Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Theta Xi, the recently reinstated fraternity that has to make up for its relatively low social status by having a personality, launched an all-out marketing blitz for a party this Friday. Its Instagram has been rebranded “USC Touse” (top + house), and a massive “TOUSE” sign now adorns its house. They distributed merch, filmed a hilarious promo video, and even launched a website.

2.

The Department of Public Safety deleted two Instagram posts showing men being arrested on campus after students criticized the photos — and the mocking songs that accompanied them — in an ATVN segment. Assistant Chief David Carlisle told Morning, Trojan that “feedback from the campus community” spurred the takedowns.

3.

A new projection shows that nearly a quarter of the nation’s private, four-year colleges are at risk of closing in the next decade. Many are small and rural, but they collectively serve some 670,000 students. The Hechinger Report blamed the “long decline in the number of Americans who are going to college.”

4.

The California Science Center completed a sleek new building to house the space shuttle Endeavour, bringing the long-awaited upright display one step closer to opening. The museum next to USC said it plans to announce an opening date this summer, the LA Times reported.

5.

In other museum news: Erewhon will open a storefront at LACMA this weekend for members previewing the buzzy new David Geffen Galleries. The cafe will open to the general public on May 4, meaning you can soon spend more on a smoothie than a museum ticket without ever leaving the LACMA grounds. Peak LA?

 

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC’s Department of Public Safety has been beefing up its social media presence with PSAs and occasionally painful skits. But several posts have recently attracted controversy: Photos of men being arrested on suspicion of petty crimes on campus, set to songs with mocking lyrics. “Posting that is degrading,” one student told ATVN.

2.

The majority of LA’s City Council members penned a letter to USC last month urging the school to “refrain from any further legal challenges” to an ongoing union drive by its non-tenure-track faculty. The prospective union is widely expected to win a vote-by-mail election that will begin April 24 and end May 15.

3.

The LA Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting historic buildings in LA, will honor USC with a “preservation award” for converting a former campus church into what is now the Dick Wolf Drama Center. The conservancy called the building “a striking example of adaptive reuse done right.”

4.

Eric Swalwell, who just last week was a leading candidate for California governor, resigned from Congress amid allegations that he sexually assaulted four women, the LA Times reported. Swalwell, who previously suspended his campaign, called the allegations “false” but said he must take “ownership of the mistakes I did make.”

5.

A USC MBA student who happens to be a Navy master diver helped lead the team that recovered the Artemis II astronauts off the San Diego coast. Master Chief Ryan Crider graciously shared a few never-before-seen photos with Morning, Trojan — including one of him holding an SC flag during the recovery. “It’s an incredible honor,” he said.

 

Good morning. It’s Monday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC sold its outpost in Sacramento for $2.82 million to a local dentist, the Sacramento Business Journal reported. The 12,800-square-foot building previously hosted a Price degree program, but USC said the space is now “too large for our current use.” It’s unclear if the school plans to buy or lease a new space in the state capital.

2.

Carolyn Meltzer, the dean of USC’s medical school, had her gorgeous Eagle Rock home featured in a native plant tour of LA organized by a local nonprofit. “Friendly-faced monkeyflower will greet you, and Indian mallow blooms may ask for a dance as you travel up the colorfully tiled front walk,” reads the listing for Meltzer’s home.

3.

The Daily Trojan pulled an article it published last Wednesday which reported that a USC Bookstore manager discriminated against Indian employees. The paper wrote in a statement on Thursday that “claims made in the article require further investigation” after current and former employees questioned the reporting’s accuracy on Instagram.

4.

Eric Swalwell, a leading candidate for California governor, dropped out of the race yesterday after four women accused him of sexual assault in bombshell stories by CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle. The Bay Area congressman says he’s innocent, but had quickly lost donors, endorsements, and staffers in the wake of the allegations.

5.

The Getty Center will close for a year of renovations starting next March in an effort to modernize the campus ahead of the 2028 Olympics, the New York Times reported. Getty officials said renovations will focus on the museum’s famous tram system, and that they’ll move select paintings to the Getty Villa during the closure.

