ENGLISH 176: LOS ANGELES: THE CITY, THE NOVEL THE MOVIE

Fall 2016
THH 201 M,W 10:00:-11:50, + discussion section
Prof. Thomas Gustafson
Office: THH 402C, email: Thomasg@usc.edu
Office Hours: M 12-1, T 2-3, and by appointment
Cell Phone: 310-722-8447
Course Description:
Los Angeles has been mocked as a city 500 miles wide and two inches deep. It is
famous for its movies and music, but critics claim that it lacks cultural depth. This course
seeks to prove otherwise. The region of Southern California has a remarkably rich
literary heritage extending deep into its past, and over the past two decades, Los Angeles
has become a pre-eminent center of literary creativity in the United States, the home of a
new generation of writers whose work address questions and concerns of special
significance as we confront the problems of 21st century urban America including
environmental crises, social inequality, and problems associated with uprootedness,
materialism and racism or ethnic conflict. Study of the literature of this region can help
perform one of the vital roles of education in a democracy and in this urban region
famous for its fragmentation and the powerful allure of the image: It can teach us to
listen more carefully to the rich mix of voices that compose the vox populi of Los
Angeles, and thus it can help create a deeper, broader sense of our common ground.
So often LA is represented in our movies and our music as a place of superficial,
drive-by people: on our freeways, we pass each other by, silently, wordlessly, insulated
in our cars, or we are stuck in the same jam, our mobility a dream, or we crash into each
other, carelessly or in rage. Our cars and the freeways, once the means for connecting us
more quickly to each other are now our source of congestion, pollution, gridlock. The
literature of Los Angeles at its best gets us out of these jams and off our freeways and
away from tourist sites and beyond the Westside and underneath the surface. It lets us
know that Los Angeles is more than the pathologies represented by its trademark crime
fiction, and it offers us a street-wise sense of our neighborhoods, a slow and careful
means to study our cultural geography. It gives us a special topography that includes not
just the clichd high and lowsthe Beverly Hills of 90210 and the South Los Angeles
of Menace II Society. It is also a literature that can dig at us, making us more aware of
our own foundations, our own connections to our common ground and the labor and
politics and dispossessions and entrepreneurship that have transformed it from El Pueblo
de la Nuestra Seniora Reina de Los Angeles to an L.A. crowned as the entertainment
capital of the world and the capital of the Pacific Rim.
Los Angeles is a place dominated by in our imaginations by the look, the eye, the gaze
of the camera, the representations of our visual culture. F. Scott Fitzgerald, when he lived
and worked in Hollywood in the 1930s, expressed fear and loathing that the novel was
being supplanted by the film as the pre-eminent medium of American art. But this fear
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that Los Angeles would be the death of the creative word is just another false apocalyptic
scenario for this city that so embraces apocalypse. It has long been the home of
remarkably creative words, a place where Shakespeare, Austen and Bible stories and the
classics of Western culture have been continually resurrected and reconfigured to tell
parables for a new day and age, and where new classics (an oxymoron befitting Los
Angeles) have been created by its writers who have found a home and voice here. We
will also see how and why writers in this city have re-invoked biblical parables and
lessons from the classics (such as those taught by Socrates in The Republic) to pronounce
about the soul of LA or prophesy its fate or they have composed new sermons and
dramatic dialogues to save us from the cave of delusion so our gaze will not settle on
shadows on the wall but be redirected inside ourselves and out into the streets.
Los Angeles has its genesis in exodus: People looking for opportunity, a new start, a
new Eden, a garden world, a Promised land, moved here from elsewhere. But here is
where we all ran into each other in acts of friction and fusion. We will focus on the past,
present and future of such collisions and mergers. And we will wonder: What does Los
Angeles literature ask of us now: Can we all get along? Can we learn how to merge
rather than crash? Can we overcome the perils of Babel? Can we cure a willful amnesia
about our past? At the end of the course, you tell me.
Course Objectives:
(1) To develop critical skills for studying literary and artistic texts including film, art and
music
(2) To develop students' historical perspective on the events, issues, conflicts and
traditions that have shaped the image and history of L.A.
(3) To develop each student's voice in writing and speech and their capacity to listen to
and learn from the rich mix of voices that composes Southern California (and the world)
(4) To appreciate various works of Los Angeles literature and culture as complex
responses to visions of this city as a locus of hope, freedom, justice, and of the good life
(5) To gain a better sense of the importance of place and region in shaping who we are
(6) To become more at home in this city and more curious about it by studying its
literature, culture, and history
(7) To take joy and insight in recognizing the power of the word and the resources of the
literary imagination unaccompanied by picture or sound;
(8) To recognize that the real world is not just the world denominated by terms such as
GNP, GPA, MCAT, E=MC but the worlds of our imagination and heart.

