Recent Streetsblog LA posts about USC

Liliana Cortez with some of the injuries she sustained after being tackled to the ground by officers from USC's Department of Public Safety after she hugged a tree on a sorority's front lawn. She sustained bruising on her arms, shoulders, back, ribs, thighs, knees, calves, and wrists. The photos were taken the night she was released from jail. Images courtesy Liliana Cortez

USC’s Public Safety Officers Tackle, Traumatize Woman for Hugging Tree on Sorority’s Lawn

By Sahra Sulaiman | Dec 6, 2019 | No Comments

"How is USC going to make it right?"

Monday, February 11, a man was detained and handcuffed by USC's Department of Public Safety for riding on Washington Boulevard without a bike light. According to the officer who conducted the stop, the man requested to be allowed to sit down because he has a bad back. Screen grab from Facebook live video streamed by Estuardo David Mazariegos.

Handcuffing of Cyclist by USC Public Safety Raises Questions about Tactics, Oversight, Accountability

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 1, 2019 | 7 Comments

USC Public Safety Officers cuffed a man riding without a light, questioned him about warrants, and told him LAPD would be asked to come run a warrant check

USC Public Health Professor Asks for Better Transportation Options to USC

By Damien Newton | Oct 9, 2015 | 14 Comments

Transportation issues at the University of Southern California have been in the news recently. Yesterday’s “Today’s Headlines” featured a story about how USC’s students rely on bicycles, but the administration is making it more and more difficult to bring bicycles onto campus. Earlier in the week, the focus was on the faculty outrage that the […]

USC’s Planned Expansion in Boyle Heights: When Planning Objectives and Community Perceptions Collide

By Sahra Sulaiman | Aug 14, 2013 | 9 Comments

Taking a deep breath as he looked out over the crowd that had gathered in the gymnasium of Hazard Park to discuss USC’s planned expansion on its Health Sciences Campus, the lanky and earnest youth with the air filtration mask dangling from his belt made an appeal to the hearts of the USC representatives. “There’s […]

Jay Sneed (at podium) offered closing remarks at the forum at USC while Tommie Bayliss waited to speak to senior officers in person (Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog)

A Tale of Two Communities, Part II: LAPD Finds it Stirred Up Hornets’ Nest by Profiling USC Students of Color

By Sahra Sulaiman | May 13, 2013 | 3 Comments

*This is a sister-story to our recent piece on how the new security measures around USC resulted in the increase in profiling of lower-income youth of color around the campus. Read that story here. “WE DO NOT BELIEVE AT THIS POINT that there is any indication that this [incident] was race-based,” Capt. II Paul Snell […]

This is what stopping teens can look like. Mikey, Jonathan, and George/Jorge were frisked for weapons on Ave. 50 and York Blvd. in Highland Park last spring. They were stopped while waiting for friends. Note: the photo is not from South L.A., as many of the youth I spoke with wished to remain anonymous. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

A Tale of Two Communities: New Security Measures at USC Intensify Profiling of Lower-Income Youth of Color

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 30, 2013 | 33 Comments

“What you got on you?” the 15 year-old girl says the cops pulled up alongside her asked as she walked along Vermont one night. Bundled up in her boyfriend’s jacket to stave off the chilly air, she didn’t realize that they were actually talking to her until she heard one grumble, “Fucking Mexican!” and repeat […]

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