 

Good morning. It’s Friday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

I’m sorry for missing yesterday’s newsletter. Today’s subject line may help explain the lack of early morning production.

1.

So you’ve been to Rock’s and the Nine O. Maybe La Barca and Bacari, too. Probably, though, you’re tired of the few going-out options near USC. Consider a trip to the University Club, a campus bar-restaurant many students don’t know about. I recruited two enablers friends and ordered every drink on the happy hour menu to write a guide to the under-appreciated bar.

2.

USC touted the opening of its first infant childcare center in South LA this week, City News Service reported. The center, funded by a federal grant, opens in May and will provide free childcare for local families. It’s the latest highly publicized do-good effort on the part of USC, which similarly celebrated the opening of a community pharmacy last month.

3.

The California Post sent the online masses into a frenzy when it claimed that USC banned men from parts of the Lyon Center under a new gender inclusion initiative. The story — which is inaccurate; men aren’t “banned” — mostly ripped earlier reporting from the Daily Trojan, and was written by a former editor of Annenberg Media.

4.

At a time when fast food chains are struggling to stay open in LA, one has bucked the trend: Raising Cane’s, a favorite among students, which is on an expansion tear across the city. It may be a partially personal effort for the chain’s Louisiana-born CEO, who just bought a mansion in Hollywood Hills and befriended Leo DiCaprio, L.A. Material reported.

5.

An 81-year-old Dodgers fan is irate that the team is no longer printing season tickets, he told NBCLA. “Fifty years — five generations — I’ve had these tickets,” said Errol Segal, who has a flip phone and said he doesn’t know how to use a computer. “They threw me under the bus.”

 

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

A USC freshman had to have one of his eyes removed after federal agent shot him with a projectile at a “No Kings” protest last month. Tucker Collins, 18, was photographing the downtown demonstration and plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit, his attorney told the LA Times.

2.

A gender empowerment group worked with the Lyon Center to establish a designated “comfortable, supportive environment for women and non-binary” students, the Daily Trojan reported. The special gym room, open Monday and Wednesday mornings, is technically “open to all eligible individuals.”

3.

SDA Dean Emily Roxworthy agreed to meet with a group of students who’ve staged multiple protests against budget cuts that they say have hobbled dramatic arts programming, the Daily Trojan reported. “We cannot continue to be exploited,” said one sign at the students’ five-hour sit-in at the Wolf Drama Center yesterday.

4.

Earlier this year, Olympic organizers promised a locals-only ticket drop that’d give Angelenos a fair shot at seeing the 2028 games in their city. But when the presale opened last week, residents reported seeing few tickets, many at astronomical prices. An LA Times columnist likened it to being “locked out of a party … in your own backyard.”

5.

Before Bryan Cranston was a TV icon known for his starring role in “Breaking Bad,” he nearly joined the LAPD, he told the Wall Street Journal in a fascinating interview. The San Fernando Valley native and his co-stars are on a press blitz for a reboot of “Malcolm in the Middle,” which premieres Friday on Hulu.

Morning, Trojan was featured in Poynter, a major journalism trade publication. Check out the profile.

 

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC settled a lawsuit by a former student who accused David Kang, an international relations professor who left USC in March, of sexually harassing her, according to records reviewed by Morning, Trojan. The last-minute settlement allowed the university to dodge a potentially embarrassing trial that was set to begin yesterday.

2.

As college sports grow increasingly professionalized under NCAA rule changes, critics are pointing out the questionable nonprofit status of university athletics departments. Sports programs, a University of Denver professor argued, are “only loosely tied” to their schools, and should be separate entities that pay taxes.

3.

CNN sent an intern to Yale to report on how chatbots are affecting academics. “My work ethic has completely diminished from high school,” one student said. “Everyone now kind of sounds the same,” said another, who described classmates reading off of ChatGPT-written scripts in class.

4.

