WHY did the University of Southern California create this trainwreck?

What do you mean "choose"?

I think you all need to sit down and listen to a 1978 song called “Short People”. The same way my folks had to sit down and listen to a 1968 song called “Everyday People”.

Who would guess a Palestinian is a hateful anti-Semite?

The valedictorian and salutatorian honors are determined by a combination of grade point average, involvement in the university and an interview process. This year 236 students were eligible to receive the honors at USC.

She was chosen. They could have gone with someone else .

'Palestine' is the cause du jour for the very people Muslims despise.

What “reputation”? This is U$C we are talking about….

No one who supports Palestinian terrorism should be allowed to speak at a graduation.

You lost me at " for the good of the school’s reputation".

Everyone I have ever worked with or highered who went to that school has always OVER promised and UNDER delivered. There are new reports going back decades regarding cheating, nepotism, corruption, handing out degrees to students who didnt even attend a class.

Can we get a better Cliff's Notes version of OP?

the University of Southern California is a very expensive private school in Los Angeles.

It is best known for its film school, for being the preferred feeder to agencies and studios, and the most desired school for the children of people working in the industry.

Hollywood is incredibly Jewish.

Israel is waging an unpopular war.

Hollywood is at war with itself as witnessed with Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar speech (“Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation“) which led to two sets of petitions with hundreds of Jews denouncing it or supporting it.

Amidst this background, the University of Southern California simply decided it was a good idea to choose a Palestinian woman who opposes the war to be the valedictorian.

Then the University canceled her speech “for her safety.”

Now the University is cancelling all the speeches of famous people invited to speak at commencement, most likely because they had canceled themselves or announced their intention to denounce the university during their speech.

The University has succeeded in humiliating the valedictorian, their guests, and the graduating class. Four years at USC costs $300,000. The people paying this insane sum, including some students who will be burdened with incredible debt, have had their graduation ruined.

So, to reiterate… how far up their own asses are the academics who made this decision, who could not see this would happen, and could have simply not chosen a Palestinian woman?

Granted we are talking about a class of people who couldn’t bring themselves to denounce hate speech in Congress but mandate preferred pronouns in email signatures.

^ um, you might want to learn the history of Jews in Los Angeles. USC was never known for being open and accepting—it was the bastion of conservative old white Christian money. If you were Jewish in LA, you had three choices for college: go back east, go north to Berkeley or stay close at UCLA.

She's Pakistani American, not Palestinian.

What’s the difference?

I feel like she was chosen on purpose, by whatever committee was tasked with interviewing and selecting the valedictorian speaker. It may have been a case of the right hand (that committee) and the left hand (the upper administration) not knowing the other's expectations. I can see how a hijab-wearing Pakistani American would be an attractive speaker to a committee looking to emphasize diversity.

No—by the objective measures made public or known about their selection process, she was a valid choice. Her CV is impressive.

There were something like 200+ students who met the eligibility requirements for valedictorian and thus potential speakers. Given our very heightened political moment, I don't think she was chosen above those other 200 students solely on merit.

What is merit? You can read their criteria online. There is no one “best” student—that’s the entire point of the process. She was a valid choice.

A similar process is used at many other universities. $C sucks, but their award process doesn’t.

Again, "valid choice" is very much a subjective measure in this case. Hence, the interview.

No one denies that a choice was made. But that’s not the point you made—is it? The post above questioned her merit. My point was that the poster is wrong. And I stand by that.

I'm not questioning her merit. I'm arguing that, on some level, her selection was politically motivated by the committee.

And there’s no foundation for that assumption. And it is irrelevant to a discussion about whether speakers should be stricken from the ceremony, or not.

I work in higher ed, r21. If you've been anywhere near a college campus in the US in the past, I don't know, ten years, you'd know that there is plenty of foundation for that assumption. Which is fine, you can argue about their choice one way or another. What irks me is the faction that disingenuously claims, "This choice was entirely apolitical!"

What irks me is the assumption that because of her background it was inherently political. FIFY

P.S. I’ve spent more time in the UC system than you could ever wish for. I know how things work.

Don’t die on this hill. Bigger fish to fry than an undergraduate honor. She is meritorious: The End.

[quote]She is meritorious

But again, this was not my bone to pick.

P.P.S. Let’s hear you criticize the Rhodes Scholarship selection process…now that IS worthy of review. R22

R11 I actually do know the history of Los Angeles quite well. The first elite of American Los Angeles were from the Midwest, Methodists and Episcopalians from Indiana and Ohio. Prototype is Harrison Gray Otis from Ohio, who founded the Times, extremely conservative. The elite lived in Pasadena and West Adams (where the Doheny Mansion is and where USC would be built.) When the Red Car was built they moved out to Hancock Park, just developed.

Following the success of moving pictures, the Edison Company tried to enforce its patent. Motion picture production was centered in New Jersey, because, of course, that’s where Menlo Park is and theatre was close by in New York. In order to get away from the Edison Company, motion picture producers moved to the other side of America. These people were Jews. The prototype was Carl Laemmle, who in 1915 moved Universal Studios from Fort Lee to a chicken farm by the Cahuenga Pass. Warner (Wonsal), Fox (Fuchs), Zukor, Mayer, Goldwyn. All Jews.