Texts:
James Cain, Mildred Pierce
Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man
Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
Yxta Maya Murray, Locas
Budd Schulberg, What Makes Sammy Run?
Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust
Karen Yamashita, The Tropic of Orange
Keynotes:
Italo Calvino, from Invisible Cities (1972): Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and
fears.
Jonathan Raban, from Soft City (1988): The city as we imagine it, the soft city of illusion, myth,
aspiration, nightmare is as real, maybe more real, than the hard city one can locate on maps in
statistics, in monographs on urban sociology an demography and architecture.. The cityis
soft, amenable to a dazzling libidinous variety of lives, dreams, interpretations.
I. PREVIEW: LOS ANGELES GENESIS--SALES PITCHES, SCRIPTS
SERMONS, AND OTHER ACTS OF VERBAL CREATION
M 8/22

Charles Lummis, excerpt from Letters from the Southwest

Mary Austin, excerpt from Earth Horizons
Dana W. Bartlett, excerpt from The Better City
Paul Jordan, excerpt from Ballyhooers in Heaven
Listening: Frank Sinatra, LA is My Lady
The Doors, L.A. Woman (music video)
Randy Newman, I Love LA
Ozomatli, City of Angels
War, LA Sunshine
X, Los Angeles
Viewing: Excerpt, LA Confidential
Excerpt, Malcolm X

II. APOCALYPSES AND REVELATIONS, or THE FIRE THIS TIME (AND

BEFORE): LOS ANGELES, 1992, 1965, 1943, 1871

W 8/24

Christopher Isherwood, "California is a Tragic Country" (Blackboard)

Antonio Villaraigosa (former Mayor of LA), excerpts from Inaugural
Address (2005) (Blackboard)
Anna Deavere Smith, excerpt from Talk to Me (Blackboard)
Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (begin with Time
Line at the end and then read the Introduction and pp. 1-186)
Viewing: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (excerpts)
Listening: Natalie Merchant, San Andreas Fault
Guns N Roses, Welcome to the Jungle

M 8/29

Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (pp. 187-256)

Chuck D (of Public Enemy), interview, Louder Than a Bomb (Blackboard)
Paul Yung, Who is My Neighbor? (Blackboard)
James M. Lawson, A Call to Be Accountable (Blackboard)
Richard Rodriguez, Horizontal City (handout) (Blackboard)
Elaine H. Kim, excerpt from Home is Where the Han Is: A Korean
American Perspective on the Los Angeles Upheavals (Blackboard)
Joseph Wambaugh, excerpt from Hollywood Station (on the Rodney King
Beating) (Blackboad).
Robert D. Peterson, excerpt from The Sounds of Struggle: Looking
Back on the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising Through Music
Bill Bradley, The Real Lesson of L.A. (Blackboard)
Voices in Harmony with Anna Deavere Smith: Adam Phillips and Barbara
Taylor and Arthur Miller on Empathy (Blackboard)
Viewing: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (excerpts)
American History X (excerpt)
Strange Days (excerpt)
Bulworth excerpt
Optional: Uprising: Hip Hop and the LA Riot (YouTube)

W 8/31

Sonora McKeller, "Watts--Little Rome" (Blackboard)

Alvin A. Saxon, Watts (Blackboard)
Joseph Wambaugh, excerpts from The New Centurions (Blackboard)
Joseph Wambaugh, The Watts Riot: Inside the Unrest, from the
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LA Times Op-Ed, August 2015 (Blackboard)

