Kirk vigil set for today on campus
Tomo Chien
September 18, 2025
Good morning, it’s Thursday. Here 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.
USC’s Turning Point USA chapter, part of the massive conservative network founded by Charlie Kirk, will host a vigil for the late commentator today at 7:30 p.m. in the TCC Ballroom. School IDs are required for entry and only small clear bags are allowed.
2.
USC law professor Jody Armour criticized Kirk in a TV interview. “He made a lot of very negative statements about lots of socially marginalized groups who are now being asked to celebrate that life that was dedicated to vilifying them,” he said. A website run by Kirk once described Armour as a “radical” who supports “Soros-backed, far-left” prosecutors.
3.
Provost Andrew Guzman said the “large bulk” of USC’s layoffs have been completed in an Academic Senate meeting yesterday. Other items of note: Employee healthcare premiums are expected to increase 5% on average. And USC sought to cut $400 million from its budget, which is well above its projected structural deficit, Guzman said.
4.
Southern California Edison plans to pay victims of the Eaton fire hundreds of thousands of dollars for destroyed homes and emotional suffering. Under a draft compensation program, a family of four who lost a 1,500-square-foot home and settles directly with the utility would receive $1.4 million.
5.
The Daily Trojan student newspaper turned 113 yesterday. See one of the earliest copies of the newspaper available in USC’s archives; read about the paper’s first female editor-in-chief appointed in 1913 (here’s more about her); or read the 1935 homecoming edition cross-published in the LA Times.