Part 128: The Retirement of USC President Carol Folt – What Will Happen Next?

Published November 12, 2024.

Nov 12, 2024

Photo of USC Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees Suzanne Nora Johnson and outgoing President Carol Folt at ribbon-cutting in Washington D.C. (MBK Photo).

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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist

The retirement was announced by email; a press conference was yet to be scheduled, but the news was clear. Carol Folt had seen enough! The University of Southern California President will retire effective July 1, 2025, which gives her ample time to secure her legacy. Folt will go down as the pivotal yet relatively short-tenured leader of the university tasked with “calming scandals,” as the Los Angeles Times headlined in coverage. To be fair to Folt, on her path to ultimately “drawing protest criticism” over response to campus demonstrations, she actually got quite a bit done even if she wasn’t as quite transformative as her predecessors Max Nikias and Steven Sample. Yet I’m not sure why the Times quite did justice to what really happened, namely the massive settlement paid to victims of disgraced, deceased gynecologist George Tyndall, who never stood trial. Was there an intentional cover-up?The victims who weren’t satisfied with the first $215 million class-action settlement followed by an $852 million “global” settlement didn’t get the full justice in court they deserved after a period longer than Folt’s term.

Nor have USC’s other scandals been fully resolved; for example, Mark Ridley-Thomas has waged a quixotic appeal against his convictions for bribery and fraud and will be back in court on November 21 in Pasadena. USC got off light, with only Dean Marilyn Flynn taking the hit. In the much discussed LA Fed Tapes, notorious for their racist dimensions, the discussion of this matter never got the full analysis that it deserved. So even as the LA Times duo of Matt Hamilton and Harriet Ryan has recently begun to dig deeper into the court papers from Operation Varsity Blues to expose USC’s “VIP program” for walk-on athletic admissions, you have to wonder about their agenda. Does the LA Times just not understand USC’s legal and lobbying operations or what it means when they’re exposed? The newspaper seen by so many as a nemesis of the elite university unquestionably has a critical public accountability role in Los Angeles.

In my nearly seven years in the heart of the Office of the Provost, I’d never quite gathered what exactly was going on between the President’s Office, Provost’s Office, Athletics, of course, and University Advancement, which is responsible for fundraising. Nor have Matt Hamilton and Harriet Ryan decided that I might be worth talking to, even as they publish the names of people known to me in a way that’s suggestive that privilege and prestige went ahead of merit at USC. Shocker? There are more stories, which I don’t quite care to detail, about how pay-to-play worked at USC, but suffice to say, they’re getting the cream of the crop, as the proverb goes. More troublingly, USC continues its campaign to repress every last bit of free expression out of a faculty that had the audacity to censure President Carol Folt over her response to the Israel-Palestine protests. Recently, respected law Professor Jody Armour announced that even he was being targeted for investigation after a student complaint, evidently, for Tweeting of all things classroom-related.

“I became [a] legal scholar to speak truth to power, not to be silent on issues that matter most,” the tenured Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at the USC Gould School of Law wrote, adding that if USC’s “powers-that-be want to rattle sables at me” and noting “they’re welcome to come for me—I ain’t hard to find.” Armour, who is quite tall and sports an afro hair style, is a distinctive figure on campus and one I’m grateful to have met for his incisiveness. Professor Armour is also well-connected, and soon after making that announcement, he hosted a fundraiser for defeated District Attorney George Gascón that included “special guests” such as Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor Chair Lindsey Horvath as well as Supervisor Holly Mitchell. The outspoken Armour is the author of N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law, which systematically deconstructs the history of racism in the United States. While USC is legally obligated to investigate all complaints, the situation is much like Armour Tweeted: “I’m imaging [sic] these adults huddling together in a conference room parsing my tweets for actionable content.” Literally, USC is picking a fight with its own faculty that it can’t possibly win in the end.

There’s simply no way for USC to fully intimidate into silence its own faculty, no matter how many investigations into launches into them for protesting or speaking out against a war that they don’t agree with. Armour is being investigated by USC’s Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX Office, and others have been targeted by USC’s Office of Professionalism and Ethics for defying USC’s directive to not protest in Alumni Park alongside encampments. The campuses of higher education institutions have always been places of protests, and similarly of repression. For example, USC under Carol Folt celebrated the awarding of diplomas to Japanese (Nisei) students forced out during World War II and even built a garden for them next to its University Club. Clearly, USC President Carol Folt has learned nothing from this; otherwise, she might consider hitting the brakes on a process that, as the Los Angeles Times Jaweed Kaleem reported, requires a “four-page reflection essay” and “may not serve to justify your own actions or evaluate the actions of others.” Just what exactly is Carol Folt thinking this ends at?

