by Alicia Di RadoClose your eyes and you can hear the sounds of USC.
Students chatter about their big chemistry test as you cross from Doheny Memorial Library toward Bovard Auditorium. A business major passes by on his skateboard, its wheels clackity-clacking across bricks and pavement. He jumps off the board, grabs it and tucks under his arm as he saunters toward Tutor Center. Off in the distance, notes from the Trojan Marching Band’s practice session hint at the musical lineup for Saturday’s football halftime show.
But that is not what you hear on campus today.
Today, there is mostly silence, save for the buzzing of a lone scientist’s mobile phone, the swishing mop of a custodial worker, the footsteps of a safety officer and the occasional twittering bird. Most of the community that makes the Trojan Family a family is now back in their homes, tucked away in apartments and houses scattered across California and the rest of the nation and world. Only our most-essential staff and faculty members and a small portion of our student body remain.
Our resilience in this COVID-19 pandemic depends on turning usually-bustling places like USC into ghost towns to keep the new coronavirus from spreading. But during this time, the USC you know and remember still remains. It will be ready to call the Trojan Family back when our community emerges again.
You may not be able to step on campus now, but you can walk through it virtually from your computer, smartphone or tablet. May these images from a quiet USC help you to continue to Fight On.
Click on the highlighted image to move through the slide show below.