Robin D.G. Kelley, Watts: Remember the Society They Built, Not What
They Burned (Blackboard)
Al Waxman, The Zoot Suit Riot (Blackboard)
John Weaver, "War on the Zoot-Suiters" (Blackboard)
P.S. Dorney, "Lynching the Chinese" (Blackboard)
Cecilia Rasmussen, Early Developers Monument [on Robert P.
Widney] (Blackboard)
Cecelia Rasmussen, Forgotten Hero from a Night of Disgrace [on
Emil Harris] (Blackboard)
Jean Pfaelzer, Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese
Americans, excerpt from Chapter 2 on 1871 riot in L.A. (Blackboard)
Scott Zesch, Prologue from The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and
the Massacre of 1871 (blackboard)
Cecelia Rasmussen, Shaman and Freedom Fighters Led Indian
Mission Revolt (Blackboard)
John Fante, One-Play Oscar (Blackboard)
Read at least one of the following profiles of a place in Los Angeles:
--Timothy Fong, First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey
Park (Blackboard)
--Robert Fogelson, excerpt on Palos Verdes from Bourgeois
Nightmares (Blackboard)
--Gustavo Arellano, excerpt from Orange Country, A Personal
History
--Sandra Tsing Loh, excerpt from Depth Takes a Holiday on Van
Van Nuys and Canoga Park
--Douglas Coupland, excerpt from Brentwood Notebook
Viewing: Excerpts from:
How the West Was Won (1962)
Falling Down (1992)
Menace II Society (1993)
Rush Hour (1998)
PBS Documentary on Zoot Suit Riot
and Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial
LA Confidential (1997)
New Centurions (excerpt)
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Crazy/Beautiful (excerpt)
Listening: Mothers of Invention, Trouble Every Day
M 9/5 Labor Day Holiday
III. FAULT-LINES: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN LOS ANGELES AND
USC
W 9/7

Howd We Get Here (Timeline of L.A. History) (Blackboard)

Upton Sinclair, Chapter 1 (The Ride) and opening of Chapter 10
(The University) from Oil! (Blackboard)
Kevin Starr, excerpt from Material Dreams: Southern California
in the 1920s (Blackboard)
J. P. Widney, excerpt from The Three Americas (Blackboard)
J. Alexander Somerville, excerpt from Man of Color (Blackboard)
Excerpt from Memories of Chicano History: The Life and Narrative
of Bert Corona (Blackboard)
Frances Dinkelspiel, excerpt from Tower of Gold (on Isaias
Hellman) (Blackboard)
Steven B. Sample, excerpt from The University of Southern California
at 125: Inventing the Future Since 1880 (Blackboard)
Kevin Starr and Cecelia Rasmussen, excerpts from LA
Unconventional (Blackboard)
Los Angeles literature and USC (Blackboard)
Viewing:

Excerpt from opening of LA Confidential

Excerpt from PBS Documentary on The West on the
Los Angeles Aqueduct
Chinatown

F 9/9
M 9/12

First Research Project (Detective/Scavenger Hunt) Due by 4 pm (place in

box outside of my office if I am not in my office)
Chester Himes, Lunching at the Ritzmore (Blackboard)
Chester Himes, Chapter 1 and 2 from If He Hollers, Let Him Go
(Blackboard)
Robert Carson, excerpt from The Outsiders (Blackboard)
Morrow Mayo, The Rape of the Owens Valley (Blackboard)
Robert Towne, Preface and Postscript to Chinatown (Blackboard)
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Viewing: Chinatown (cont.)

IV. METAMORPHOSIS: LOS ANGELES AS CRUCIBLE
W 9/14

Perspectives on Los Angeles: A Chronology of Verbal Images of the

City and Region (Blackboard)
Carey McWilliams, excerpt from Southern California: Island on the
Land (Blackboard)
Ray Bradbury, "Los Angeles is the Best Place in America"
(Blackboard)
John Gregory Dunne, excerpt from Eureka! (Blackboard)
Wanda Coleman, "L.A.: Love Cry" (Blackboard)
Jimmy Santiago Baca, excerpt from LA, Ese (Blackboard)
Lynell George, Native to the Place (Blackboard)
Kevin Starr, Los Angeles in the World. The World in Los Angeles
(Blackboard)
Steven Sample, Los Angeles: The Capital of the Pacific Rim
(Blackboard)
Joan Didion, Los Angeles Notebook and Holy Water from The
White Album (Blackboard)
Mike Davis, "Why L.A. is a Synonym for Disaster" (Blackboard)
James Ellroy, excerpt from Bad Boys in Tinseltown (Blackboard)
John Rechy, Sure, L.A., Is a ClichLet Us Count the Ways
(Blackboard)
Viewing: Excerpts from Shotgun Freeway: Drives Thru Lost LA
Listening: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Under the Bridge
Nels Cline with Devin Sarno, Buried on Bunker Hill
The Eagles, The Last Resort

