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University journalism students have been the primary documentarians of campus protests for Gaza, and the resulting crackdowns nationwide. In this episode of Twice as Good, Sara and Mitra sit with Zain Shafi Khan, journalist and leader from University of Southern California’s Annenberg Media. Sara and Mitra connect with Zain over his mission to capture this moment with integrity, and reflect on the stories that swept their campuses as young journalists.
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What is Twice as Good?
A podcast by two media bosses forging a new news landscape. Sara Lomax and Mitra Kalita dive into arts, culture and how the stories we tell change our lives. The two innovators founded URL Media to uplift Black and Brown storytelling, while running their own newsrooms WURD Radio in Philadelphia and Epicenter-NYC in New York City.
[00:00:00] Sara: From URL Media, I'm S. Mitra Kalita. And I'm Sara Lomax, and this is Twice As Good. Today we're featuring the reporting coming from college campuses amidst crackdowns on Gaza actions. Students have continued coverage despite arrests of their peers. administration, negotiations, and finals.
[00:00:25] Mitra: Our guest today is Zain Khan, one of the student leaders from the USC Annenberg newsroom.
[00:00:30] Zain has been covering the encampments around the clock in April up until most recently USC's graduation, which has also been making national news. If you missed it, USC moved to silence the valedictorian Asna Tabassum, the Muslim student who majored in biomedical engineering and minored in resistance to genocide.
[00:00:51] The decision to silence her led to widespread denouncement and then a cancellation of all commencement speakers on the main stage. Zane, we're going to turn it over to you to kick us off. You were covering USC graduation on May 10th, just a few days ago, but I just wanted to catch up our listeners to some of the actions before that day.
[00:01:12] Why did USC cancel your valedictorian speech?
[00:01:17] Zain: Just to give a brief summary, because a lot has happened in these past few weeks, um, on April 4th, the USC announced its valedictorian. The valedictorian is the highest ranking student for each class that graduates. And for this year, the valedictorian that was announced was Asna Tabassum, who is a Muslim valedictorian, a hijabi wearing Muslim valedictorian.
[00:01:38] Shortly after, pro Israeli groups, uh, started a campaign against Tabassum that called her anti Semitic. Um, because of a link in her Instagram bio, uh, the link was a card that sort of explained the background about Israel's apartheid system, uh, and calls for a one state, uh, solution. And based on that, pro Israeli groups sort of called on the university to remove her as valedictorian.
[00:02:05] And this went on for a week. And then, uh, on April 15th, the university sent out a community wide email saying that she will still be a valedictorian, but she will not be seen speaking on commencement. One of the biggest honors of being valedictorian is being able to address your peers, and everybody in attendance, and that was taken away and The reasons for that was security concerns unnamed security concerns We were never told where these security concerns came from and with that the main commencement that usually garners over 65 000 people Was canceled Zain, can you just, um, paint a picture before the decision to not have Asna speak? Were there encampments at USC? Was it a climate of a lot of protest or was this a triggering event?
[00:03:35] I will say that since October 7th, the, the environment on campus has been tense. We've had protests, we've had vigils. And all have been peaceful on both sides. And then we had the valedictorian decision being announced. And that was sort of a huge landmark for Muslim and pro Palestinian voices to be recognized by the university.
[00:03:57] And mind you, all of this was coupled with encampments on a USC campus, just as they've been throughout college campuses in America, and we had police activity on campus three times, once led to violent arrests. The other time the police was on campus and did nothing, uh, but there was over a hundred LAPD vehicles on campus.
[00:04:19] And then the third time we had was the day they actually cleared the encampment. That led to no arrests, but again, we saw over a hundred officers on campus. the encampment started on April 24th.
[00:05:00] And unlike other universities, USC decided to call on the LAPD the day of the encampment starting. And that's when we had over 90 arrests. Almost 60 of whom were students and following that, this last week, we saw suspensions roll out. I believe as of the latest, 29 students have been suspended from the university.
[00:05:20] Sara: I wanted to just go back a little bit, Zane, and what is the process for selecting the valedictorian?
[00:05:27] Zain: Well, first of all, to be eligible to apply for about to be a valedictorian, you would have to have a near 4. 0 GPA. Okay. Okay. Over 200 eligible for it. So once you do that, you have like an essay submission and a round of interviews that's conducted by a committee of faculty members.
