Professor faces third sexual assault accusation
Tomo Chien
October 14, 2025
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.
The newsletter will be off tomorrow while I travel for work.
1.
A USC professor is facing mounting accusations of sexual misconduct after a former student sued him late last month. The lawsuit by a USC Ph.D. candidate — the third to accuse professor David Kang of sexual assault — details an incident where he allegedly grabbed the student’s thighs and shouted “I want to have children with you!”
2.
Several USC faculty groups plan to protest Friday at noon against the Trump administration’s offer of preferential funding in exchange for conservative reforms. “We demand that USC admin unequivocally reject the compact,” the groups wrote in a handout.
3.
MIT became the first university to turn down Trump’s offer, arguing that it would limit free speech and the school’s independence. USC, for its part, has not indicated whether it plans to sign the compact, saying only that interim President Beong-Soo Kim is listening to “wide-ranging perspectives.”
4.
Rock and Reilly’s was forced to temporarily close Saturday after LA County health inspectors found vermin in the bar’s kitchen. A manager for the bar said that “brief pest activity occurred” after a routine fumigation, but that health officials lifted the closure by Sunday.
5.
USC’s satire newspaper has several suggestions for discussion topics in the school’s new Open Dialogue Project. These include: “What isn’t a woman?”; “the ethics of selling dead bodies”; and “should bisexual women bring their straight boyfriends to pride?” More at the link below.
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