They made an incredible amount of money. But they were not allowed to live in Hancock Park. So they had to live further west, on the outskirts. So they developed Beverly Hills and Bel Air. Cedars Sinai was built out on Beverly Boulevard. Their children were not allowed to go to USC. So they had to go to the public school, UCLA, in their neck of the woods.

And then you know what happened?

ASSIMILATION. Armand Hammer. Mark Taper. Eli Broad. Their names are plastered over all the city’s cultural institutions. (Oddly the Ahmansons are gentiles.) The prototype is Norton Simon, who amassed the most important collection of European painting on the West Coast which he denoted to the struggling Pasadena Museum of Art on the condition that the museum take HIS NAME. The bastion of priggish elite WASP Midwest intolerance would have the name of a Jew on its building on Colorado Boulevard that the Rose Parade passes in front of every year.

The University of Southern California established a Department of Cinematography in 1932 which became a Department of Cinema in 1940 and finally its own School in 1983, mirroring the path of postwar Jewish assimilation into the city’s elite. Its buildings are named for Ray Stark, Fanny Brice, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Sumner Redstone (Rothstein). The list of notable alumni of USC Film School is, conservatively, 50% Jewish. It is likely the most Jewish academic institution on the West Coast that does not study the Torah.

Do not question an Aspie about a special interest. You will not win.

You’re a regular Kenneth Starr! P.S. Academia is not defined by a film school.

Excellent cut and paste of other writers —I give you a B for Aspie effort.

Typo —oops! Kevin Starr you ain’t

R27 you really are remarkably stupid. I really don’t know how to explain it. How does anything included in the article conflict with anything I said, the basis of which is that postwar Jewish assimilation resulted in the University of Southern California becoming a very Jewish institution? Rufus Kleinsmid’s tenure at USC ended in 1947. The other controversial incidents cited are from the 1910s and 1930s.

Do you know what “postwar” means?

You don’t, do you?

Also given your conflation of Kenneth Star with Kevin Starr, you are obviously a conservative and therefore, a moron.

You come across as one very strange dude —it was a typo corrected immediately.

This woman, who is an American citizen, has an entire life of silent discrimination and unspoken disapproval ahead of her. Why does it have to start now?

Those USC ASPIES! Watch out—they’re gonna getcha!

Oy vey! You type like a schmuck—that’s Yiddish. You do know that? Don’t you?

R31 No it was a Freudian slip. Kevin Starr was a conservative, Kenneth Starr was a conservative. If you hold Kevin Starr in high esteem, it is likely you hold Kenneth Starr too.

Aspie, look! Over there—it’s LMU. Go post about the Catholics in L.A. and their power.

And their film school ;)

You're all missing the story here; it's that powerful USC alumni and powerful non-alumni did not want a Muslim giving the valedictorian speech. They threatened to stop giving and that was that.

The war on education has entered a new phase. They ousted the president of Harvard (over something that a white elite would not suffer any consequence). They're going after the president of Columbia. The SCOTUS killed affirmative action and race-based admissions policies. Scholarships to minorities are being reduced if not outright eliminated. The doors to academia are being closed (again) to anyone not rich, white and coming soon, male.

It's clear that the progress of the last 50-75 years is being erased, whether it's bodily autonomy, diversification, human rights, whatever.

[quote]it's that powerful USC alumni and powerful non-alumni

Oh, we know that "alumni" is code for "Jews."

Not at USC R37

For the Aspie who finds Kevin Starr too right-wing

Heres’s post-war LA for ya!

Lots of conservative bigots in this thread. 🙄

You guys call Muslims antisemites but you're fine with guys walking around in "Camp Auschwitz" shirt. Bet you guys all listen to Nick Fuentes 🤣 😂

Good thing this bitch is an antisemite and she can gladly fuck off.

Why must a college graduation be controversial? It's SoCal. Chill the fuck out. Bring in someone fun as a keynote speaker. Snoop Dogg and Martha tag team would be perfect. Keep it light. No one cares to hear what a valedictorian has to say anyway. Boring.

Will there be a moment of silence for OJ at USC’s commencement?

Or is it too soon?

One great benefit is that the ceremony will be shorter........ more time for parties.

Since it’s Usc, the party has been continuing for four years or more…). Have you never seen their Fraternity Row?🤑🤮

The speeches are the most insufferable part of any graduation ceremony.

Insuffs!

One night only in downtown LA!

Why have all of these incidents and controversies occurred at colleges with women presidents?

r49

Because women are obsessed with being accommodating. Especially “progressive” women. “We must accommodate men who want to play in women’s sports. We must accommodate calls for ethnic cleansing if the proponent is not white.” They have decided this is the hill they want to die on. IDK why.

[quote] You're all missing the story here; it's that powerful USC alumni and powerful non-alumni did not want a Muslim giving the valedictorian speech. They threatened to stop giving and that was that. The war on education has entered a new phase.

But this was not a public university. This is a private university, that is something of a joke for the level it will bend over backwards for the children of rich (the Lori Laughlin daughter) It relies on wealthy patrons. Anyone could have predicted what would happen.

I do not respect what the alumni did, but it was obvious that this would happen. Why instigate it? Why humiliate the valedictorian if you think so highly of her in the first place?

What do they think their school is - an east coast liberal arts denizen of wokeness?

They don’t called it the University of Spoiled Children for nothing!

30 years ago the saying was: USC = Buy a Degree

Nothing has changed in all that time. Lets be honest, it's a diploma mill for the children of the rich and famous. Jewish, non-Jewish alike.