As the new freshman class arrived on campus with families and belongings in tow, USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Mrs. Niki C. Nikias, and USC Board of Trustees chair John Mork (left center, second row) greeted the incoming Trojans in front of Birnkrant Residence Hall.
“USC is a place today where 53,000 applicants competed for 2,700 spots in the freshman class,” President Nikias told the sea of enthusiastic faces during convocation ceremony, part of the week-long program of activities known as Welcome Week. “We searched far and wide to find you. … So if you feel very special to be here today, I’ve got news for you — it’s because you are!”
Nikias challenged the incoming class to redefine literacy as a fluency of the powers of imagination, the arts and literature, world cultures, digital media and most importantly, of ethics. The president concluded his uplifting speech with instructions on “a simple gesture” that all Trojans know.
“No matter where you are in the world,” he said, “whether you are walking along the streets of Los Angeles or in the heart of New York City or Mumbai or London or Shanghai or the island of Santorini, if you recognize another Trojan, you flash the victory sign and say: ‘Fight on!’”