Last week I joined 15 other USC students in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center for tea, lemonade, sandwiches, sweets, and most importantly, an earnest conversation with USC President C.L. Max Nikias.
We each introduced ourselves and told President Nikias what we love about USC and what we would like to see changed or improved. My fellow students and I brought up a wide variety of topics for the purposes of commending, questioning, and criticizing. We spoke about funding limitations for student groups, the need for continuing education on sexual assault, opportunities for increased collaboration among USC schools, the abundance of career development opportunities, the fervor around Trojan football, the strength of the Trojan . Family, and much more.
President Nikias listened and took notes, often telling the students they had “good points” and that he would study the issues being discussed. His eye contact, feedback, and note-taking showed us that he wanted to learn about us and learn from us.
President Nikias holds these tea gatherings with students every month, and he told us the story of how the tradition took shape. When his daughter became a student at USC, he explained, he would take her friends and her out for ice cream and ask them about school and life. From these conversations he learned some things that enlightened and startled him. He realized that without garnering students’ perspectives, he did not, and could not, truly understand USC.
Three international students attended the tea gathering:
• Anita Ajiyen, who is from Nigeria and pursuing a Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering degree at the Viterbi School of Engineering.
• Ashwin Kumar, who is from India and pursuing a Master of Science in Engineering Management at the Viterbi School. He is also president of the USC Association of Indian Students.
• Huaqing Yuan, who is from China and pursuing a Master of Public Diplomacy degree at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. She is also a J-1 Program assistant and SEVIS coordinator assistant for the Office of International Services.
Holden Slattery, Assistant Communications Editor, is pursuing a Master of Public Administration and is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
