Protesters, out. Predators, in
Tomo Chien
March 07, 2025
Good morning. It’s Friday, and I’m reading about how nobody actually knows what DEI is. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.
1.
DPS warned that a man with a history of sex crimes is back on the streets after being arrested outside Wallis Annenberg Hall Wednesday. It is unclear how he got to the heart of campus after passing through security checkpoints, whose pristine record of barring student protesters has apparently not extended to serial ass-grabbers.
2.
USC at least temporarily dodged a proposed class-action lawsuit that claimed the school failed to protect Jewish students and faculty from “dangerous, hate-filled, violent” encampment protests last year. A federal judge said plaintiffs failed to show USC actually intended to discriminate against them, but will allow them to amend their complaint.
3.
A USC study found that the general public broadly disapproves of student protests. Just 1 in 8 U.S. adults said it’s “always” appropriate for students to criticize their universities on social media, and nearly half said it’s “never” OK to skip class to protest. “There are not a lot of free speech universalists out there,” one researcher said.
4.
The city of LA does so poor a job of tracking its homelessness programs that it doesn’t know how much it’s spending or whether the programs actually worked, a court-ordered audit found. The report found no proven examples of fraud or waste, but noted that lax controls left programs vulnerable to abuse.
5.
An Oregon dude biked from San Francisco to LA while eating exclusively Chipotle burritos. Tasman Alexander, 23, spent eight days on the 450-mile route fueled by 21 burritos and a “forbidden” quesadilla. If Chipotle sponsors him, Alexander has said in viral videos, he’ll bike coast to coast on the same diet.
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