[00:05:44] So after that, they narrowed it down to around 100 and then they have interviews and then they have to write a very long essay explaining their service to the community, all of that. And then is when the committee makes a recommendation to the provost of the university. And the provost of the university takes on the recommendation of the committee, which decides who the valedictorian and then the two salutatorians are.
[00:06:07] Sara: So it's a very competitive process. She, she really earned that recognition.
[00:06:13] Zain: I mean, yeah, she did. And even if she wasn't valedictorian, Um, I'm not a STEM major and getting a close to a 4. 0 GPA as a biomedical engineering major is in an accomplishment of itself. So like to have all of that and sort of get to that point should show that she truly is a deserving candidate out of 200 students to get to that position.
[00:06:36] Sara: I'm curious, um, in terms of the composition of the, the encampments and the protest, like what, what is the, the makeup of the students who are really at the forefront of the protest and how does that compare to the overall composition of the USC student body?
[00:06:55] Zain: I don't want to misspeak for the USC student body because I don't have the statistics at the top of my head, but I am willing to say that is a predominantly white university, although it does sort of pride itself for diversity.
[00:07:07] However, I, in terms of the encampments I have seen, I have seen people from all backgrounds. I've been covering it. I've been sleeping outside the encampment sort of watching what's going on and developments. And I will say that people from all. So, um, all walks of life from all backgrounds have been coming into the encampment.
[00:07:24] I've talked to people inside the encampment who are Muslim. I've talked to people who are Arab. I've talked to people who are Jewish and I've talked to people who are black. So like you have people from different backgrounds coming up, but I will say when I see protests and stuff like that, it's clear that most people who are really fighting the fight are people of color.
[00:07:42] And that is scary because when you have encounters. With law enforcement, such as the LAPD as a person of color, you are already a target and I myself as a journalist fear that because in the night I am a person of color approaching the LAPD to ask them questions. My fear is how are they going to perceive that?
[00:08:00] How are they going to respond to that? Even though I am non threatening, even though I am doing my job. Even though I have a press pass, I have a, a, a, a poster labeled on my back that says student journalists, I have taken these precautions. But the fact is that once you're a person of color, you sort of have to exercise more precaution when you are dealing with law enforcement.
[00:08:19] Mitra: Yeah, I love that you are kind of breaking down the multiple rules that journalists of color in the middle of a story play. And, um, I'll share with you personally. Um, I attended Rutgers University and in my freshman year, this was in 19. Uh, 90. I'm sorry, 1994. Um, the president of Rutgers made a comment linking SAT scores and the quote, genetic hereditary background of black students.
[00:08:46] Um, so any, any, you, you could see why the campus erupted because it was SAT scores and the genetics of a population. And I remember similarly being in the middle of a majority, uh, minority protest group and trying to figure out how do I. Assert neutrality right now. Um, so in my case, I would take out my notebook and hope that the police because we also had like incidents of, um, macing the students.
[00:09:16] There was some tear gas used when they shut down a major highway. There was a basketball game that was shut down, like a lot of activity that is kind of ringing very familiar as I've been watching the college campuses erupt from, you know, this is more than it's really 30 years ago, exactly 30 years ago.
[00:09:33] I feel like students like you are probably even more in the limelight because we didn't have social media. So nobody was dissecting everything I've ever said and done. I'm just wondering how you assert your own identity and the layers of your identity as you're covering this.
[00:09:52] Zain: For those of, who are watching, like, I am a Muslim person of color who's also a journalist, so it's like a lot of complicated things going on.
[00:10:02] I think the best way I do that is I make sure that my reporting doesn't harm anyone, and that's something I really, really value. like to like practice a lot as much as possible. Like I, I really sort of take precautions and, and I think right now it does put us in the limelight because of social media.
[00:10:20] Yes, but also because there is no outside media being allowed onto campus. So essentially the only media that's been able to cover anything that's going on on campus is to the media. So it really puts that it further like shows how much journalism matters. And how much you brought on the spotlight. So in terms of how I navigated is a I make sure that my reporting doesn't harm anybody and I lean into my strengths, but at the same time, I always ensure that someone else is checking my work because again, we're all humans.
