On Feb. 26, Senior Vice President for University Relations Samuel Garrison went to Capitol Hill to celebrate some of the most politically prominent USC alumni through the launch of the Congressional Trojan Caucus — what USC has called the first university-based caucus in Congress.
President Carol Folt, multiple California representatives, other Washington alumni and its five inaugural members — all USC alumni — gathered inside Rayburn House Office Building to celebrate the launch.
“It was a really happy and joyful atmosphere,” Garrison said. “We had a lot of people who knew each other [and] who were meeting each other for the first time.”
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The current caucus includes Reps. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Nanette Díaz Barragán, D-Calif., Young Kim, R-Calif. and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif — with Kim and Kamlager-Dove serving as co-chairs of the caucus.
“My time at USC profoundly shaped my life, and I’m deeply grateful for all the opportunities it provided,” said Kamlager-Dove in a press release from Kim’s office. “I’m excited to lead this bipartisan Caucus alongside Rep. Kim, working together to uplift Trojans both in DC and at home.”
Kim wrote to the Daily Trojan that she had previously worked with fellow Trojans on coronavirus response, addressing homelessness and a resolution calling for the release of a public defender detained in Venezuela among other issues.
“The common bond of being USC alumni has helped us collaborate across the aisle in Congress and on issues critical to California,” Kim wrote.
Garrison said in addition to briefings for Congressmembers generally, his team will invite and connect with the Congressional Trojan Caucus as they bring USC experts to Capitol Hill to speak on their research. He said recently University-affiliated experts had spoken about veteran-focused programs as well as research on cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. He said USC wanted to have its next briefing including the caucus members later in the spring.
“We had this launch event, and now we’re going to work on how we can develop some programming, but it may take a little bit of time, but we’re going to continue to engage and communicate,” Garrison said.
Kamy Akhavan, managing director at the Center for the Political Future, said the caucus may help the University play “defense” on its aims in Washington.
“It’s also quite useful if you want to keep your university out of the headlines, keep it away from perhaps getting in trouble with the current administration,” Akhavan said. “It helps to have friends on the inside who could say, ‘Well, Mr. President, USC is doing such great things. Why don’t you go find someone else to focus on?’”
Among the issues that matter to the University and its network of healthcare facilities, Garrison listed “higher education policy, research and program funding, immigration and visas, healthcare and hospital funding, and federal decisions that impact [Los Angeles], Southern California and California as a state.”
In addition to presenting USC research, Garrison and Akhavan said the caucus is part of USC’s efforts to connect students with internships in Washington. Under President Carol Folt, the University has expanded its footprint in Washington. In 2023, it opened its Capital Campus.
“The purpose is to bring the entire Trojan community on Capitol Hill together in a bipartisan manner, with really three goals,” Garrison said. “To connect with each other and meet each other, hear the latest from faculty and research experts and to connect USC students with internship and career opportunities.”
In her responses, Kim also wrote that the caucus would itself hold events and networking opportunities for alumni.
“These gatherings will provide a platform for open dialogue, allowing us to share ideas and work collectively on key issues impacting California and educational institutions,” Kim wrote. “Through these efforts, we aim to build strong partnerships and drive meaningful, bipartisan change.”
At present the caucus consists only of alumni, but Garrison said he welcomes anyone who supports USC and wants to be a member of the caucus, though those decisions are up to Kamlager-Dove and Kim.
USC does not have any official relationship to the caucus, but Garrison said USC was “very happy that this formed.”
Garrison said Kim and Kamlager-Dove had been talking of forming a caucus for a year. He wrote in an email that the caucus follows the formation of a similar caucus in Sacramento.
Akhavan said the caucus does not create any required responsibility by its members toward the University but is still noteworthy.
“That’s the nature of many caucuses where it’s just a voluntary association, and that’s that’s all that this really is,” Akhavan said. “I don’t want to underplay that, because this particular caucus is bipartisan, [which], in itself, is remarkable.”