A growing number of Americans are injecting themselves with unregulated peptides — microproteins touted by RFK Jr. that promise dubious benefits like increased strength. Fun fact: Pinchas Cohen, dean of USC’s gerontology school, made the scientific discovery that underpins the craze. But he isn’t too stoked about it, he told The New Yorker.

5.

Southern California is the “theme park capital of the world,” the LA Times declared this morning. To celebrate mainstays such as Knott’s Berry Farm, Disneyland, and Universal Studios — institutions “integral to SoCal life” — the Times launched a newsletter that’ll dispense practical park-going tips and geek out on their history.

 

Good morning. It’s Monday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

@usc.missedconnections, the beloved Instagram account that posts student-submitted notes to romantic interests, has been MIA for more than six weeks — causing much consternation among the student body. To Missed Connections: Please come back. We miss you and hope you’re OK. (The account won’t respond to my DMs.)

2.

A handful of SDA students distributed a flyer titled “EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK” this weekend, protesting budget cuts that they say have hobbled dramatic arts programming, the Daily Trojan reported. It was a rare instance of undergraduates taking notice of the cuts that ravaged USC last year, albeit months after the fact.

3.

A record number of students are taking the bar exam with accommodations for conditions like ADHD, The Wall Street Journal found. The findings add to a growing body of reporting that suggests that wealthy students are gaming the system to get extra time on college tests. (Critics say the suggestion is overblown and “ableist.”)

4.

Our neighbors in Westwood had cause for celebration yesterday after UCLA’s women’s basketball team clobbered the University of South Carolina to win the NCAA title. “Fuck the other, less relevant USC too,” UCLA’s satire newspaper wrote.

5.

The New York Times asked several hip LA locals to share their favorite burrito spots in the city. The list includes several foodie darlings like Sonoratown and Sonoritas Prime Tacos, plus a handful of lesser-known spots like Quiadaiyn Restaurant and Viva Taco Azteca, which don’t regularly appear in Eater and Infatuation roundups.

 

Good morning. It’s Friday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

The Turning Point circus came to USC last night, led by Ross Johnston, a preacher bro whose main claim to fame is that he was conceived via artificial insemination and raised by two women — but now says the “LGBTQ agenda” is the work of “the devil himself.” You can watch the 45-minute sermon/concert in Founders Park on YouTube.

2.

Speaking of campus spectacles: Comedians Nick Kroll, Vanessa Bayer, and Kate Berlant will perform Monday at Bing Theater to raise money for blood cancer research. Student tickets are sold out, but you can still purchase general admission entry for $72. “You and your hot mom are invited,” Kroll said in a promo video.

3.

An event celebrating Arab American Heritage Month was briefly tainted with drama when students criticized USC for cutting a poetry performance, the Daily Trojan reported. The Middle Eastern North African Student Assembly credited an “internal miscommunication” by USC staff for the cut, but said it nonetheless fueled a “sense of erasure.”

4.

The LA Times will host a special native plant booth at the Festival of Books later this month. Visitors can pick up assorted goodies like 4-inch plants and stickers, then chit-chat with plant experts over a selection of native flora. Find the booth along the edge of McCarthy Quad.

5.

Cigarettes have made a bona fide comeback in LA, appearing on screen in Hollywood productions and outside the city’s hottest bars and clubs. The Ankler wrote a feature on the resurgence. “People are going analog,” one smoker told the publication. “Like, we’re going away from vaping and back to cigarettes, to physical media.”

 

Good morning. It’s Thursday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

The Sack of Troy pulled off another great one yesterday when it bought the domain dailytrojan.org to host a satirical version of dailytrojan.com. “USC Announces New Separate But Equal Gubernatorial Debates,” reads one headline. “Subscribe to our newsletter / Fuck you Tomo,” reads another module. (Thanks guys.)

2.

Tuesday’s student government meeting delivered peak drama when senators bickered over a motion to delay the confirmation of next year’s cabinet members, Annenberg Media reported. Accusations of “grandstanding” and “disrespect” flew across the rarified halls of the Tutor Campus Center, but the confirmations eventually sailed through.

3.

Speaking of reliable sources of drama: This year’s Democrat vs. Republican student debate is set for next Wednesday at Tommy’s Place. The debate flyer advertises “Free Rock & Reilly’s,” but organizers told Morning, Trojan that the bar will only cater food, not drinks.

4.

Twenty years ago, California farmers made a big bet on the pistachio, which at the time was largely unknown to U.S. consumers. It paid off. The U.S. is now the world’s largest exporter of the nut, and the war in Iran will likely increase that market share. The New York Times delved into the fascinating story of how California became pistachio king.

5.

The Getty, Huntington, and LACMA made it to The Art Newspaper’s annual list of the world’s 100 most-visited art museums. Earlier this year, the same publication wondered whether LA is on the cusp of a museum “golden age.” The city “has gone from being provincial to international in a very short time,” one artist told the newspaper.

 

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC’s Concerts Committee identified the Chainsmokers and Wallows as potential headliners for this year’s Springfest concert before landing on Ty Dolla $ign, two sources told Morning, Trojan. The Chainsmokers had a scheduling conflict and DPS vetoed Wallows because the band has a history of distributing alcohol at concerts.

Tomo Chien / Morning, Trojan

2.

A Huntington Park City Council member is facing growing calls to resign over allegations that he sexually assaulted a USC graduate student in the Village parking garage. In a now-dropped restraining order petition reviewed by Morning, Trojan, the woman accused Arturo Flores of pressuring her to get inside his car then putting his hands down her pants.

Jacqueline García / Caló News

3.

The newly appointed president of the College Republicans of America has a history of spewing racist, homophobic, and sexist comments online. Kai Schwemmer, a BYU student who leads a sprawling organization with a chapter at USC, has claimed gay men are “weaponizing” gyms “to give you AIDS” and celebrated that he’s “0% Jewish.”

Jason Wilson / The Guardian

4.

A Cornell professor has turned to a quaint technology to curb her students’ AI use: manual typewriters. Grit Matthias Phelps, who teaches German language, assigns an in-class essay written on typewriters once a semester. “What’s the point of me reading it if it’s already correct anyway, and you didn’t write it yourself?” she said.

Jocelyn Gecker / Associated Press

5.

The voluminous canon of think pieces on Gen Z’s sex life is growing by the day. “The Reason Gen Z isn’t dating,” wrote The New York Times, is that the “social environment fractured and courtship norms broke down.” OK. Don’t they know we’re actually the kinkiest generation ever? And that we’re great at bedroom multi-tasking?

Christine Emba / The New York Times

 

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

In what could be a budding April Fools’ prank, a mysterious website and Instagram profile spawned yesterday to promote a new “Samuel H. Altman School of Artificial Intelligence” at USC. Speculation quickly spread on Reddit and Sidechat, but a university spokesperson said the now-deleted pages aren’t real. Sorry for the buzzkill.

Reddit

2.

Gustavo Dudamel, the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will deliver this year’s keynote commencement speech. The New York Times once described the 45-year-old conductor as “central to the civic and cultural identity” of LA. View ticketing information for the main stage ceremony here.

Constanza Montemayor / Annenberg Media

3.

A USC student built a neat website that creates an “optimal” class schedule given your course requirements and time preferences. Likely to the chagrin of faculty, the website uses Rate My Professors reviews to choose between classes, although it does warn that students should only use it as a “starting point.”

trojanplanner.com

4.

LA will install 125 speed cameras around the city by the end of July. The cameras, clustered in school zones and problematic traffic corridors, will issue no-fine warnings for a 60-day grace period before charging drivers going 11 mph or more over the speed limit. The closest camera to USC will be on Figueroa between 23rd and Adams.

Karen Garcia / Los Angeles Times

5.

Stanford’s conservative student newspaper published a brutal takedown of a campus administrator that it blamed for a “methodical, years-long campaign” to extinguish all fun at the university. “The decisions (and deliberate inaction)” of Vice Provost Michele Rasmussen, wrote the Stanford Review, have decimated the school’s party scene.