V. WHAT IS JUSTICE? A SOCRATIC INQUIRY IN THE CITY-STATE OF

LOS ANGELES
M 9/19

Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (pp. 1-109)

Walter Mosley, Profile (Blackboard)
Walter Mosley, Working on the Chain Gang (Blackboard)
Walter Mosley, What We Forget about Watts (2005) (Blackboard
Viewing: Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
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W 9/21

Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

(pp. 110-208)
Excerpt on The Aquarian Bookstore (the model for The Capricorn
Bookstore) (Blackboard)
Walter Mosley, The Realization of a Writer (Blackboard) and
Viewing: Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

M 10/3 First Paper Due by 10:00 am

V. HOLLYWOOD BABYLON, OR BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN
Michael Tolkin, excerpt from The Player (handout in class)
Viewing: Excerpt from Los Angeles Plays Itself
Excerpt from Sullivans Travels
Excerpt from Purple Rose of Cairo
W 10/5

Budd Schulberg, What Makes Sammy Run? (Chapters 1-4)

Viewing: Excerpts from Sullivans Travels or The Purple Rose of
Cairo

M 10/10

Budd Schulberg, What Makes Sammy Run? (Chapters 5-12)

Budd Schulberg, excerpt from The Writer in Hollywood
(Blackboard)
Viewing: Sullivans Travels or Purple Rose of Cairo
Excerpt from What Makes Sammy Run?

W 10/12

John Fante, excerpt from Ask the Dust (Blackboard)

Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust (Chapters 1-9, pp. 59-88)
Morris Dickstein, Moved by Art (Blackboard)
Neal Gabler, The Greatest Show on Earth (Blackboard)
Listening: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication,
Viewing: Excerpt from A Star is Born (excerpt)

M 10/17

Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust (Chapters 10-19, pp. 89-142)
Viewing: The Day of the Locust (excerpt)

W 10/19

Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust (Chapters 20-27, pp. 143-185)
Ian Buruma, excerpt from Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of
Its Enemies (Blackboard)
Eve Babitz, excerpt from Eves Hollywood (Blackboard)
Ethel Person, excerpt on fantasy from Dreams of Love and Other
Fateful Encounters: The Power of Romantic Passion (Blackboard)
Viewing: The Day of the Locust (excerpt)
Grand Canyon (excerpt)
Singin in the Rain (excerpt)
The Mirror has Two Faces (excerpt)

M 10/26

Midterm Quiz
Take Home Midterm Due
Viewing:

Excerpt, The Mirror Has Two Faces

Excerpt from Singin in the Rain

VIII. THE RISE OF SUBURBAN LOS ANGELES AND THE FALL FROM THE
GARDEN
W 10/28

James Cain, excerpt from Paradise (Blackboard)

James Cain, Mildred Pierce (Chapters 1-4)
Viewing: Mildred Pierce (HBO)
Mildred Pierce

M 10/31

James Cain, Mildred Pierce (Chapters 5-9)

Viewing:

W 11/2

Mildred Pierce

James Cain, Mildred Pierce (Chapters 10-17)

Viewing: Mildred Pierce
Dragnet, The Big Seventeen

IX. BACK TO A BROWNER L.A.: THE BORDERLANDS/LA FRONTERA

W 11/2

Yxta Maya Murray, Locas (pp. 1-126, Part 1)

Viewing: Quinceanera

M 11/7 Yxta Maya Murray, Locas (pp. 129-222, Part 2)

Viewing: Quinceanera
W 11/9

Yxta Maya Murray, Locas (pp. 225-248, Part 3)

