USC Rossier Students,
As you have now heard, this year’s main Commencement activity, which was scheduled for Friday, May 10, has been canceled by the university due to security concerns. Relevant information pertaining to this announcement, as well as the new logistics surrounding it, are available on the university’s Commencement website.
The USC Rossier ceremony will proceed as planned. We are excited to host your friends and family and to celebrate your accomplishments.
If protests occur during our ceremony, we will handle them peacefully and respectfully. If necessary, campus security will be available to assist. As we know, graduation is important to our students and their families, and we want to maintain the focus of our ceremony on them.
In our courses, we have taught you that the responsibility for managing difficult conversations about the ongoing war in Gaza, the situation on campus or any future issues that will fall to you as you go out in the world as teachers, professors and principals. My advice is to encourage civil discourse when these topics arise.
If you take just a part of what you have learned at USC Rossier and apply it in the real world, you will be some of the best teachers, principals and administrators in this country. Take this time to reflect on all you have accomplished in your time at the school, and what the future may bring.
Sincerely,
Pedro A. Noguera PhD
Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Pedro Noguera
- Distinguished Professor of Education
- Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
