Next semester would have marked a century since the Daily Trojan began daily print production, but due to major cuts imposed by Student Life — the University division that oversees the Daily Trojan’s budget — this legacy could be over.

On Friday, Student Life imposed major cuts beginning in the Spring 2025 semester, citing a multi-year deficit that the University only recently revealed to the paper’s editors. Despite repeated requests, the University administration has denied the paper greater autonomy over the budget, leaving us unable to take meaningful steps to mitigate the financial issues imposed on us. The cuts include: 

• Eliminating pay for all staffers 
• Reducing the paper’s daily print schedule to three days a week
• Discontinuing the majority of the issues for the DT’s weekly summer paper, Summer Trojan

Student Life’s decision will have serious consequences. Eliminating staff pay will put unnecessary financial stress on students and force many of our staffers out of the newsroom, depriving them of the opportunity to gain valuable, hands-on experience working at the paper. 

As USC’s only editorially independent newspaper, the Daily Trojan provides essential, relevant information to the USC and South Central community. 

Every day, thousands of copies of the Daily Trojan are available across the University Park Campus and Health Sciences Campus for free. As an alternative to digital media, print newspapers promote equal access to timely journalism. We have a responsibility as one of the last daily print college newspapers in the country to continue this legacy. 

As the only entirely student-led newspaper at the University, the Daily Trojan has served as a unique and invaluable training ground for generations of students, many of whom were not journalism majors. These students participate in a process that mirrors the real-world newsrooms many of them contribute to in the future, including shepherding articles through multiple rounds of content and copy edits. DT alumni have gone on to win Pulitzer Prizes and report at major outlets, including The Washington Post, ESPN, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. By forcing us to implement these cuts, USC is taking away the most essential functions that allow DT to train the journalists of tomorrow.

We call on the USC administration and Student Life to immediately reinstate our daily print schedule and pay for all Daily Trojan staff and masthead members. These changes, along with meaningful input from the paper’s student leaders, are necessary to continue the Daily Trojan’s 112-year legacy and preserve the future of independent student journalism at USC.

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