Readers React: Some people have already made up their mind about USC’s C.L. Max Nikias. That’s a big mistake

To the editor: I respectfully disagree with your editorial, “USC President Max Nikias should resign.”

The events of last year are still under investigation and we just recently learned about Dr. George Tyndall. If right after each major system failure we had to resort to firing the head of the responsible organization, then why do we need independent investigation agencies such the National Transportation Safety Board, for example?

As a person who has participated in several recent high-profile investigations, including those of the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010 and the Fukushima catastrophe in 2011, I observed that our panels came to conclusion only after gathering and analyzing all the facts and deliberating carefully.

However, you and some of my USC colleagues have already made up your minds. You write, “We see little evidence that such cultural change is underway” at USC. Why? Culture change at a large organization is a difficult, slow process.

Let’s hope that all of us can follow St. Augustine’s advice: “Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance. Let us not, on either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth. Let us seek it together as something which is known to neither of us. For then only may we seek it, lovingly and tranquilly, if there be no bold presumption that it is already discovered and possessed.”

Najmedin Meshkati, Los Angeles

The writer is a professor of engineering and international relations at USC.

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To the editor: As a loyal Trojan, I am disappointed (I’ve been around too long to be shocked) that the USC Board of Trustees did not move immediately to dismiss President C.L. Max Nikias.

I have felt this way since the disclosure a year back of the behavior of the former medical school dean, Dr. Carmen Puliafito, his legendary fundraising abilities notwithstanding. If the ship runs into an iceberg, the captain is held accountable whether or not he is physically at the helm.

One USC professor has been quoted as saying that yelling at the public works director does not fix a pothole. But who, exactly, should ultimately be held responsible for the condition of the streets if not the public works director?

Patrick I. O’Donnell, Yorba Linda

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To the editor: After reading Nikias’ 20-page action plan for reforming USC’s culture, I’m inclined to give his administration a chance to implement it.

Booting him out is no panacea. The Trojan devil we know may prove better than the devil we don’t. All eyes remain on Nikias. He knows he’s being held accountable.

As a full-tuition-paying USC parent, I have some Trojan-parent “cup of coffee” advice for Nikias: Spend the summer soul-searching about how to regain our confidence. We have too much invested in USC, most importantly our precious children, to tolerate anything less than visible, meaningful reform.

And don’t even think about raising tuition or launching another fundraising initiative until the famous Los Angeles sun shines on a cleaner USC.

Sharon Rosen Leib, Solana Beach

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