Sloane Wehman / The Stanford Review

 

Good morning. It’s Monday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Rock & Reilly’s, apparently seeking to capitalize on its newfound Wednesday night popularity, launched several “membership” packages that cost as much as $499 annually. For roughly the price of a semesterly parking permit, you can get some combination of line-skipping privileges and a weekly burger ration.

Rock & Reilly’s

2.

Two years after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied university quads, students at America’s left-leaning colleges have been strangely silent. That’s arguably because university leaders have executed a total crackdown on protests using Donald Trump’s threats as cover. All along, though, they “were quietly on board,” The Atlantic wrote.

Rose Horowitch / The Atlantic

3.

In case you missed it: The Los Angeles City Attorney declined to charge Sa Lang Enoch Chang, a 19-year-old USC student arrested on suspicion of domestic violence at Nemirovsky Residential College in February. It wasn’t immediately clear why prosecutors declined to file charges.

Tomo Chien / Morning, Trojan

4.

Days after uncovering allegations that Cesar Chavez sexually abused women and girls, The New York Times again surfaced shocking claims against the late labor leader. In a remote union compound in the mountains, Chavez allegedly turned controlling and cultish, believing he could heal people by touching them and that he had a visible “aura.”

Staff / The New York Times

5.

As you may have seen in our email blast Friday, we’re shutting down this newsletter in May. If Morning, Trojan has made you laugh, or broke news that you thought was essential, it would mean a lot to me if you submitted a reader testimonial for our archive website. Many thanks to all of you who’ve sent hilarious, thoughtful notes.

Tomo Chien / Morning, Trojan

 

Folks, I’m graduating in May, and when that happens, I’m going to shut down Morning, Trojan. I wanted to tell you now so it doesn’t come as a surprise.

Since starting the newsletter four years ago, it has grown from a little-known email list to a must-read news source that delivers a steady stream of scoops about the university.

I’m proud that nearly 12,000 subscribers, from USC’s top executives to incoming freshmen, read our daily aggregation and reporting. I’m also proud that this is a profitable business — and in fact the only USC student news outlet that doesn’t receive funding from the school.

At its core, Morning, Trojan is a one-man reporting operation, driven by my news judgment and the sources I’ve developed. I ultimately decided to shut it down because I can’t feasibly continue it after graduation.

I owe many thanks to a number of people, most notably my long-time proofreader, Anna Hsu, whose behind-the-scenes work has kept this newsletter running.

If it’s any consolation, after graduation, I’ll continue covering USC for L.A. Material, a startup founded by some of the sharpest journalists in Los Angeles tackling investigations across the city. You can expect more explosive scoops about USC, albeit with less granular coverage of day-to-day university life.

After our last newsletter runs on May 1, we’ll publish an archive website so all our links remain on the internet. For posterity, the site will include a page of reader testimonials.

If Morning, Trojan has made you laugh — or broke news that you thought was essential — it would mean a lot to me if you submitted a comment at this link. (I’m sifting through my reams of hate mail and will post the greatest hits on the website, too.)

I’m sure this news will disappoint many of you. Others will, clearly, be absolutely stoked.

To the former: Thank you, that’s very kind. To the latter: You can suck it, because Morning, Trojan isn’t dead yet! We’ve still got time before finals, and I plan to make it our scoopiest, funniest, most irreverent month yet.

As always, you can reach me at tomo@morningtrojan.com or tomo.213 on Signal.

— Tomo

Good morning. It’s Friday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC used to be a haven for C students who were at times so degenerate that the school had to ban weeknight frat parties and outlaw beer sales at the Coliseum. No longer, goddammit! The incoming Class of 2030 has an average GPA of 3.92 — an all-time high for USC.

Tamara Almoayed / Annenberg Media

2.

USC and Sony Music will settle a lawsuit that accused the school’s athletics department of using copyrighted music in its social media posts. The record label originally sought tens of millions of dollars in damages, but it’s unlikely that the terms of the settlement will be made public once finalized.

Rachel Scharf / Billboard

3.