[00:10:51] We are none of us again, like the old journalistic mantra of objectivity, I think. Nobody's objective inherently. We all have our biases. We all have in group favoritism. We all, we all sort of turn to our instinct, but at the same time, again, journalism has a standard and I have to ensure that standard. And if that means people, my peers, my other journalists are going to question me in the field and also, uh, double check my work.
[00:11:18] I think that is something I'm willing to accept because that is what is also important because I would rather someone question my work before it's out there as opposed to someone questioning my work after it's out there.
[00:11:29] Sara: I'm curious how this issue of anti Semitism versus pro Palestinian liberation, the fact that it feels like It feels like there's very little space for nuance.
[00:11:41] And so how, how is that showing up in your reporting and how is it showing up in the, the protests and how they're, how it's being kind of covered?
[00:11:51] Zain: Well, I think I can start off by sharing with you what I've observed. Like I said, I've seen people from every background as part of the encampment. And I've seen Jewish individuals as part of the encampment as well.
[00:12:04] So I don't see that, like, I don't. See how an encampment, at least the one I saw at USC, is an anti Semitic encampment because of how respectful they've been. They literally had community guidelines out there that said no desecration of property, uh, clean up after yourself, respect boundaries, respect people.
[00:12:23] So, really, it has been peaceful. And the date of the LAPD was called in as well. I saw that most of them were doing yoga, doing playing board games, having sit-ins, teach-ins. Um, there was a, they talk about how to deal with Islamophobia, how to deal with antisemitism. Again, like I really don't see the anti-Semitic part, at least for this encampment.
[00:12:47] People have been very peaceful. And again, like this goes back to the point about the valedictorian. I know the valedictorian personally, uh, she's a phenomenal. She's exceptionally talented, which is why she's got this honor. She's a kind person. And how is
[00:13:04] Sara: she doing? I mean, how is like, this has to be so traumatizing for her.
[00:13:09] Zain: I think she's a very strong person. And I think she has been dealing with, with such, even if I haven't spoken to her directly about this, watching her interviews, it really shows the grace and the courage that she's been handling all of this with. It really shows as to the person she is. Um, so going back to the point, like, A campaign about calling her anti Semitic just does not stand because, again, I'm sure that you guys have seen the video that was circulating around in the student recognition ceremony where she got a standing ovation from her peers, her peers from all backgrounds, from all political beliefs, they all stood up and they gave her a standing ovation, and they applauded her achievement only because they know her.
[00:13:47] And they've seen the kind of person she is, the kind of care that she has for, for everybody, regardless of your background, regardless of your beliefs. And she's demonstrated that throughout her time at USC. And hopefully after her time at USC, we'll continue to see that.
[00:14:02] Mitra: Yeah, it's really striking that in all of her comments, She's remained so pro USC, right?
[00:14:09] So she really, um, celebrates the institution, celebrates her time there. Um, I think it's a very familiar position for many of us who work so hard to penetrate mainstream institutions to be let down by them. And there's something very classy about the way she's kind of kept her head in the game. Held high.
[00:14:28] I wanted to ask you how students of color are perceiving this administration. Um, you've talked about the USC president, Carol Folt, the provost, Andrew Guzman. You know, how would you describe how they're faring in the eyes of both students of color and maybe even the campus at large right now? What, what is the sentiment towards them?
[00:14:48] Zain: At large, they have let down students and faculty across the board. There is no particular student group that feels strongly against them. I think it is very safe to say that everybody has sort of, it has been united in the fact that the administration's actions have let us down and they're not acting in our best interest.
[00:15:07] So she's essentially lost the trust of students. On all sides because, um, calling on the LAPD, uh, onto your campus to deal with your students has inherently upset everybody and the faculty as well because all of them are mad. You have groups who are pro Palestinian and then you have groups who are pro free speech.
[00:15:29] And then you have groups who essentially think that calling on the LAPD on your students and on your faculty members is wrong.
[00:15:35] Mitra: And just to dive into the students a little bit more, what are the student demands? What is it that they want? And do you think that there has been any progress in the administration meeting any of those demands?
[00:15:47] Zain: Well, the student demands are essentially to divest from Israel and then companies that are investing in arms manufacturing. There's a list of demands and these are just the ones I have at the top of my head. Uh, there's demands to sort of stop the expansion of USC that affects the South Central community here at, here, um, in LA.