In announcing her planned retirement, President Folt wrote, “You also helped us rectify deeply painful episodes, restore a tarnished reputation and resolve serious legal issues, drive culture change, and develop new policies to ensure the safety and well-being of our community.” Folt previously served at Dartmouth and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and is “enthusiastic about exploring opportunities ahead as a tenured faculty member.” Folt’s academic background is in environmental biology, and particularly in salmon habitat restoration. It wasn’t immediately clear what her planned appointment is, but it may cross into higher education management given her “twenty years of leadership at three great universities.” I’d ask for further comment, but USC blocked my email address after complaining about USC’s manipulation of the Title IX process in suppressing a sexual assault investigation by dragging out for more than two years. The Daily Trojan recently covered USC’s first disclosure of such data as required by its U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, noting: “Analysis shows higher levels of reports of misconduct at USC compared to other universities.”

This was based on a single year of data from 2021–2022, released in 2024. For her part, USC Chairwoman of the Board of Trustee’s Suzanne Nora Johnson wrote about President Folt’s planned retirement: “Her dedication to solving the difficult issues before her – whether past or present – have never impeded her focus on what lies ahead.” Johnson announced, “The Board will be celebrating and recognizing Carol’s contributions in the coming months,” and promising that more details about the search for USC’s 13th President will be shared in 2025. While Carol Folt did many great things for USC, including building a new computer science building and breaking ground on a new football facility, she can’t be said to have made USC any safer for victims of sexual assault or having done much to reduce their occurrence. USC’s agreement with the victims of George Tyndall requires such information to be released on an annual basis, ostensibly as an “assessment of their effectiveness” in order to show progress.

The agreement was signed by President Folt along with former Chairman Rick Caruso, who had promised “safety and transparency” in the wake of the Tyndall scandal. Nor did Folt, despite repeated questions, release the promised “independent” investigation report commissioned from the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. When concerns arose over now former Athletic Director Mike Bohn, the excellent Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times in his newsletter on Folt’s retirement recounted how: “May 2023, after learning of the review, I sent Bohn and Folt questions regarding concerns I’d heard about Bohn’s conduct and management of the department.” Kartje wrote that Bohn resigned “the next day,” and Folt never responded. While Carol Folt undeniably had a different reaction than USC did under Max Nikias to the investigation into George Tyndall led by Times journalist Paul Pringle, it’s still not really clear that the lesson has been learned.

The impulse to bury or try to avoid incoming bad news rather than confront it head-on is a terrible leadership characteristic. After I published the relevant dates of the corrupted USC Title IX investigation, pretty obviously influenced by the fame of the accused, USC responded by offering a Title IX hearing and suggestively countered that I had contacted too many people about it. Pardon my language, but no shit? In USC’s response to the Daily Trojan, Office of Professionalism and Ethics leader Michael Blanton stated: “When the number [of reports] go up, it usually means that [the] reporting [percentage] has also gone up, and that is a positive thing.” Blanton added, “[That means] the word is getting out that there is a mechanism to take in reports and there is a comfort level that is hopefully increasing within the community.”

The [marks] are entirely the Daily Trojan’s. Apparently Blanton had trouble speaking in complete sentences or something, even as President Folt has temporarily appointed him to an interim post leading USC’s compliance operations and the leader of that, Stacy Giwa, to serve as the interim Senior Vice President of Human Resources following the departure of Folt’s right-hand woman, Felicia Washington, who left for the University of Pennsylvania. USC couldn’t be bothered to email out the USC Responds report, despite clearly having the ability to send out such documents. At least reportedly they sent out their annual Title IX Notice near the start of the school year after I had to whistleblower them in 2021 to do so. Whoever succeeds Carol Folt will have much work to do to ensure that USC doesn’t rug sweep, just as it was recently accused of doing in a lawsuit against prominent Professor David Kang. The lawsuit isn’t perfect in its telling of USC’s complicated history, but the allegations are otherwise credible and sadly usual.

Professor Kang acted in an imperious manner to weaponize his position in support of sexual harassment, according to the lawsuit filed by attorney Sharyl Garza on behalf of the victim and others believed to be victimized. Professor Kang serves as the Maria Crutcher Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California, with appointments in both the main Dornsife College as well as the Marshall School of Business. The lawsuit accuses USC of a “sham” Title IX investigation without getting into full detail. Without getting into the weeds and USC and David Kang will get their day in court, this isn’t a good look for the Trojan Family. More USC scandals, again?

The lawsuit follows a similar matter, also filed by attorney Sharyl Garza on behalf of another graduate student, against Professor C.W. Park for sexual assault. In full disclosure, I’ve spoken with Garza in the past and have also met Kang when he served briefly in the Provost’s Office, but never Park. Nor do I think this is just an issue with Korean professors, but rather more with a university faculty that wouldn’t actually even forbid sexual relationships between faculty and students, even those that they supervised until October 3, 2024. USC’s webpage on this notes that it was revised on September 12, 2024, but no matter, it’s long overdue, as I can remember when USC faculty actually wouldn’t even take such a step outright. It’s not clear how widely this was announced, and again, it’s not a total ban, but at least it’s something. Strangely enough, there’s actually a legal freedom question here, as the policy notes, that it’s “without unduly infringing on the personal freedom and private lives of our students, faculty, and staff.” After all, we’re all adults, right? New EEO-TIX VP Linda Hoos, along with USC’s compliance office, have the job of enforcing this dictate along with Michael Blanton.

