USC announced Wednesday that former federal prosecutor and university general advisor Beong-Soo Kim has been appointed interim president, and current leader Carol Folt will be leaving her position at the end of June. did.
Kim, in her role as a general counsel, was victimized by campus gynecologist George Tindahl, who was the biggest sexual abuse payment in the history of higher education through a crisis that includes a billion-dollar settlement in 2021. This led to a crisis. Last spring, he advised Folto that she had tackled the chaos surrounding pro-Palestinian behaviorism and canceled the launch event.
He will be at the helm at the USC during budget shortages, labor conflicts and uncertainty as President Trump threatens to punish protesters on campus and to punish Lille at so-called elite, “Marxist” universities.
Announcing the decision in a campus-wide letter on Wednesday, Councillors Chairperson Suzanne Nora Johnson and Vice-Chairman David C. Bonnett praised Kim, who has been working at USC since 2020. Academic research and medical companies, and athletics programs. ”
“He also has a deep commitment to the academic, research and healthcare missions of the university and our aspirations for excellence in everything we do,” the letter said.
“He has developed strong relationships with deans, faculty and staff across USC and Keck Medicine, and has earned everyone’s respect,” it continues.
“To devote all his efforts to being a loyal steward of USC’s work and responsibility throughout this transition,” Johnson and Beaunet said, Kim will not be considered beyond the interim role. . They said a temporary replacement for USC’s top lawyer will be announced at a later date.
USC has also established a 20-person Presidential Search Committee co-chaired by retired AT&T executive Carmen Nava and venture capitalist Mark Stevens. The committee includes 11 trustees in addition to Thornton School of Music’s faculty, staff and one student.
There is no deadline to choose a new president, and Kim has no end date for his interim position.
Kim, 52, previously worked as a vice president and assistant user counsel for Kaiser Permanente and as a partner at Jones Day’s law firm. He worked for the US Lawyer in Los Angeles for nearly nine years until 2012. Previously, he was a USC auxiliary Law Professor.
Beong-Soo plays his cello on his pouch at his home in Pasadena.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Kim, the amateur musician covered by the Times when he performed an improvised pandemic-era cello concert from the Pasadena Porch, has a reputation for being gentle and cerebral, and is aware of the complexities of running a university. Masu.
During his time at USC, he was at the forefront of addressing complex university issues, including the Varsity Blues admissions scandal, reforms to athletic clubs, and fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. He also provided lawyers during his school’s Big Ten travel to address the changing regulatory environment for students’ athletics.
John Manley, an Orange County lawyer who represented dozens of Tyndale sexual abuse victims, said he dealt with Kim in a “positive” way through an intermediary.
“He came in the middle of the lawsuit and was his idea? [former Board Chair] Rick Caruso, they solved it – it’s positive,” Manly said. Manly believed that USC would recognize and pay accordingly the harm to Tyndall patients, but he, like other institutions, still faced with a culture where people can see as issues that raise concerns. He said he is doing it. Kim said, “We have the opportunity to change that culture as president and should.”
As USC enters a new era, Kim and the future permanent president are facing increasing challenges for campus and higher education. There was widespread dissatisfaction about sector cuts and employment freezes. The university saw the uproar after reducing long-standing profits of free tuition fees for the families of employees who had been working for over 15 years. USC is also challenging unionization drives between thousands of auxiliary, part-time, and non-tenure-track faculty.
In November, Foult announced that she would resign as president and remain at USC as a tenured professor.
Her future has been a problem since July when USC trustees said they had extended their five-year contract but did not disclose the length or terms. Folt began his term as president on July 1, 2019. This began with a mission to rebuild USC’s reputation after the scandalized presidency of CL “Max” Nikias, who resigned a year ago. Her contract compensated Fault at the same level as Nikias.
Folt’s presidency was characterized by an expansion of the program in computing, health sciences, track and field, financial aid and student well-being. Among them was a $100 million effort to further calculate USC-wide computing through new schools of new advanced computing and other programs.
She takes pride in her actions in order to deal with racist chapters in university history.
Under FOLT, USC was awarded an honorary degree to Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War II, denied the opportunity to continue their research at USC. She also stripped eugenicist Rufus von Kleinsmid of the prominent building and renamed it after Native American leader Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow. He celebrated Holocaust survivors with a university medallion.
Source link
