International Women’s Day: What USC Should be Doing

By: Natalie Oganesyan ‘22

As an intersectional feminist, I love going to events around campus which feature panels of successful and powerful women. I’ve seen Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie being honored, Roxane Gay and Amanda Nguyen tackling the pervasive problem of sexual assault, Grammy-nominee artists TOKiMONSTA and Cam discussing the lack of gender parity in the music industry, Sandra Bland’s sister calling for police accountability, and much more. All these events uplift women and give them a space to talk about the struggles they face not only as women but also within the intersections of race, sexuality, and class.

While these events on campus are phenomenal and I am grateful for the plethora of opportunities available at USC to engage in thoughtful discussions about activism and social change, I feel that engagement on a mass scale is lacking.

USC, as an institution, has repeatedly failed to show women that it cares about them and their well-being. From claiming false low numbers of sexual assault and misconduct on campus (less than 45 for each year from 2015-2017, according to crime statistics from DPS) to the two major lawsuits the University is facing, this school has had a systematic negative track record when it comes to respecting women and regarding them as equal.

This blog post was inspired by my position at the Daily Trojan. I was given a pitch about International Women’s Day and was told to contact cultural and social organizations across campus to see what they were doing for the celebration. The few organizations that got back to me said they weren’t planning anything. Determined to find a story, I raked the Internet trying to find any relevant events on campus concerning International Women’s Day. I found a couple small celebrations, but none of them were campus-wide. What’s more is that none of these events were even advertised. USC Marshall had a full day dedicated to the celebration on February 28th and none of my friends — even those in Marshall — had any idea the event was going on. In the vein of the celebration this month, here’s what USC should be doing to uplift all women across campus.

1. Fully address their systemic issue of covering up sexual assault, rape, and harassment on campus:

Even though USC has formally stated and addressed the various legal issues that have plagued it throughout the past year, its attention to the root cause of the problem is lacking. With settlements and the creation of new task forces, it seems to me that USC is simply doing what is necessary to repair its own damaged reputation. The upheavals that are now attempting to remove a corrupt system seem disingenuous in that USC seems to be implementing change just because they “have” to. What I would like to see is something on par with a reckoning — a public apology to all the victims of this abuse which USC has neglected time and time again both when these women were assaulted and when they decided to come forward. I want to see the University engage in concrete change, not policies which loosely outline vague goals and incomprehensible future action. I get the impression that the University, at the end of the day, only cares about protecting its own endowments and reputation. It should not have taken 500 women stepping forward about sexual abuse to force change. It should not have turned into a literal epidemic before the University was made to address its ongoing issues.

2. Increase resources available for women on campus:

With a campus-wide reckoning should come tangible efforts to decrease the number of sexual misconduct and improve the way in which it is dealt with on campus. Sexual assault and rape are crimes against the human body and an individual’s autonomy. Engemann should provide effective rape kits, contraception, STI/STD testing, mental health services, support groups, Plan B, and abortions in an affordable and accessible way. Furthermore, there should be, on an institutional level, better communication and understanding from administration. Students should feel that their concerns are being heard — that their problems are that of USC’s.

3. Make conscious decisions to change campus culture:

The college campus should be a safe place where women, and men, feel comfortable. Women should not fear going out, hanging out with friends, being out late, and just overall living their lives as college students. This situation is real and oppressive — there is not a single woman I know that hasn’t experienced overt misogyny, harassment, catcalling, assault, or rape. We currently live in a campus culture which not only permits violence against women, but also normalizes it. This culture causes extreme discomfort and feelings of fear which work to suppress women; on an even more drastic scale, this culture perpetuates violence which can ultimately culminate in rape and even death. I want to call on USC to implement more classes on consent, rape culture, toxic masculinity, bystander intervention, and violence. The videos we watched as freshmen during first semester are not enough since most people skip through it and the people it’s directed at probably aren’t paying that much attention to it. USC must physically and consciously open discussion and be willing to engage in talks that cause discomfort because of their sensitive and vulnerable nature. I am tired of mandated sugar-coated and “formal” responses. These are human beings, mostly women, who have been hurt from their assault but also from the indifference of our school.

4. Plan and advertise a massive celebration for International Women’s Day:

On a larger and more positive note, USC should institute a large celebration to uplift and honor the powerful and intelligent women on campus. There should be alumnae panels, talks from powerful businesswomen and activists, workshops about sexual assault, consent, intersectionality. But there also should be fun activities where everyone can discuss their favorite female role model or make feminist art. There should be food trucks and local women-owned shops that sell their products at a fair. There should be a movie night and carnival festivities. I would love to see the campus come together on McCarthy Quad to celebrate all the wonderful women in their life and pay tribute to the struggles they go through. I would like USC to not only plan a large event like this but to also advertise it — making it known to everyone that the administration cares about ALL women.

5. Actively ensure that progress is continuing

Unfortunately, this issue will never end; we have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. USC has created task forces to ensure equality among various marginalized groups, but, if I’m honest, I haven’t seen tangible efforts (and thus, progress) being made. There should be a thorough committee which acts as a liaison between the administration and the student body that is continually checking in on the status of gender parity across campus. Through reflection and engagement with the student body, the administration would be able to see which areas still need to be improved and where progress has already been made. It is not enough to publish a statement which claims support for women and an understanding of these issues. We need action. And we need it now.

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