What’s Going on the Squirrels at USC?

 By: Lauren Liang ‘23

@squirrelsofusc

On Monday, March 27, 2023, @savethesquirrelsusc posted a graphic that read, “Save the Squirrels. Urge USC to NOT euthanize the campus squirrels! Sign and share the petition in bio.” Over the next few days, the account continued to post squirrel-saving related content. The Change.org link in the account’s bio summarized a recent lawsuit filed against USC regarding an alleged on-campus squirrel bite, in which the prosecution demanded that all squirrels on campus be euthanized. 

I can’t recall the exact emotions I felt when Save the Squirrels first entered my consciousness. I saw a mutual repost one of the account’s posts, and casually scrolled through the page between classes. While I thought the situation was intriguing, I wasn’t too concerned about the squirrels because a) the demand seemed much too unreasonable, and b) the date of the initial post was too close to April Fool’s to not be suspicious. 

On Wednesday, March 29, both @dailytrojan and Save the Squirrels posted regarding the lawsuit. The Daily Trojan posted an infographic fact checking the lawsuit, and Save the Squirrels posted  an infographic thanking its followers for participating that read, “This has been a lesson on mass disinformation by the Daily Trojan.” Both infographics were visually branded in the Daily Trojan style. Save the Squirrels claimed that the Daily Trojan’s editorial team wanted to demonstrate the dangers of AI-generated content and used ChatGPT to compose a lawsuit, website, and other squirrel-saving related content. The same day, the official Daily Trojan Instagram account commented under Save the Squirrel’s post, writing, “This post and the claims therein are plainly false. The Daily Trojan had no role in this account's organization and does not promote the spread of false information”. 

The people were in an uproar. Some students were happily oblivious to the entire situation, some completely emotionally invested, and others intrigued but not on the edge of their seats. General confusion floated throughout campus. 

Later the same day, Save the Squirrels posted again: “This has been an April Fool’s prank on the Daily Trojan.” Case closed (though depending on where you checked out of this elaborate hoax, your belief about what happened is probably wildly different). USC’s Instagram also joined in on the fun posting a picture of one of the campus squirrels with the caption “We hope everyone is staying warm, dry, and safe today, just like our furry campus friends! 🐿️ #CampusWildlife #ProtectedSpecies”, later commenting “#TheSquirrelsAreSafe.” 

TLDR: the squirrels are safe!! 

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