USG attempts to move forward in aftermath of racial reckoning

Following the death of George Floyd, Black students created the @black_at_usc Instagram page to share instances of racism and microaggressions at USC. Several posts on the account claimed that former Undergraduate Student Government President Truman Fritz engaged in racial misconduct. 

In response to these allegations, Abeer Tijani, a senior majoring in global health, called for Fritz’s immediate resignation due to his racially insensitive behavior. Despite having reached out to Fritz and Ritch on multiple occasions, Tijani was left ignored by the two. She then helped lead efforts on her Instagram account to impeach Fritz and Vice President Rose Ritch due to her complicity. 

Fritz resigned July 7, three weeks after Tijani filed a formal impeachment complaint. 

Tijani also briefly mentioned Ritch’s history of supporting pro-Israel groups on campus to the detriment of Palestinian students. Tijani’s criticism of Ritch’s Zionist beliefs sparked social media outrage amongst students. 

Ritch resigned August 6 in a letter addressed to the student body. 

“I have been told that my support for Israel has made me complicit in racism, and that, by association, I am racist,” the letter read. “Students launched an aggressive social media campaign to ‘impeach [my] Zionist a**.’ This is antisemitism, and cannot be tolerated at a University that proclaims to ‘nurture an environment of mutual respect and tolerance.’” 

Tijani addressed the situation prior to Ritch’s resignation, stating she primarily asked for her impeachment, not because of her Zionist views but because she did not condemn Fritz’s actions and microaggressions. 

The resignation of Ritch sent USG into a whirlwind of chaos. USG now had the attention of the student body and its restructuring began soon afterwards. 

TRANSITION OF POWER 

According to the USG bylaws, the order of succession following the Vice President is the speaker of the Senate. Gabe Savage, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, transitioned abruptly from the speaker to the presidential role following Ritch’s resignation. 

 “For two weeks or so, I was every role in the executive cabinet, which wasn’t fun,” Savage said. 

In addition to juggling multiple positions, Savage organized the selection of the new vice president along with replacing the entire executive board which resigned. He decided to hold a meeting for senators to make their case for the position, and then the senate voted by secret ballot. Trinity Moore, a junior majoring in business of cinematic arts, won with eight votes out of twelve. 

Moore has been a part of USG since her freshman year, but she said she never saw herself on the executive board. 

“Being a senator over the summer at the time of everything happening was very eye opening,” Moore said. “It was a calling to be in this position, not because I felt like I was the perfect person to do it, but because I was willing to put in the work towards progression.”

The first goal of the duo was to hire a new executive board that prioritized diversity and representation in response to the complaints from the Black Student Assembly and student activists, according to Savage. 

“It was super imperative to bring people on the team who were a byproduct of the movement we had just seen,” Moore said. “Diversity within our cabinet was one of the main things we tried to focus on.” 

Moore and Savage appointed a board representative of the racial and ethnic backgrounds of the student body as well as many who had no previous experience in USG. 

While they were successful in hiring a new board, several students from other branches also decided to leave USG, making it difficult to rebuild the organization. 

“We had folks from our communication team and from our funding department just drop out, and I understand why because USG had now been associated with some really ugly modes of thought,” Savage said. 

To tackle the mistrust head on, Savage conducted meetings with dozens of new and existing USG personnel to discuss the resignations and problems within the organization, including transparency and accountability. Savage said he felt it important to speak openly about the unusual transition of leadership.

“I wanted to be able to look every single person in USG in the face and say: ‘This is what we’re doing about it … and this is the direction we want to take the organization,’” Savage said. 

Since starting in August, Savage and Moore have met with university administrators to discuss demands from Black students, including defunding the USC Department of Public Safety and hiring more professors of color. He said that the administration remains committed to DPS and reforming the institution through the DPS Community Board sessions. 

“USC’s position is that defunding DPS is not the way to go,” Savage said. “We’ve talked to Chief Thomas about that, we’ve talked to the VP of Student Affairs about that, we’ve talked to President Folt.” 

Nevertheless, Savage and Moore are proud of what their team has accomplished. Moore noted the board meets weekly to discuss progress of ongoing efforts to better the USC community. 

“Everyone is really moving in tandem and towards the progressive way we want to move the org,” Moore said. “It’s not always visible what the executive members are doing but it’s great to see that a lot of them move in silence without a huge parade.”

NEW DEI EFFORTS

Inspired by student activism over the summer, Lucy Warren, a junior majoring in economics, decided to apply for the existing chief diversity officer position on the executive board. After earning the role, she has worked with cultural organizations to restore trust in USG.

“I sat down with every cultural organization at the beginning of last semester and asked them, what are the issues within USG? What is it that you want to see?” Warren said. “And I sat down and created a master list of projects that I knew we needed to start working on.” 

Warren also leads the USG Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, which includes representatives from 12 cultural organizations who meet biweekly to discuss DEI issues on campus and related ongoing projects. Although the council existed loosely before this summer, it was officially written into the USG bylaws this summer. 

“The goal is to foster intersectional collaboration and ensure that USG and all of our projects are including every voice,” Warren said. 

The council worked together to develop a six-part DEI training series that all members of USG must participate in, covering microaggressions against different groups, intersectionality and performative activism. According to Warren, this is the first year USG has conducted substantive DEI training, with only a single day dedicated to implicit bias required in the past. 

Warren is also spearheading efforts to incorporate the DEI council, which is currently under the executive branch of USG, into the legislature. 

“I’m working on a restructuring plan to ensure that we create stipends and roles for [cultural] organizations to have representation directly in the legislative branch, so they can be working closer with our committees and Senate members,” Warren said. 

While Warren thinks USG has made headway to address racism in the organization, she said there’s still work to be done. 

“We had this big restructuring and then lost all of our cabinet, so last semester was just staying afloat,” Warren said. “Because of that, I don’t think we were able to fully take advantage of the movement and this culture shift.” 

Shreya Chaudhary, a junior majoring in business administration, currently serves as chief communications officer, and during her tenure, she has valued transparency above all else. 

“Overall this is a new era for USG,” Chaudhary said. “I’ve almost felt a shift. It’s about encouraging that shift to keep moving in that new direction. I think that’s the only way we’re going to bring USG into a direction that students can be proud of.”

In addition to her current duties, Chaudhary is also running to be USG president for the upcoming school year. Warren is running on an opposing ticket for vice president.

To ensure candidates run an inclusive campaign, the USG Elections Commission created the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative pact, a form which candidates must sign to indicate their commitment to an equitable campaign. 

“We really want to stress how important it is to candidates that they’re running for the student body as representative of the student body,” said Anna Rodriguez, chair of the elections commission. “They need to be creating a more equitable, diverse and inclusive platform, as well as just trying to include that into their everyday lives.  

The Daily Trojan reported 4,700 total votes in the 2020 USG elections, which is less than 20% of the total student body. USG officials encourage students to vote so history doesn’t repeat itself. 

“I want to encourage as many students to vote in this election,” Moore said. “I think the events that happened over the summer are a result of what happens when not enough people vote and not enough people have a say in who is their leader. Vote for a candidate that aligns with what you want to see and the changes that you want to see happen and what you want USC to look like next year and beyond.”