Celeste Fremon, Homegirls, a review of Locas (Blackboard)
Father Greg Boyle, selected chapters from Tattoos from the Heart
(Blackboard)
Viewing: Father Greg Boyle Address
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu
Luis Rodriguez, My Ride, My Revolution, Oiga and
Sometimes You Dance with Watermelons from The Republic of
East LA (Blackboard)
Viewing: Excerpt from Born in East LA
Excerpt from Bread & Roses
Listening: War, East LA
Quetzal, Our Home

X. LISTENING TO BABEL, OR HOW TO MAP POST-MODERN LOS

ANGELES
M 11/14

Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange (pp. 1-93)

Thomas Gustafson, Introduction for Karen Yamashita (Blackboard)
Mapping Los Angeles (Maps of LA available on internet)
(Blackboard)
Maps from The Ethnic Quilt: Population Diversity in Southern
California (Blackboard)
Viewing: Dogtown and the Z Boys
LA Now

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Listening: Ozomatli, Embrace the Chaos

W 11/16

Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange (pp. 94-205)

Viewing: Whats Cooking

M 11/21

Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange (pp. 206-270)

Theodore Zeldin, excerpt on The Future of Networking (Blackboard)
Viewing:Whats Cooking

T 11/22
W 11/23

Second Paper Due by 4 pm

Thanksgiving Holiday

XI. BODIES AND SOULS: EROS AND REDEMPTIVE LOVE IN L.A.

M 11/28

Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man (pp. 1-93)

Excerpts on LA artists on Los Angeles, from State of the Arts:
California Artists Talk about their Work, ed. Barbara Isenberg
(Blackboard)
Kevin Starr, Optional: Introduction to Discover Los Angeles: A
Guide to LAs Rich and Varied Cultural Life (Blackboard)
Viewing: Excerpt, LA Story
Excerpt, LA Now

W 11/30

Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man (pp. 93-186)

Richard Rodriguez, Remembering the Riot: Los Angeles 2042

(Blackboard)
D. J. Waldie and other LA writers on LA literature, from LA
Times (Blackboard)
Viewing: Excerpt, The Big Lebowski
Excerpt, LA Story
Listening: Phil Ochs, The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los
Angeles
The Eagles, The Last Resort
The Doors, The End
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F 12/2

Extra Credit Research Project due by 4 pm (place in box outside of

my office)

M 12/12

Final Exam Quiz: 11 am-12 pm

M 12/12

Take Home Final Exam Due: 11:00 am

Course Policies:
This syllabus is subject to revision, including adding some short supplementary
readings (but examinations will only cover material specified on the syllabus). I will try
to notify you in advance of each class the specific readings or chapters that will be the
focus for the next class.
Regular attendance is expected and participation in class discussion is strongly
encouraged. Attendance, class participation and short commentaries on the reading due
at the beginning of each class will account for approximately 20% of your grade. The
commentaries, which can be handwritten, should be some form of intelligent response to
the reading, and each response should include a favorite sentence or passage from the
assigned reading for the day. The commentaries can also include questions about the
reading or reflections linking personal experiences to something in the reading. These
commentaries will not be graded, but completion of each commentary will count for
approximately 1 point. Late commentaries will not be accepted except in the case of
illness or excused absence. During each class, I will also ask students to respond to at
least one question of mine during lecture with a short answer that should be included on
the paper containing your paragraph response. To gain credit for a paragraph response,
the response must include the answer to the question for the day. Do not plagiarize these
responses.
SEVEN OR MORE UNEXCUSED ABSENCES (measured by failure to turn in a
paragraph response) COULD RESULT IN A FAILURE FOR THE COURSE
REGARDLESS OF THE STUDENT'S PERFORMANCE ON PAPERS AND EXAM.
Two written essays will account for approximately 30% of your grade. The first paper
will take the form of an interview project and report based on the example of Smith's
Twilight. The second paper will be a critical essay (5 pages in length). Several
suggestions for paper topics for the second paper will be handed out.
Papers must be typed and should be stapled. Please make and retain copies of each
paper. Include name of teaching assistant on the title page. Papers should be doublespaced unless otherwise noted. Late assignments will lose a half grade for each class day
late, and they will receive very minimal commentary when graded.

