Citing 'escalating tension in modern politics,' USC pulled out of hosting mayoral debate

When high-level USC officials pulled out of hosting a mayoral debate, they cited “the escalating tension in modern politics.”

A triggering event, they said, was a city council meeting days earlier where a citizen angrily confronted the council president and chaos erupted.

After some scrambling, organizers salvaged the debate between Rep. Karen Bass and businessman Rick Caruso. It was moved to the Skirball Cultural Center and is scheduled for Sept. 21.

But USC’s decision shows how precarious a fundamental part of politics has become in Los Angeles, as protesters unhappy with the state of the city have made some would-be debate organizers leery of wading into the fray.

Another debate at Cal State Northridge was recently scrapped, raising questions about whether there will be enough head-to-heads for voters to get to know the two people competing to run the nation’s second-largest city.

As the mayoral race heads into its frantic final months, other factors are also complicating debate scheduling — sporting events like Monday Night Football and the baseball playoffs, as well as Jewish holidays and the perennial challenge of getting the candidates in the same room at the same time.

Those debates that do occur are being held with tighter security and strict rules about reserving a spot in the audience. Gone are the days when a time and place would be announced and any member of the public could show up.

During the primary season, protesters interrupted, and in some cases shut down, numerous candidate forums and debates.

The Aug. 9 city council meeting that sparked fear among USC administrators was far from the only public meeting in L.A. that has been disrupted by protesters angry at city officials’ homeless policies. The ratcheting up of local tensions comes against a national backdrop of political anger that has intensified since the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“These disruptions are more frequent and more intense,” said Fernando Guerra, director of Loyola Marymount University’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

After USC withdrew, LMU and Univision 34 stepped as sponsors of the Sept. 21 debate along with Fox 11, The Times and KPCC.

Guerra weighed in on the decision knowing what he was getting into. During the primary, he hosted a mayoral debate at LMU that was disrupted by protesters who stood up one after another and screamed criticisms at the candidates.

Guerra was initially frustrated that the candidates’ voices were being drowned out. He came to see it as a learning experience for his students.

“It brought to life a lot of what I was talking about in the class,” he said. “It brought to life different ways of political expression, which some people will disagree with.”

The USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, which was organizing the USC general election debate, said in an Aug. 11 email that the decision to pull out was made by “senior administrators.”

The email, which was sent to partner organizations and obtained by the Times, noted that the Dornsife Center “did not make the cancellation decision” but was “bound by it.”

In addition to escalating political tensions and the recent city council meeting, the email cited the cost of security and a shortage of personnel.

The decision, which was reached after a “formal threat assessment,” was also motivated by “the desire to keep potential disruptions at bay,” with students on campus for the fall semester, the email said.

Representatives of the USC administration and the Dornsife Center did not comment for this story.

Caruso, a USC graduate, is a university trustee and former chair of the school’s board. Bass has been criticized by groups supporting Caruso for taking a $95,000 scholarship from USCto pursue a graduate degree in social work while she was in Congress.

During the primary season, the USC Dornsife Center, along with The Times and Fox 11, hosted a debate on the USC campus. It included five candidates and was the only one of the season’s three televised debates to conclude without a major disruption from protesters.

Bass came in first on June 7, besting Caruso by seven percentage points. Recent polling by The Times and UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental found that she has widened her advantage over the businessman to 43%-31% among registered voters, with 24% undecided.

The Sept. 21 debate at Skirball, broadcast by Fox 11 and Univision 34 in front of a live audience, will be the first of the general election season. KNX will host a radio debate on Oct. 6.

Fox 11 anchor Elex Michaelson — who helped organize the Sept. 21 debate and is moderating — said he is excited to have Univision 34 on board to reach Spanish-speaking voters.

“Univision will have a moderator at the table and input about the questions that will be asked at the first and likely biggest debate of the campaign season,” Michaelson said.

The Spanish-language station had been trying to organize its own debate and is still trying to lock one down for Sept. 27.

This week, Caruso sent Bass an open letter decrying her apparent unwillingness to show up.

“It is irresponsible that you would pass up the unique opportunity to connect directly with Latino voters,” he wrote.

Sarah Leonard Sheahan, a Bass spokeswoman, said the congresswoman couldn’t make that date work because of a previously scheduled event.

Bass was “happy to participate in dozens of forums and debates during the primary season, all of which Rick missed except two,” Sheahan said.

Mayola Delgado, a spokeswoman for Univision 34, told The Times that “the invitation to participate in the debate still stands” and that the station is waiting on a response from Bass.

Several other television stations are working to set up debates, but the plans have not been finalized.

Stuart Waldman has been trying to set up a Bass-Caruso conversation spotlighting important issues in the San Fernando Valley.

Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, was in talks with Spectrum News and thought The Soraya, a 1,700-seat theatre Cal-State Northridge’s campus, would be the perfect venue.

This week, according to Waldman, the school said it was a no go.

Nichole Ipach, CSUN’s vice president for university relations and advancement, said the school doesn’t have enough staff to host “such a large and complex event.”

In an email to the Times, she noted that students will be fully in-person this fall for the first time since the pandemic began.

“As a result, our limited staffing resources are keenly focused on supporting our students and important campus events that we have not had the ability to offer since the spring of 2020,” she wrote.

Still, Waldman believes that the disruptions to the spring debates must have played a part in CSUN’s decision. He is still trying to organize his Valley-focused debate.

“It’s sad that you have a handful of people, and their goal is to disrupt and stop people from engaging in debate,” he said. “And they get cheered on by their other disruptors.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.