used to be, but I think it’s been the opposite,” Padilla said. “Their programming is very socially relevant to what’s going on at the moment … I feel like it’s further strengthened in the community that frequently visits the center.”
However, USC’s campus is not always the go-to sanctuary to find community. For Luis Diaz, a senior majoring in astronautical engineering, that third space is on the streets with his motorcycle. Diaz’s third space is not limited to four walls and a roof, but takes on the neighborhoods of L.A. instead of anything the campus has to offer.
“If I want to get away from school and home, I hop on the freeway and I let the wind take me away,” Diaz said.
Initially drawn to the activity because of his dad, who also rides motorcycles, Diaz decided to take it upon himself to learn a year and a half ago. He said that learning how to ride was the “best investment [he’s] ever made for [his] mental health.”
“I like work, and I like school, because I learn something new every single day,” Diaz said. “Riding a motorcycle, I think it’s exactly the same way. You just learn new habits … There’s a little brotherhood, a camaraderie, between motorcyclists.”
There is no shortage of third spaces for students to find community and camaraderie. Whether it is out in downtown Los Angeles, on the long winding freeways of the county or within the campus boundaries, some USC residents have found their haven away from the stress of daily life and sought their home away from home.