Political unrest, war and social upheaval have had huge impacts on the United States and, in turn, USC. From World War II to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, events of both local and national importance have forced USC to grow and change throughout the past 60 years.
World War II
"World War II had the biggest impact on USC of any world event," said Claude Zachary, USC archivist and manuscript librarian.
During the war, USC became a training post for soldiers and housed more than 600 cadets from the Navy, Air Force, Marines and Army.
Herbert Farmer, a 1942 USC alumnus, was in charge of entertaining the trainees with a weekly feature film.
Aside from sharing campus, USC students took an active role in the war themselves by taking part in beach patrols to look out for possible attacks, Farmer said.
After the troops came home, the effect of the war, and of the GI Bill, was clear - a major influx of students.
The "Servicemen's Readjustment Act," more commonly known as the GI Bill, was signed in 1944 by Franklin D. Roosevelt and, among other things, paid veterans up to $500 a year in school tuition for a time equivalent to that served in the armed forces.
That $500 was substantial at USC, considering the tuition for undergraduates was $14 per unit, according to the 1946-1947 student course guide.
This allowed more students to attend USC, "which meant a tremendous increase in revenues taken in by the university and a demand for more teachers and facilities," Zachary said.
In 1946, 9,000 of the 13,000 students at USC were veterans, he said.
Civil rights
"Throughout USC's history … something existed here that sent a message (to people of all races) that if you could carry the burden of the curriculum you were welcome," said Lura Ball, a USC alumna from 1979 and current president of the USC Black Alumni Association.
Ball said that on the issue of civil rights, USC has always found itself in a unique place - not on the cusp of nationwide movements and not behind the national scene either, but rather the breeders of men and woman who have left USC empowered to mold social change.
USC alumni include Paul Williams, the first black member of the American Institute of Architects; Edwin L. Jefferson, California's first black appellate justice; and Ellis O. Knox, the first black person to be awarded a doctoral degree on the West Coast.
The general attitude of California at the time meant that "even though there were racisms here, you could still make a life for yourself," Ball said.
USC has always kept to a non-discriminatory policy, graduating its first black student in 1894, but that is not to say racism did not exist.
John and Vana Somerville, who went on to found the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, went to USC as undergraduates and, later, as graduates in the dentistry program.
John Somerville was the first black student to graduate from the USC Dental School, even after several students in his class threatened to leave the university rather than go to school with a person of color, Ball said.
Race made little impact at USC until the black student population peaked in 1974.
That climax was the result of both the Topping Fund of 1968, which was started by the students who aggressively petitioned to encourage a diverse student population, and the graduation speech given by Rev. Thomas Kilgore, Jr. in 1972, which admonished USC for not being a good community partner, Ball said.
Now, more than 30 years later, "It's better and it's not," Ball said.
Karen Wade, a 1979 alumna, said, "I didn't expect to encounter the types of challenges I encountered at USC as a black student."
But she said her experience only strengthened her resolve to make changes.
As long as USC continues to give students the opportunity to develop as leaders, it will keep its unique niche as promoters of civil rights, Ball said.
1992 riots
"Peace restored to city, USC" and "University almost unhurt by the riots" were the headlines of the Daily Trojan May 4, 1992, in a special edition supplement put out in response to the Los Angles Riots.
The riots started April 29, 1992, in reaction to a controversial "not guilty" verdict in the case of police assault against Rodney King.
Although the city of Los Angeles was in upheaval, USC was surprisingly unscathed, the Daily Trojan reported.
"From where I lived just off campus, I could see fires north, right, and left," said Travis Smith, USC class of 1994. "I certainly wouldn't say I felt safe."
This was the time when USC's strong relationship with the community became apparent - "I didn't know at the time what the community felt about USC," Smith said.
William Deverell, a USC history professor and Los Angeles historian, said the fact that the university remained unharmed was evidence USC had "weaved itself into the neighborhood in a way that bigger businesses didn't."