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Writing assignments for the course will also include completing a research project,
which will take the form of doing something of a scavenger hunt of the USC campus or
downtown LA.
You also have the option of doing a 4 point extra credit research project that will
involve writing brief reviews of four songs about Los Angeles in relation to the
assignments for the class, or doing a food review of several restaurants.
The midterm and the final exam will account for approximately 30% of your grade.
Both of these exams will be take-home projects that will take the form of an anthology
composed of quotations and commentaries on the texts assigned for the course.
Two short quizzes, each worth 5 points, will be given at the middle of the semester
and at the time appointed for the final exam. These quizzes will take the form of a
combination of very short fill in the blank questions and multiple choice questions. The
questions will involve identification of quotations or questions about key aspects of a
text. The questions will be easy to answer if the texts have been read and will involve
identifying quotations and events from the text that will be highlighted in lectures.
You are more than welcome to attend my office hours at any time or make an
appointment to see me. The best way to contact me outside of the classroom or office
hours is through email, but do not depend on a quick response to an email, as I receive
too many to guarantee a quick response. I will try to respond to each email I receive, but
this may be impossible.
FAILURE TO COMPLETE THREE PAPERS OR FAILURE TO COMPLETE THE
MIDTERM OR FINAL WILL RESULT IN AN F FOR THE COURSE. STUDENT
CONDUCT CODES REGARDING PLAGIARISM AS EXPLAINED IN SCAMPUS
WILL BE RIGOROUSLY ADHERED TO IN THIS COURSE
Grading Breakdown:
Attendance, participation, and paragraph responses: 20 points (15 for lecture and 5 for
discussion sections)
First Research Project: 10 points
First Paper/Interview Project: 16 points
Take Home Midterm: 15 points
Midterm Exam/Quiz: 5 points
Second Paper: 12 points
Final Exam/Quiz: 5 points
Take Home Final Exam 17 points
Extra Credit Research Project: 4 points

Laptop and Cell Phone Policy:

1

Cell phone use is not permitted during class.

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Laptop use is not permitted during class. (If students have bought online versions of
the texts, they must sit in the front row of the classroom.)

Studies have shown that notetaking for a class is more effective when students take
handwritten notes that highlight key points in the lecture rather than notes on a laptop that
attempt to transcribe a lecture. The first type of notetaking requires more active listening.
Note: Students should bring to the classroom the book or books assigned for the course on
the days when material from those books is being discussed and examined in lecture.

Statement on Academic Conduct and Support Systems

Plagiarism presenting someone elses ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in
your own words is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please
familiarize yourself with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Section 11,
Behavior Violating University Standardshttps://scampus.usc.edu/1100-behaviorviolating-university-standards-and-appropriate-sanctions/. Other forms of academic
dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See additional information in SCampus and
university policies on scientific misconduct, http://policy.usc.edu/scientific-misconduct/.
Discrimination, sexual assault, and harassment are not tolerated by the university. You
are encouraged to report any incidents to the Office of Equity and Diversity
http://equity.usc.edu/ or to the Department of Public Safety
http://capsnet.usc.edu/department/department-public-safety/online-forms/contact-us.
This is important for the safety whole USC community. Another member of the
university community such as a friend, classmate, advisor, or faculty member can
help initiate the report, or can initiate the report on behalf of another person. The Center
for Women and Men http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/cwm/ provides 24/7 confidential
support, and the sexual assault resource center webpage sarc@usc.edu describes
reporting options and other resources.
Support Systems
A number of USCs schools provide support for students who need help with scholarly
writing. Check with your advisor or program staff to find out more. Students whose
primary language is not English should check with the American Language Institute
http://dornsife.usc.edu/ali, which sponsors courses and workshops specifically for
international graduate students. The Office of Disability Services and Programs
http://sait.usc.edu/academicsupport/centerprograms/dsp/home_index.htmlprovides
certification for students with disabilities and helps arrange the relevant accommodations.
If an officially declared emergency makes travel to campus infeasible, USC Emergency
Information http://emergency.usc.edu/will provide safety and other updates, including

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ways in which instruction will be continued by means of blackboard, teleconferencing,

and other technology.

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