Tag: usc
USC’s Black House Proposal Raises Questions About Racial Tensions

USC’s Black House Proposal Raises Questions About Racial Tensions

By Jerome Campbell and Jason Song, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

When some USC student government leaders voiced support for creating a cultural house for black students, Ama Amoafo-Yeboah thought she and other undergraduates were closer to having a space where they could hang out and hold events.

But before a vote was held, word spread that the house could be located on the Row, USC’s two-block stretch of fraternities and sororities near 28th and Figueroa streets. Social media lit up.

“Why would they open a prison on the Row?” one user asked on Yik Yak, a popular social media app that allows anonymous comments from users within a 1.5-mile radius.

Student leaders passed a resolution on the house in late October. But Amoafo-Yeboah said the onslaught reinforced her sense that black students aren’t always welcome at USC. That feeling of exclusion, she said, is especially obvious on the Row, the heart of the undergraduate social scene — which seems to be made of mostly white students, along with some Asians and a smattering of other minorities.

“The fact is, they don’t want people like us,” Amoafo-Yeboah said. “They just don’t.”

Rini Sampath, USC’s student body president-elect, said she was disheartened by the online comments, even if it wasn’t clear that a student wrote them. “It showed that there’s a mindset about this school that we have to eradicate,” she said. “It showed me that we need a space where students who feel like they’re marginalized feel comfortable.”

USC students said no Greek organization has been part of an incident as racially charged as one at the University of Oklahoma, where fraternity members recently were caught on video singing racist chants. But, they acknowledged, the Los Angeles campus is not immune to racial insensitivity. Some students said incidents on and off campus have led them to feel isolated and as though they are viewed with suspicion.

Two years ago, USC students held protests after police wearing protective gear broke up an off-campus party and arrested six people. Most of the partygoers were black, and some accused the police of racial profiling.

And in 2012, security was increased on campus after a Halloween party shooting, in which a black man fired into a crowd and injured four. Some black students said they felt less welcome at social events after the incident, even though the gunman was not a student.

“While USC is probably as inclusive as any predominantly white campus, beneath that surface is an ongoing tension and very real issues of race,” said Melina Abdullah, who graduated from the university in 2002, taught there in 2008 and is now the chair of Pan-African Studies at Cal State L.A.

Abdullah said most other schools’ cultural centers are in academic or more residential settings, and the USC project could be unique if it ends up in the midst of the Trojan party scene.

“Instead of retreating, it seems like those students are pressing forward and reminding the school that they have a right to be here in a very visible way,” she said.

Student supporters said the proposal, which became known as the Black House, was modeled after programs at schools such as Stanford, Georgetown, and Yale universities. It would not be residential, and no alcohol would be allowed inside. Instead, the building is supposed to be a space where students can relax, hold cultural events and display some of the history of African Americans at USC.

The house would not be affiliated with undergraduate black Greek organizations, which are not on the Row. Overall, about 4,200 USC students are fraternity or sorority members. It is unclear how many Greek members are minorities, school officials said.

Of USC’s nearly 19,000 undergraduates, about 720 — or four percent — are black, according to the school. Some black students report feeling isolated, saying they are often the only African American in their classrooms.

Abdullah, the USC alumna, said she and her friends “didn’t have a defined space, so we’d hang out on the bookstore steps, which was problematic.”

The Black House’s student organizers are trying to raise up to eight million dollars within the next several years. Although many see the Row as an ideal location, buying there may not be easy. Most of the properties on the Row are owned by national Greek organizations that may be reluctant to sell real estate in what they consider a prime location.

Amoafo-Yeboah said she was ambivalent about where the building should be, but that the Row would be a powerful statement. “Nobody will be able to ignore us,” she said. “We will be in the heart of the social scene, for better or for worse.”

Others are more wary, saying that putting the Black House there might only raise tensions. “It would be perpetually toxic,” said Levi Powell, a senior who is half black and half Filipino. He helped work on the student government resolution.

Jordyn Holman, a junior journalism major, said she was ambivalent about the Row as a possible destination because of her experiences there.

She tried to go to a fraternity party in the fall of 2013 with two friends who are also black. Before the trio could get into the party, a security guard asked to see their school and state identifications, she said.

Meanwhile, two white women entered the house without being stopped. When Holman and her friends couldn’t produce their state identifications, the security guard asked them to leave, she said.

“I felt extremely hurt, like I had done something wrong,” Holman said. “I wanted to cry.”

Business major Skylar Dunn, who is working to get funders for the Black House, said he transferred from historically black Tennessee State University because he felt he would have more opportunities at USC. However, he said, he sometimes misses being part of mainstream campus life.

“Every place has a problem,” Dunn said. “You have to ask yourself, what can you do to deal with that?”

Photo: Michael Robinson Chavez via Los Angeles Times/TNS

Freshmen Make Former USC Stars Take Notice With Their Play In Opener

Freshmen Make Former USC Stars Take Notice With Their Play In Opener

By Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Their stellar USC careers spanned different eras during the last two decades.

Receiver Keyshawn Johnson dominated games in the mid-1990s. Quarterback Matt Leinart won a Heisman Trophy in the mid-2000s. And receiver Robert Woods played the last of three record-setting seasons in 2012.

The former All-Americans watched USC’s season-opening victory over Fresno State and were struck by the same thing: A seemingly unending parade of freshmen making dazzling plays for the Trojans.

“Definitely something to be excited about,” said Johnson, who watched from a suite on the Coliseum field.

“They looked the part,” said Leinart, who monitored the game in a San Francisco television studio.

“Very, very impressed,” said Woods, who watched from his home near Buffalo, New York.

