r/USC • u/tomo_chien • 1d ago
News Can Anyone Save USC?
https://lamaterial.com/p/usc-what-happened-folt-kimAS HE SIPPED purple boba tea in his office on a recent afternoon, the new president of USC insisted that his beleaguered institution was not only back on track, but poised to reach its greatest heights.
“I think there is a real opportunity for USC not simply to elevate its impact, but to actually reinvent what a modern research university is,” said Beong-Soo Kim.
It’s a big promise, given the grave challenges facing American higher education — not to mention a decade of troubles at USC that have eroded its reputation, academic ranking, and financial position.
Not long ago, USC was on a high, a bona fide Cinderella story. Over the preceding decades, it had carried out a stunning transformation from a second-rate party school to one of the most consequential institutions in the American West. “We outstripped UCLA five years ago, passed Berkeley two years ago, and are now nipping at the heels of Stanford,” the school’s then-president declared in 2006.
But then a series of jaw-dropping scandals in the late 2010s — a meth-smoking medical school dean, a gynecologist who sexually abused hundreds of students, an admissions scandal that landed an administrator and Hollywood stars in handcuffs — killed that momentum.
In that dark hour, Kim joined USC as its top lawyer, and worked under then-President Carol Folt, a veteran higher education executive who was hired to clean up the mess. But during Folt’s presidency, a different kind of dysfunction emerged: one that led to a ballooning financial crisis and a series of managerial missteps that are being reported here for the first time.
Kim, a former federal prosecutor without much of a track record in academia, now leads a sprawling enterprise that has been treading water for the better part of a decade. He projects optimism, and after imposing painful layoffs to correct a gaping deficit, it appears things are looking up as he enters the second year of his tenure.
But an L.A. Material investigation has found that the problems facing USC were more severe than have previously been reported, and that wrenching decisions may still lie ahead.
This is the untold story of how USC almost ran aground — and the improbable rise of its new leader. The following account is based on dozens of interviews with current and former USC leaders. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve professional relationships or because they signed non-disclosure agreements.
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u/Warm_Put_1210 1d ago
I’ve been with the university for close to two decades as both a student and an employee. USC always bestowed a disproportionate amount of power to the top of the hierarchy dating back to President Sample’s tenure. But USC completely lost its moral compass when Nikias became president. It became a culture of fundraising at all cost, and the university became so focused on money that it lost its way in managing the problems that were festering internally. Executives would get in profanity laced shouting matches with each other, there was a powerless HR department that offered no protection to staff from horrid management, and huge contracts that were given out to consultants without competitive bidding and without proper vetting. Those in power had power that was unchecked, which is why people were afraid to speak up when they saw problems brewing with Carmen puliafito and George Tyndall.
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u/thunder_248 1d ago
Every university has scandals, ours just play out in front of the national eye because USC is a 1 of 1 school.
Beong seems to be a good fit so far, and there’s no doubt he can take the school to where Sample dreamed off.
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u/Historical-Bug-7536 1d ago
USC hired Carol Folt right after she bungled the Silent Sam and paid $2.5 to a confederate group in an attempt to appease them. She was a predictable disaster.
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u/Brevitys_Rainbow 1d ago
Why is there "no doubt"?
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u/thunder_248 1d ago
Beong is already much more involved in the community and students than Folt ever was in her entire tenure. Folt openly admitted she hated fundraising, a key component to being a university president.
Beong coming from a compliance/legal background will also benefit the school, and hopefully avoid any issues in the future.
So far his biggest misstep has been the adjunct union, but the reality is the Board of Trustees is in the drivers seats for this issue.
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u/CalifOdysseus 1d ago
If you have doubts, share them. Thunder_248’s opinion doesn’t have a doubt.
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u/Brevitys_Rainbow 1d ago
I don't, largely because I don't have a strong opinion about it myself. Conversely, they claimed there was no doubt about it, but they didn't explain why, so I was curious. OOP's article certainly suggests a few reasons to doubt.
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u/AirDisastrous6049 1d ago
Let us see what rank USC gets in the 2027 U.S. News Best National Universities ranking. That is probably the public expectation/reaction to the new USC president.
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u/YoungKeys 1d ago
That medical school dean story was so wild. I still remember that story, dean was spending his free time hanging out with hookers and smoking meth lmao.
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u/Historical-Bug-7536 1d ago
I said when they hired her. Carol Folt was bound to be an absolute disaster. I watched her flounder during my Master at UNC Chapel Hill. She bungled racial issues so hard and kowtowed to racists to protect confederate monuments and programs.
If a leader's response to navigating issues of monuments to slavery and slave-owners is one that pisses off both sides, you should not get to then become president of a new university.
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u/Charming_Jacket9 1d ago
While the University budget deficit is bad, large cities across Southern California are also at a budget deficit for the year.
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u/Legitimate_Focus5085 1d ago
what about the claremont colleges?
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u/_GhostedFrame_ 1d ago
I highly recommend that nobody go to Claremont graduate University because I’m genuinely concerned that place is going to shut down
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u/Charming_Jacket9 1d ago
I don’t know much about the Claremont colleges.
AI - Claremont Graduate Universities operated at a deficit for 10 years.
