USC paying students to film ‘real life’ events of ‘oppression’

The Office of Student Affairs at the University of Southern California is now offering its students monetary compensation for reporting “real life events” of “oppression.”

According to a screenshot obtained by Campus Reform, USC students will have the opportunity to submit a short video of a non-fictional depiction of an event “related to diversity” or “oppression” for a cash prize of up to $500.

 

“Have you seen, heard, or experienced oppression on a college campus?” a poster advertising the contest states. “Many would answer yes. What would you do to change that? Submit a skit for a campus wide diversity training led by USC Student Affairs!”

Students were encouraged to participate when a campus-wide newsletter promoting the contest was sent out earlier this week.

The contest will award three winners $500 each. At least a portion of the funds allocated to the Office of Student Affairs is derived from student tuition fees, according to The Tab. The prize, however, is likely only a small fraction of a budget distributed to diversity initiatives.

Just last year, USC provost Michael Quick announced the establishment of a “$100,000.00 fund for Undergraduate and Graduate Student Governments to address issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, opportunity, and access at USC.” Only days earlier, USC’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) passed a resolution calling on the administration to implement a tuition freeze, which was received poorly by administration. Some 15 days later, Quick announced his plan to provide student governments with a $100,000 diversity fund.

The videos will allegedly be used for routine diversity trainings.

Campus Reform reached out to USC’s Office of Student Affairs to ask about the purpose of the project but no response was received by press time.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski