USC President Carol Folt to retire after calming scandals and drawing protest criticism

Nov. 8, 2024 11 AM PT

USC President Carol Folt, who sought to reset the scandal-plagued university with major initiatives to boost athletics, expand computing programs and widen student access — but also drew criticism for her handling of pro-Palestinian protests — will retire in July, she announced Friday.

“After more than twenty years of leadership at three great universities,” Folt wrote to the USC community, “I am excited to embrace the freedom that comes with a next big leap, and to pass the baton to the next president who will be able to build upon our accomplishments and create a new chapter for this extraordinary institution.”

Folt, 73, will remain at USC as a tenured faculty member. Her future had been in doubt after the USC Board of Trustees in July offered her an extension on her five-year contract — but would not disclose the length or terms — as they reviewed her performance. After she took the helm on July 1, 2019, with a contract that compensated her at the same level as former President Max Nikias, she was expected to serve for at least a decade, Rick Caruso, then USC board chairman, had said at the time.

USC Board of Trustees Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson expressed appreciation for Folt, saying she was hired at “one of the most important moments in the school’s history.” In a letter Friday to the USC community, Johnson praised her leadership skills and “innate ability to connect with community members on a personal level.”

“Her dedication to solving the difficult issues before her — whether past or present — have never impeded her focus on what lies ahead,” Johnson wrote. “Her keen strategic eye towards the future, and the groundbreaking initiatives she has launched as a result, will benefit both the current and next generations of Trojans, and [undoubtedly] contribute to USC’s long-term sustainable excellence.”

Rectifying troubled past on racial justice

Folt said she was proud of her work to expand programs in computing, health sciences, athletics, financial aid and student well-being. She launched a $1-billion plan to expand computing across the university, for instance, with a new School of Advanced Computing as its cornerstone.

Folt also cited “of special significance” her efforts to rectify the university’s checkered past on racial justice — offering honorary degrees to 33 Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II who were denied the chance to continue their USC studies, stripping the name of eugenicist Rufus von KleinSmid from a prominent building and renaming it after Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, a Native American leader, and honoring survivors of the Holocaust with a University Medallion.

“You also helped us rectify deeply painful episodes, restore a tarnished reputation and resolve serious legal issues, drive culture change, and develop new policies to ensure the safety and well-being of our community,” she wrote to the USC community.

Folt was hired with an overriding mandate to restore trust in the university, which had been rocked by one scandal after another. She replaced key administrators and brokered a $1-billion settlement with alumnae victimized by a sexually abusive gynecologist.

The first woman to lead USC since its 1880 founding, Folt also worked to open access to more low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students of color. In one of her most highly touted initiatives, Folt directed USC to eliminate tuition for families earning $80,000 or less annually and no longer consider home equity in financial aid calculations. The estimated annual cost to attend USC for 2024-25 is $95,225 for students living away from their families.

She drew national attention for prominent moves to reshape USC’s athletics program. That included hiring a nationally renowned head football coach, Lincoln Riley, on a $10-million annual contract — one of the highest salaries in the sport, which is now coming under criticism as USC’s performance falters. She also helped lead the move to the Big Ten that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Pac-12 Conference, and hired Jen Cohen, the first female athletic director at USC.

Censure over spring protests

Those actions were overshadowed this spring by enormous controversy over her handling of pro-Palestinian protests.

In particular, her decision to rescind pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speaking slot in USC’s main commencement ceremony drew widespread outrage. Folt justified the decision by citing unspecified safety threats.

The turmoil escalated when Folt canceled the “main stage” commencement ceremony, depriving students and their families of a treasured ritual. Folt and her team called in police to dismantle a tent encampment that students set up in support of Palestinians, leading to 93 arrests.

She made no public remarks for two weeks, drawing criticism that she was missing in action during the most explosive issue of her tenure.

Such actions cost Folt key faculty support. In May, the USC Academic Senate voted to censure her and Provost Andrew Guzman over their handling of events around commencement. Among the Academic Senate’s 44 members, who represent about 4,500 faculty, 21 supported the censure motion, seven opposed and six abstained.

“Carol was disliked by many different constituencies for many different reasons, though I think up until recently, most faculty, including me, saw her as a breath of fresh air from the prior administration’s ethical lapses,” said Morgan Polikoff, a professor at the Rossier School of Education who was on an academic senate task force that issued a report this fall criticizing the administration’s response to the spring controversies. “Given the budget pressures facing the university and higher education more generally, plus the current political climate, it would not surprise me if someone more conservative or business-oriented was chosen to replace her, but time will tell.”

Folt’s supporters, however, noted that the president had created the new school of advanced computing and boosted mental health services. She also presided over a record number of applicants — 82,000 for fall 2024 — driving down the admission rate to 9.3%, a record low. Admitted students, one-fifth of them the first in their families to attend college, had an average 3.89 GPA.

Under Folt, USC raised more than $800 million in fiscal year 2024, the largest haul in eight years, and its fundraising total the previous year ranked in the top 10 among U.S. research universities, a USC statement said. Research expenditures grew to $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, a 27% increase over four years, according to the emailed statement.

Reshaping school athletics

Within her first six months as president in 2019, Folt set out to reshape USC’s athletic department. She replaced Lynn Swann, a Trojan football hero who resigned as athletic director that September, with Mike Bohn, the first outsider to helm USC athletics in a quarter-century.

But Bohn resigned abruptly last May after The Times sent questions to him and USC regarding his conduct as athletic director and management of the department. In his place, Folt hired Cohen.

On Thursday, Folt announced a $50-million gift for a state-of-the-art Bloom Football Performance Center — part of a $200-million fundraising effort she led, USC said. It is just one of several capital facilities projects currently in the works.