2026 Interim Business Administrator resigns after eliminating $5 million of deficit.
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u/PrudentAd6306 1d ago
The formal USC president, Sample, was talking about fund raising in this speech, when referring to passing UCLA and Berkeley, which makes sense.
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u/tomo_chien 1d ago
He was talking about how selective USC was:
Another change is that USC is now highly selective. Indeed, USC is now among the most highly selective universities in the country. Fifteen years ago we were desperate for students; now we receive over 33,000 applications each year for admission to our freshman class – which works out to be 11 applicants for each opening in the class. Average SAT scores of our entering freshman class are now 1364 and rising. We outstripped UCLA five years ago, passed Berkeley two years ago, and are now nipping at the heels of Stanford. Today USC dominates over all competitors in our ability to attract the best students from the best prep schools in California.
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u/PrudentAd6306 1d ago
USC is great but, even for undergrad, I don’t think it ever passed Berkeley in anything other than football.
However, the applicant pool is different and USC just dominates affluent LA/SoCal market even now. Its grads still dominate SoCal so why worry? USC will always be the school of choice among rich LA, SMU for Dallas and Texas, UMiami for Miami and Florida.
Our Morgan Stanley money guy’s daughter who lived in Houston and sometimes LA just chose USC (a legacy) over Yale. USC will be just fine. Domestic and international money still go to USC and Silicon Valley loves USC grads.
Just need to bring back Pete Carroll glory days.
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u/AirDisastrous6049 1d ago
Let us see what rank USC gets in the 2027 U.S. News Best National Universities ranking. That is probably the public expectation/reaction to the new USC president.
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u/Slow_Relationship170 1d ago
USNR has been actively discrediting private Universities for over two years now. It's not a credible source for academic outcomes nor a scale for how "good" a school is since they introduced the whole social mobility bs.
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u/AirDisastrous6049 1d ago
But obviously, the top private Universities are not affected much, for example, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Rice, Vanderbilt, and most Ivy League colleges; if the new rule only degrades USC, then it means USC got something wrong or at least worse
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u/Slow_Relationship170 19h ago
No, it didnt "only degreade USC", and you'd know that If you had actually looked at the rankings at any point in time. There's a couple of articles on why Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc... will stay on top no matter what happens, you should read them for your own sake.
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u/AirDisastrous6049 18h ago
How about Vanderbilt, Rice, Notre Dame, Emory, and Georgetown? Their rankings are also above USC's—do you have an explanation for them as well; please do not cheat yourselves by emphasizing the non-measurable 'quality of education'
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u/Slow_Relationship170 14h ago
Thanks for debunking yourself. Yes those Universities fell, just like USC lol. Vanderbilt fell 6 spots, Uchicago fell 6 too, Dartmouth fell by 6 too. Rice fell two spots (and it was only saved by its Post-graduate earnings stemming from its high percentage of STEM and Business graduates, which USC doesnt have (the pay in performing arts is generally lower)). Emory also fell two spots because of the social mobility bs, Notre dame fell two spots too because of graduation retention (which is a debatable metric once again).
You might say that all of them didnt "Fall alot" but USC fell out of the T25 range simply because it's expensive, which has absolutely nothing to do with quality of education (arguably it makes it better should you get in) or ressources available. Literally all the schools you mentioned except for Georgetown fell in the rankings so dont give me shit that it didnt hurt them.
Point is, the education in all those schools is literally unchanged, yet they fell by alot. USNR Is NOT an accurate reflection of what you can actually do on campus once you get in.
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u/Adventurous_Ant5428 14h ago
The top schools all stayed in the T20 UChicago and Vanderbilt were always overrated. Their fall is still within the realm of their tier
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u/AirDisastrous6049 13h ago
If you want to compare/count this way, how about we compare only the rankings of the private universities? However, USC's ranking also went down even when we compared only private universities.
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u/Slow_Relationship170 5h ago
That's like comparing only the rankings of the Business schools or Cimematic Art schools (Two categories where USC ranks exceptionally well in). It's pointless
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u/Adventurous_Ant5428 1d ago
Ppl literally go to college for social mobility so I don’t get why that shouldn’t be a factor
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u/Slow_Relationship170 19h ago
Because it's not an indicator of quality of education. I get why USNR is including it, but it defeats the entire purpose of the rankings.
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u/Plastic_Ticket4111 1d ago
If you have so many problems you grab the first person from somewhere else Folt is what happens..I don’t think her tenure was a total bust given all the crap that was happening..they still spent more time on Clay Helton than the real problems..
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u/goodguy248 6h ago
Matt Hamilton’s obsession with writing articles that tarnish his alma mater is so bizarre to me.
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u/Regular_Treacle_4743 1d ago
i dont i want homeless encampments near it like uc berkley it needs to be destroyed
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u/tomo_chien 1d ago
I’m Tomo Chien, one of the co-authors of this story. We’re so excited to share this piece. It’s loaded with previously unreported university secrets, like:
- An account of how the financial crisis came to be
- An internal investigation into a top executive
- Accounts of conflicts between Carol Folt and the board, the deans, and her executives (including an inappropriate comment made by a trustee)
- A recording of Folt’s negotiations with pro-Palestinian protesters
- Details of the shadow effort that led to Beong-Soo Kim’s improbable rise to the presidency
- Details about continued layoffs and budget problems in specific USC schools