USC Tradition Bears Changing : Trojans End Hanging of Bruin Effigy That Critics Said Mimicked Lynchings

It’s one of those time-honored USC football traditions: Each year, Trojan students hang a stuffed UCLA Bruin by the neck and torch it at a spirit rally before the big game.

But this year, amid heightened racial tensions in the wake of the O.J. Simpson trial, the tradition has come under attack as racist by a group of black students. They contend that it resembles a public lynching.

So on Thursday evening, as part of a compromise with members of the school’s Black Student Union, USC’s campus spirit committee hanged the giant stuffed animal by the waist--instead of the neck--before burning it later at a night pep rally.

“At a campus like this that is supposed to be dedicated to pluralism, traditions which offend portions of the student body should be ended,” said Black Student Union President Deidre Gantt. “It has no place here.”

The controversy started about two weeks ago, when members of the Black Student Union asked to meet with the Trojan Pride spirit group in an effort to halt the hanging. The students also distributed flyers on campus to rally support. Their handout depicted two pictures: a black man hanging from a tree and a stuffed Bruin hanging from the side of a building at USC.

“The lynched bodies were commonly left hanging for public view and amusement, after which many of the bodies were burned amid celebration and frenzy among the onlookers,” students wrote in the flyer. “This resemblance is offensive and intolerable.”

Students who were in favor of maintaining the traditional hanging responded with an unsigned handout featuring two pictures of the Lincoln Memorial. They wrote: “Lynching of blacks is not, nor was it ever, a tradition! How dare you accuse the people of this institution of being associated with this bigotry?”

Added the flyer: “Get off your high horse and fight for a cause that actually affects black people in America today, instead of riding a free publicity stunt!”

To try to calm the tensions, Trojan Pride and the black students met earlier this week to reach a compromise. The campus chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also organized a discussion session, which drew about 100 students Wednesday night.

At the session, several students criticized the spirit committee for giving in to the black students’ demands. They argued that the school should not change traditions over “trivialities.”

“This is political correctness taken to an absurd degree,” said USC sophomore Jeff Brown at an evening pep rally on campus. “This is football, for God’s sake, not a seminar in race relations.”

Chad Tons, president of the spirit club, defended the committee’s action. “We felt it was not our job to segregate or alienate anyone,” he said. He added, however, “I truly hope that the campus realizes that this is strictly about a football rivalry, not racism.”

Black Student Union President Gantt said she was pleased with the outcome of the talks, adding that the compromise “is a start.”

Since the Simpson verdicts, USC students said they have noticed increased racial tensions on campus. The divisions were made worse by the recent distribution of a flyer calling for whites on campus to rise up against blacks.

Graduate student Leslie Grinner said she was glad the two groups were discussing their differences. “There are just a myriad of issues that are going on at USC right now in regard to race,” she said “At least we’ve started some dialogue.”