SPECIAL: Hear in LA – Zachary the USC Whistleblower

Published May 18, 2023

Zachary the USC Whistleblower

The student-turned-staffer tried to get ‘SC to do the right thing, but when they hesitated, he alerted the Feds.

By Tony Pierce - Published in Hear in LA

12 min read - 2 hours ago

Zachary Ellison is a well-spoken journalist, a Trojan, and a whistleblower. He spent years at USC as a grad student and was quickly hired as a university staffer.

When he saw something was wrong, he tried to have it resolved and eventually called it out. He was summarily terminated.

Zachary also closely watches local Los Angeles politics and convincingly intertwines USC with City Hall in a way that may lead to the source of the infamous leak that ended the political career of the council president.

Link: https://hearinla.com/zachary-the-usc-whistleblower-79a71c2b470f

Read more and listen to our podcast interview on Hear in LA! The podcast is also available on Spotify and Apple!

Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7lbEUK8o3GziqoiEWSzWSF?si=7UcyajCYRu-ojSlnRVXggw

Link:

Thanks to Hear in LA and Tony Pierce for interviewing me and the great article!

Cheers,

Zach

Zachary Ellison is an Independent Journalist and Whistleblower in the Los Angeles area. Zach was most recently employed by the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost from October 2015 to August 2022 as an Executive Secretary and Administrative Assistant supporting the Vice Provost for Academic Operations and the Vice Provost and Senior Advisor to the Provost among others. Zach holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. While a student at USC, he worked for the USC Good Neighbors Campaign including on their newsletter distributed university-wide. Zach completed his B.A. in History at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon and was a writer, editor, and photographer for the Pasadena High School Chronicle. He was Barack Obama’s one-millionth online campaign contributor in 2008. Zach is a former AmeriCorps intern for Hawaii State Parks and worked for the City of Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation. He is a trained civil process server, and enjoys weekends in the great outdoors.