When interim President Beong-Soo Kim wanted to fill the room with attendees for the International Day of Democracy, he looked no further than to invite former California governor and Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger as the keynote speaker.

Kim meticulously planned out how Schwarzenegger perfectly “resembled Tommy Trojan” and “would cause the registration system for this event to crash,” but somehow forgot to take into account the ulterior motives that a conservative politician might have while addressing a body of impressionable college students.

Schwarzenegger quickly turned the panel into a campaign event against Proposition 50, a bill that would allow for California to redraw voting districts in the middle of a census period in response to Texas’ attempted redistricting in August. The Texas redistricting plan would flip five Democratic seats in the House of Representatives to Republican control.

“Remember that if you vote yes on [Proposition 50], you’re going backwards,” Schwarzenegger told students. “The Constitution does not start with politicians … it started, ‘We the People.’”

But there was no mention, by Schwarzenegger or Kim, of the Americans who would suffer from a continued Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Not once was the issue of Democratic voters being sidelined in Texas brought into the conversation.

Despite Kim’s attempts to discuss other issues, such as Schwarzenegger’s bodybuilder origins and the nation’s political divide, the topic of redistricting remained a prominent point of discussion. But I refuse to believe that the president of our University is naive enough to have been blindsided by the former governor’s campaign tactics.

Kim didn’t push back against any of Schwarzenegger’s partisan opinions; he didn’t attempt to give the audience a holistic and objective understanding of the bill, and he didn’t invite up a proponent of Prop. 50 to make it an equal debate.

It was disappointingly ironic for Kim to allow an uncontested display of autocracy take place on this supposed “Day of Democracy.”

From the tightening grip on first amendment rights to labeling anti-fascism — which every United States loyalist should support — as a terrorist organization and everything in between, there is more than enough reason as to why a Day of Democracy should stress the importance of fighting back.

Schwarzenegger himself, a stalwart critic of President Donald Trump, should know of all people that the U.S.’ democracy is under critical threat right now. Advocating for California voters to surrender the fight against Trump, who has become democracy’s assailant, is the most “backwards” thing the former governor could’ve said.

The presence of a camera crew at the event confirmed that Schwarzenegger’s focus on Prop. 50 was premeditated. A TV ad opposing the bill, which used footage from the USC panel, aired Sept. 23.

Although the University later said they didn’t give permission for the event to be filmed and used in an ad, they did little to stop it in the moment.

“USC is neutral on Proposition 50 and intends to remain neutral,” said Michael Blanton, vice president of USC’s office of professionalism and ethics, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Schwarzenegger’s words were far from the stipulated “neutral,” and whether the University likes it or not, it’s willingly let itself become accomplices in a conservative campaign.

There’s no inherent issue with Schwarzenegger voicing his opinions — we still allegedly have the right to free speech. The issue lies in USC giving him an unrivaled platform to do so, especially given its past surrounding politics.

When the University wanted to remain “neutral” on the Israel-Hamas war, it called LAPD on its own students. Arresting nearly 100 demonstrators, many of whom were students, was apparently a necessary step in remaining apolitical regarding an issue 8,000 miles away, but a few words regarding neutrality from President Kim were deemed too difficult of an effort on the most hot-topic issue facing California right now.

We’ve seen the true power the University can employ when it cares enough to truly put its foot down, and this was far from that.

Interim President Kim disappointed not only attendees at the International Day of Democracy speaker event, but also Californians who would suffer from letting Trump manipulate democratic institutions. USC can still remain “neutral” and be pro-democracy; those two things should never be mutually exclusive in a country held accountable to its people, not its president.