More than 550 individuals, including USC alumni with graduation years ranging from 1969 to 2023, have signed a letter condemning the University for insufficient response to Islamophobic and anti-Arab sentiment on campus.

USC alumni on social media began circulating the letter Nov. 16 amid repeated protests on campus related to the Israel-Hamas war and controversial comments by John Strauss, a professor of economics and gerontology, at a memorial for people killed in Gaza.

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“The fact that you have students from all of these different classes and from all these different time periods at USC, saying that they’ve noticed the same inaction from University officials and these same patterns, I think that itself is very powerful,” said Matthew Eck, a signatory to the letter and 2022 graduate. Eck is also a former Daily Trojan opinion editor.

In comments posted with their signatures, multiple alumni said they hoped USC would be on the right side of history and that they wanted USC to act in line with its stated values of diversity and justice. 

Lillie Guo, a 2022 graduate, said her reason for signing the letter came from “car[ing] a lot about what happens to the students that are on campus” and to provide Palestinian and Middle Eastern students with a “a little bit more space to be angry and to mourn.”

“It’s very counterintuitive that this [is a] place where so many of us learn to really think critically and to create our own ideas and and our own arguments about stuff like this and to see the University use absolutely no critical thinking,” Guo said in an interview with the Daily Trojan.

The alumni accuse the University of exhibiting bias against Muslim and Arab students and preference toward Zionist students, citing several examples of uneven response to anti-Zionist and Islamophobic incidents.

The letter references a lack of response to “intimidation” at a Nov. 10 memorial for people killed in Gaza and President Folt’s appearance at the Western Region Summit on Anti-Semitism in Higher Education Nov. 6, where she highlighted the University’s work to support Jewish and Zionist students.

The letter also cites a lack of “proportionate action” against doxxing and harassment of anti-Zionist students in 2020 after a campaign that led to the resignations of then-Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president Truman Fritz and Rose Ritch.

“The administration never seemed to pay as much mind to [anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab] sentiment as they paid to situations where students who held Zionist views would, for example, talk about how they were being criticized for their Zionist views,” Eck said.

The letter calls for the University to affirm that Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate are unacceptable, apologize for not specifically naming Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students in past communications about the Israel-Hamas war, and “take a stance against the U.S.-funded genocide being committed by Israel.”

The alumni are also calling for the University to condemn and launch an investigation into Strauss’ controversial comments.

Additionally, the letter calls for USC to reform its procedures for reporting harassment and discrimination and to create specialized resources to support Muslim and Arab students. The letter suggests “career support for students affected by smear campaigns” in relation to incidents like the “harassment, censorship and public doxxing” of students at Columbia University and Harvard University.

At both universities, billboard trucks appeared on campus displaying the names and pictures of students who had spoken in support of Palestine. 

The letter also calls for the University to divest from “institutions and companies complicit in the occupation and ongoing genocide of Palestinians.” In 2023, the University affirmed its position that it does not participate in boycott movements for running contrary to exchange of ideas.

In response to a request for comment, the University directed the Daily Trojan to prior statements on the Israel-Hamas war and its Freedom of Expression website. The website lists the Department of Public Safety and Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity and Title IX as resources for reporting harassment and discrimination.

In an Oct. 31 statement, the University said, “USC publicly and unequivocally denounces antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia.”

Referencing the Oct. 31 communication, the letter called on the University to “provide resources (more than a website of platitudes) to those impacted by discrimination on campus and elsewhere.”

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, incidents of Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate have risen on college campuses and in the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported it received 1,283 complaints of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias in the four weeks following Oct. 7, a 216% increase over the previous year. 

The White House announced Nov. 1 it would develop the first National Strategy to Address Islamophobia in the United States. Two weeks later, the White House released guidance and promised support to educational institutions in combating antisemitism and Islamophobia.

“When it benefits the administration, Carol Folt will release a thing about April being the month for Arab students on campus,” said an alum who signed the letter using their initials, P.R.A., citing prejudice in their workplace, in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “But when it comes to actually being committed to their students, if there’s any risk involved … I think that they don’t really care about students much.”