See my post below.

Even were it possible to pack up and leave, which it is not, it would be a terrible blow to the area and doom it to further degradation and violence.

Again, I hate to defend SC… but I remember reading quite a bit about how much money they are putting forth with after-school programs, workshops, community improvements. They’re doing something… whether it’s the right thing or whether it’s (or anything) is enough, I cannot say. SC isn’t, and cannot, be solely responsible for an area. They can try, but in the end, they almost have no choice but to build those walls and hire those guards… Think of them as Rome (yeah, yeah… I know) and how they built walls and hired mercenaries. It still wasn’t enough to stave off the inevitable. The physical campus of usc is an island in a very bad area. I can’t defend (most) the people that choose to call themselves trojans. But hey, if they were as smart as we are, they wouldn’t be there to begin with… right? :-)

I don’t disagree with you in your critique of the on campus attitude in the athletic department. The thug mentality comes from within.

But, you are simply wrong about whether the university is reaching out and trying to improve the lot of its neighbors. The law school, the med school and many of the other schools are actively working in the community to make it better. The Western Center on Law and Poverty started when I was in law school and continues, in some form, today. The medical and dental schools have outreach programs.

Way back when I was in law school, there were professors in the Sociology and other departments doing pioneering work on gangs and violence.

And, at the risk of getting flamed here, I’m going to mention the 60 Minutes piece on pc and his work trying to get kids out of gangs and diminish gang violence. I find those efforts impressive and worthwhile. I agree with most, he is a jerk as a coach — but his work with gangs is admirable. Interestingly, no one here has mentioned that piece. I waited and not a word was posted. Yes, we all wanted a piece on the corruption in his football program, but 60 Minutes made clear that the piece was not going to be about football — it was going to be about gangs.

The original post was to simply talk about how the university’s location might be having an impact on player recruitment and retention. I’m sure sc is facing the same deterrent as it tries to improve the quality of its students and faculty.

This situation represents the confluence of many factors — “white flight” from the inner city, over the past 50 years, and the impact that the economic and social problems we face in most inner cities has on the safety of those who live and work there.

Like many inner city campuses in this country, the university has tried to create a safe zone or island. They’ve acquired land surrounding the university, pushed out the original residents, and repopulated it with services and more expensive housing. And, they’ve tried to beef up security. Nationally, that has not worked and there are campuses of very good schools surrounded by gangs and violence.

sc is not creating or furthering these problems.

My complaint is that the thug mentality of the outside is creating and furthering a thug mentality in the athletic department. For that, I blame sc. For the neighborhood’s conditions, I do not.