Receivers JuJu Smith and Adoree’ Jackson, tight end Bryce Dixon, and offensive linemen Toa Lobendahn, Damien Mama and Viane Talamaivao were among 11 freshmen who contributed in the Trojans’ 52-13 victory.

Smith sped and powered his way to 123 yards receiving, the most ever in a debut by a USC true freshman.

Jackson caught a touchdown pass and also played cornerback and returned a punt.

Dixon caught a touchdown pass, and the young linemen helped protect quarterback Cody Kessler from being sacked.

It was a stirring first game for a freshman class hailed among college football’s best on national signing day last February.

“I feel like everybody hyped us up,” Jackson said, “and we had to live up to it.”

Jackson is the USC first player since Chad Morton in 1996 and 1997 to play a significant amount of plays on offense and defense.

After the Fresno State game, and again this week after reviewing it, Jackson graded his performance a C.

Johnson, Leinart, and Woods gave the freshmen collectively higher marks.

“It didn’t seem like it was too big for them, which is a great sign,” said Leinart, who is a college football analyst.

Johnson, the No. 1 pick in the 1996 NFL draft, said he was surprised by Smith’s size and speed.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Smith turned several short receptions into long gains.

“His size is going to allow him to be explosive, break tackles, and gain yardage after catches,” Johnson said. “People are going to be afraid to hit him.”

Smith and Jackson also impressed former Trojans coach John Robinson, who said he watched part of the game from the sideline.

“They looked as natural as hell,” he said. “I don’t remember thinking, ‘These guys are freshmen?'”

With the opener behind, the freshmen will face a new challenge Saturday in a Pac-12 Conference opener at Stanford.

Woods, a second-year receiver for the Buffalo Bills, said there was a marked difference between playing at the Coliseum before 80,000 cheering fans and playing on the road at Stanford, where USC has not won since 2008.

The Cardinal program, Woods noted, develops smart teams not prone to making errors.

“You have to be on your game,” he said. “You can’t have any freshman mistakes. You have to play more mature than a freshman.”

USC’s freshmen accomplished the feat last week, and USC Coach Steve Sarkisian expects they will again.

“I didn’t think the moment was too big for them to play in the Coliseum,” he said, “and I don’t anticipate it will be that way Saturday.

“But if it is, we have to do a good job of recognizing it as a coaching staff and help continue to motivate those guys to get back into the right frame of mind so that they can compete at a high level. Because it’s really clear we’re a better football team when those guys are playing at a high level.”

Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri via WikiCommons

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Emotions Run High As Accused Killers Of USC Student Appear In Court

Emotions Run High As Accused Killers Of USC Student Appear In Court

By Richard Winton and Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Two minors fought back tears during an emotional court hearing in downtown Los Angeles as they and two adults faced capital murder charges in the beating death of a University of Southern California graduate student.

Emotions ran high at Tuesday’s hearing as relatives of the group of four, age 19 to 16, sat in the audience a row way from the friends of deceased student Xinran Ji.

The family of one of the defendants, 18-year-old Andrew Garcia, repeatedly told reporters that he is innocent and had left home that day to go to the beach.

Garcia — along with Jonathan DelCarmen, 19; Alberto Ochoa, 17; and Alejandra Guerrero, 16 — each face one count of murder in connection with Ji’s death.

The four also face a special allegation that the death occurred during an attempted robbery. The juvenile suspects will be tried in adult court. It is the Los Angeles Times‘ policy not to publish the names of juvenile suspects unless they are charged as adults.

A criminal complaint alleges that Garcia, Ochoa, and Guerrero used a bat and a wrench in last Thursday’s attack. Sources told the Times that the student may have fled during an initial attack but was assaulted a second time.

Dressed in an orange shirt and pants, Ochoa fought back tears during the proceeding. Guerrero was similarly dressed and bowed her head, trying to hide her face under her hair.

Both were handcuffed and accompanied by probation officers.

All the defendants agreed to delay their arraignment until Aug. 12. Superior Court Judge Renee Korn denied bail for the defendants after the prosecutor noted it was a special circumstance murder case.

Rosalie Garcia, Andrew Garcia’s mother, mouthed “I love you” to her son from her fifth-row seat surrounded by her family. She clasped her hands tightly almost as in prayer.

“I love you, Andrew!” yelled a relative as the court session drew to a close.

Walking away, Garcia replied, “I love you guys.”

Rosalie Garcia said tearfully after the arraignment that her son “is a good boy.”

“He had no intentions of this happening,” she said. “His friend picked him up after dinner. He was going to the beach.”

Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty against Garcia and DelCarmen. Ochoa and Guerrero are not subject to the death penalty because of their age, prosecutors said, and instead would face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

Under California law, prosecutors have discretion in certain crimes, including murder, to charge a minor as an adult. The courts, however, have ruled that minors are not subject to the death penalty.

Ji, an engineering student from China, was attacked about 12:45 a.m. Thursday as he walked home from a study group, authorities said. Despite a head injury, he managed to make his way back to his apartment a few blocks away, where a roommate later discovered his body.

Prosecutors allege that after attacking Ji, the suspects drove to Dockweiler Beach, where Ochoa, Garcia, and Guerrero approached a man and woman. The three robbed the woman, prosecutors allege, but the man managed to escape and flag down police officers patrolling the area.

The complaint alleges that Garcia, Guerrero, and Ochoa again used a bat at Dockweiler Beach and that Guerrero and Ochoa also used a knife. The three were charged with second-degree robbery, attempted second-degree robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with that incident, prosecutors said.

Detectives believe that a 14-year-old girl who was detained in connection with the Dockweiler Beach robbery also was involved in Ji’s assault “in some manner,” LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Monday, though the “detail and depth” of her alleged involvement was not clear.

Photo via WikiCommons

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