Linda Hoos told the Daily Trojan’s Sean Campbell, “The vast majority [of reports] are addressed in other ways [that do not involve a formal resolution].” Hoos, who assuredly has read, or should have read, the Resolution Agreement with the Tyndall victims, said that “the goal is to make this report an annual part of EEO-TIX and OPE’s work,” acknowledging that the report gives “baseline information for future years.” This has been an unconscionable delay at a formerly top-25 research university! As assuredly, USC, with its power and money, understands the importance of data in addressing problems. How can it be that we can afford to fail in this area? Former EEO-TIX VP Catherine Spear absconded to the University of California, where she leads its systemwide civil rights unit. Meanwhile, in the shiny report department, USC HR released its first annual report, subtitled “Fueling USC’s Future.” Outgoing SVP of HR Felicia Washington cements her legacy, writing, “I often shared that this journey would be like building a plane while also flying it.” The next President of USC will have important seats to fill.

The last time that USC selected a new President, it announced a 23-member search panel comprised of faculty and trustees and then basically ignored it. Rick Caruso refused to include a single student or staff representative, with then USC undergraduate student body president accusing him of a “grave mistake.” Supposedly Folt was a finalist among “about 100 candidates,” of whom a final 3 were then selected for a final meeting with the search committee on February 28, 2019. It’s unclear exactly when Carol Folt had a breakfast meeting with Rick Caruso, who upon hiring her declared that “he expected Folt to serve for at least a decade,” according to the contemporaneous Los Angeles Times report. It’s unclear who the other two candidates were, but clearly, Folt sealed the deal despite negative headwinds from North Carolina over a Confederate statue, “Silent Sam.” The new USC President would be inaugurated on Friday, September 20, 2019, with a protest over the matter interrupting her and Folt saying in response on stage, “I do want to say that universities are open to students protesting. I always am too, and I think we have to always remember that.”

Yet in 2024, USC refused to let valedictorian Asna Tabassum speak seemingly on the sole basis that she was Palestinian and might say something against the ongoing war in the Middle East, which many have called a genocide. Tabassum’s speech was later released to the Daily Trojan totally blacked out, with USC’s security apparatus under Associate Senior Vice President Erroll Southers, who also serves as President of the Board of Police Commissioners of the Los Angeles Police Department, citing unspecified threats. This might be the lowest point for a university that has long struggled with racism since World War II. The first sentence of her speech read, “It is my honor to stand before you today as your Valedictorian. I am filled with gratitude to have the privilege of…[finishing] Congratulations, Class of 2024. Thank you.” And so it was that Professor Jody Armour cried out, “Will they try to Asna Tabassum me?”

I’m grateful to have witnessed Professor Armour teaching a class of Veteran and Active-Duty, soon-to-be Veteran students. Sometimes it’s not what you say, but how you say it. When USC moved to terminate me from employment after nearly 9 years at the university, it was for the most cooked-up, retaliatory reasons. USC was as a whistleblower alleged in July 2020 and still is a university of dirty tricks, alleging a “systemic program of spoliation regarding employment files and workplace investigation files, as well as electronic employee records.” That this continues to happen according to multiple accounts, including my own, is an absolute disgrace.

While I’m grateful to President Carol Folt for her energy and general kindness, her failure to move USC beyond this culture of deception is a stain on the Cardinal and Gold, and had she not announced her retirement, I was considering petitioning for her resignation. As USC has ramped up its security theatre to prevent and limit protest with what’s essentially a lockdown on campus, it’s hard to forget her final promise in announcing the second Tyndall settlement: “With your ongoing help, I know we will continue to work hard to rebuild trust and strengthen our university for the decades to come.” Not a single USC Trustee spoke against the decision to silence Asna Tabassum, nor has Chairwoman Johnson said a single word about the matter.

UPDATE: The next USC scandal, as reported by Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times, is USC football being placed on probation for violating NCAA coaching staff rules by exceeding “the allowed number of countable coaches by six during a two-year period. USC was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. Coach Lincoln Riley denied responsibility.

Link: USC President Carol Folt to retire after calming scandals and drawing protest criticism

Link: At Mater Dei, a unique link to USC’s secret admission system for donors’ kids

Link: Beyond Varsity Blues: In pursuit of donations, USC admitted affluent kids as walk-on athletes

Link: Professor Jody Armour Tweets RE: EEO-TIX Investigation

Link: Jody Armour Tweet RE: Gascón Fundraiser

Link: N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law

Link: USC awarded honorary degrees to former USC Nisei students

Link: Apology letters. Suspensions. After protest citations, students face campus consequences

Link: EEO-TIX, OPE release inaugural report

Link: USC Responds: Fostering a Welcoming and Inclusive Environment

Link: USC, Professor Named in Doctoral Student's Sexual Harassment Suit

Link: Former student sues tenured Marshall professor and USC for sexual assault, discrimination