USC ought to open campus to local community
On any given day, a student walking along Trousdale Parkway may see future (and sometimes current) award-winning scientists, NFL players, Hollywood producers, Silicon Valley CEOs, lawmakers and world-renowned dancers.
What they do not see on Trousdale are people from the local community enjoying USC’s campus. This is an area USC is lacking in, especially compared to other major urban universities. Although the University is technically open to all, do nearby residents feel welcome?
Schools like the University of Pennsylvania, Boston University and Columbia University have developed their campuses in a way that is highly accessible and welcoming to local residents. In the cases of Penn and Columbia, doing so has even improved the surrounding neighborhoods. Comparatively, USC is akin to an island in South Los Angeles, and it will continue to be that way unless the school immerses itself in the community.
It must be recognized that some groups on campus are making progress toward harmonizing USC with L.A. Currently, the Price Center for Social Innovation has partnered with the Los Angeles Promise Zone, a collective impact project to fight urban poverty, in areas such as Pico-Union. Additionally, Troy Camp, which provides mentorship to South L.A. students, hosts events both on and off campus, helping to bridge the University and surrounding community. However, opening campus to the city must become a more normalized concept, offering more opportunities to Angelenos at USC.
The University could increase community interaction by creating programs where professors can give seminars to adults in the community as well as regularly-scheduled weekend events where USC students can mentor, tutor, do arts and crafts or play games with local children. Larger campus affairs, such as guest speakers, movie screenings, shows or conferences should be more widely promoted and open to the public.
Administrators can also make campus a more visible and inclusive place by making appearances at schools or community events. If USC’s leaders outwardly show compassion toward South L.A. residents and neighborhoods, they will increasingly view the University as a leader and an interactive hub for the community.
Furthermore, future urban planning for the University should include a more welcoming, open outlook in its goals. Although the University Park Campus is open to all, USC is currently very disconnected from local residents, sheltered by gates and two major roadways: Figueroa Street and Exposition Boulevard.
As the University continues to expand into the neighborhood in future years, it should extend active streets into the campus and make the transition between USC and the urban surroundings more fluid, which will hopefully lead to a more united University Park neighborhood. This integration of USC and the surrounding neighborhood may also lead to the added positives of economic improvement and urban development in the area, which benefits everyone. Certainly, any potential convergence must be done with proper input and agreement from the community and its leaders.
The University, its students and its faculty will see further benefits from a more open University Park Campus. It will gain more service opportunities and chances to cultivate student leadership skills, as well as the chance to learn experientially and see perspectives USC students may not get every day.
As the sixth-most diverse university in the country according to a Priceonomics study, USC undoubtedly has one of the most talented and diverse student bodies, which makes for a stimulating and engaging learning environment. But it could become a much more diverse community and a much more enriched and vibrant university if USC provided more access to campus for residents of South L.A. There are future leaders in the local community, and USC owes it to Angelenos to provide increased access to its campus and resources.