Donald Trump casually floated the idea of again sending troops to LA in a cabinet meeting yesterday. The feds, he said, can fight crime “much more effectively” than local cops — and besides, “all the time, people come up to me” to say “thank you so much” for deploying troops to American cities.

Gavin J. Quinton / Los Angeles Times

4.

It’s been an unusually active season for rattlesnakes in Southern California thanks to unseasonably warm weather. The odds of being bitten are low — and the odds of dying are lower — but two people nonetheless succumbed to fatal bites on local trails this month, prompting officials to implore hikers to remain vigilant.

Clara Harter / Los Angeles Times

5.

A USC event will offer free used clothes to students, thrift-store style, at the Sustainability Hub on April 1. It’s open to anybody but relies on donations. Want to contribute? Drop off gently used clothes by 3 p.m. today at the Sustainability Hub (STU 100) or Student Basic Needs (KOH 103).

USC Basic Needs

 

Good morning. It’s Thursday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Jay Bhattacharya, a former Stanford professor who became a global pariah when he criticized COVID lockdowns in 2020 — but has since been, in some ways, vindicated — will speak at USC on April 9 as part of the school’s Open Dialogue Project. Bhattacharya leads the National Institutes of Health under the Trump administration.

University of Southern California

2.

President Beong-Soo Kim spoke candidly about USC’s canceled gubernatorial debate at a faculty senate meeting yesterday. “The excluded candidates, in my opinion, were crying foul,” he said, adding that he’d like to host another debate but “hopefully, there are some lessons learned here.”

Stella Muzin / Daily Trojan

3.

USC warned that it may cancel summer classes in 2028 because security will be so tight during the Olympics. Fun fact: During the 1984 games, USC did not yet have the permanent fencing it does today, so it erected a barbed wire perimeter around campus. The Washington Post wrote an amusing feature on security at USC in 1984.

Stella Muzin and Feiyu Long / Daily Trojan

4.

While USC’s student government at times struggles to fill meetings with anything other than a land acknowledgment, UC students are lobbying for a second seat on the system’s board of regents. Granted, it’s a long shot: They’ll need support from a supermajority of state legislators, and, ultimately, voters in November.

Eric He and Lindsey Holden / Politico

5.

USC women’s basketball may have been eliminated from March Madness, but we redeemed ourselves on another court: the annual “Tuition Madness” bracket by the Royal Bank of Canada, which pits schools against each other using four-year attendance costs. (We sailed to the championship and beat Duke in a nail biter.)

Royal Bank of Canada

 

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Keck has found itself in the unusual position of needing to loudly proclaim that it’s losing money amid labor negotiations with the nurses’ union. Keck CEO Rod Hanners, apparently in reaction to what he called inaccurate reports by student journalists, said the health system faced a shortfall of $33 million in 2024, which got worse in 2025.

Keck Medicine of USC

2.

If you were enrolled at USC sometime in the last decade and were charged extra money for paying your fees late, USC likely owes you cash thanks to a recent class-action settlement. The school will pay out a total of $2 million — with a maximum of $225 per person — to those who fill out claim forms by June 5.

uscfeesettlement.com

3.

In case you missed it: USC wanted to expand its gubernatorial debate after facing backlash for excluding all candidates of color. But event co-host ABC7 refused — so the school spiked it altogether. “It was going to be difficult for the debate to achieve its originally intended purpose,” President Beong-Soo Kim said in an exclusive interview.

Tomo Chien / L.A. Material

4.

Police arrested a man on suspicion of kidnapping two female UCLA students and raping a woman in a separate incident. Alexander Schecter, 26, allegedly wouldn’t let the students leave his car when he dropped them off near campus at 3 a.m. earlier this month. It’s unclear if he was driving them for a rideshare platform.

Clara Harter / Los Angeles Times

5.

On a chilly day last month, hundreds of topless, little-known actors flocked to Marina del Rey to try out for the revival of “Baywatch.” The New York Times documented the open call, which drew everyone from a Chippendales veteran to a Kansas steakhouse waitress, in a delightful photo story.

Sinna Nasseri and Ashley Spencer / The New York Times