USC cancelled Tuesday’s California gubernatorial debate less than 24 hours before it was set to take place on the University’s campus. The University was set to co-host the debate along with KABC in Bovard Auditorium. 

This decision comes after Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra criticized USC in a public letter on March 14 for not including any Democratic candidates of color in the gubernatorial debate, under a formula developed by USC professor Christian Grose. 

The other three excluded candidates — Antonio Villaraigosa, Tony Thurmond and Betty Yee — called on the debaters to withdraw from the forum in a Friday news conference.

A second letter — signed by nine important political figures in California, including Robert Rivas, the speaker of the California Assembly; Monique Limon, the president of the California Senate; and seven major legislative caucus leaders — demanded that USC “open the March 24 gubernatorial debate to all leading candidates.” 

In a statement to the Daily Trojan, USC wrote that it was unable to “reach an agreement [with KABC] on expanding the number of candidates at tomorrow’s debate” and therefore cancelled the event.

“We recognize that concerns about the selection criteria for tomorrow’s gubernatorial debate have created a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters,” the statement read. “As a result, USC has made the difficult decision to cancel tomorrow’s debate and will look for other opportunities to educate voters on the candidates and issues.”

The four Democrats who were invited to the debate issued statements criticizing USC’s selection criteria; however, they did not withdraw from the debate.

In earlier statements, USC’s Center for the Political Future denied allegations that the debate criteria was in any way biased and declined to amend which candidates would be participating.