[00:16:05] There's demands to sort of, uh, there's demands to, uh, grant amnesty to the students who've been suspended. So all of these are, are some of them. There's like a long list that I'm happy to share with you right after. But in terms of has there been any progress made? Uh, no.
[00:16:21] I'm curious, Zain, how much communication is there across, uh, campuses both within Los Angeles, like we know there was a major protest and encampment at UCLA, but we know that Columbia there, they, this is a nationwide protest movement, student protest movement, something that I don't think we've seen like this in a very long time.
[00:16:45] Sara: I know when I was in college, it was anti apartheid and divestment out of South Africa. That was the crucial issue. And there were sit ins and protests. But there was again, there was not social media. There was not kind of the level of intervention and virality, I guess, that we're seeing with this. And so I'm curious, are you seeing any nationwide communication or strategies that the different encampments are coordinating or even within L.
[00:17:16] A. seeing how, you know, how violent the, the UCLA, um, encampment was, was threatened. I'm just curious, what's, what, what are you seeing on the both local and national, uh, front? I think the issues have to be communicating because it's such a larger movement. And again, like it started with Columbia and Columbia has sort of been Um, so you had UCLA and it was a very, very, uh, in fact, a student journalist was also injured and four student journalists with the Daily Bruin were also arrested.
[00:17:49] Zain: So that's been sort of a scary environment there. The protests, the counter protests were extremely violent, harassing students, pepper spray, mace spray, all of that, right? And the way the university dealt with it was. The response from the LAPD took forever. Uh, I was watching the live stream. It started at 11:00 AM and it was 3:00 AM and you still could not see LAPD officers on the scene when you actually needed them.
[00:18:14] Um, but then you look at USC, the day in Cameron was set up April 24th and less than three hours, you had the LAPD come in and arrest student. But then you have UC Berkeley, who still has that encampment up, I believe, who is not dealt with any violence, not called on police. And in fact, I believe is the only university president who, in their commencement address, pointed to the fact that this happens, like free speech is a right, and all of this is a history of student movements.
[00:18:41] So you're seeing that even just within California, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, that's the different ways each university is dealing with. So it's hard to. Like to say that maybe the people who are part of the encampment are not in touch with people who are part of the other encampment. So yes, I, I think it, it is possible that they're communicating with each other.
[00:19:02] Mitra: Zain, as we're wrapping up, I wanted to turn the lens a little bit on you and your journalism. How has this changed your practice of our craft and what's next for you? Well, I think I, this has reinforced why I went into journalism. You know, my, my Brown mother always tells me I should have just stuck to STEM.
[00:19:21] Zain: And, uh, journalism is not, uh, an industry that pays well. And while I agree with that, I think this experience has really instilled in me why I chose journalism, especially as a person of color. We need more POC journalists out there. We need more nuanced perspectives. We need more, we need less of painting people as victims and more of empowering people.
[00:19:44] And in the best, in the way that's. the most, like meeting the highest journalism standards as well. So I think this has really enforced it. And I think, I wouldn't say I'm glad to have covered this only because this shouldn't be happening in the first place. Like this is a sad time, but I am glad in that I was able to do my part, which means, which meant disseminating information.
[00:20:06] Like, As USC was blocked off from all of media, the role really felt on to us. It fell on to the students who were journalists trying to get the information out there. And I think I'm very glad to have been able to do that because I think that's very important because you need to know what's happening.
[00:20:23] And You really need to document what's going on, uh, so I'm very glad about that.
And what's next for me? I still have a year left at USC to wrap up, um, so I will be doing that, uh, and I'm also the incoming executive editor for Annenberg Media. So yeah, uh, it's just, it's, it's been that, uh, and thank you for having me.
[00:20:42] Sara: I just, I want to ask, um, another question, like what is the mainstream media getting wrong? Like you are so on the ground embedded and a lot of times Mitra and I, we run an organization that's all about, uh, community black and brown media organizations that are embedded and really trusted and valued on the ground in their communities.
[00:21:06] We, you know, this is a national story. This is a story that's covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, every, every major media outlet. I'm curious, like, what are they getting right and what are they getting wrong from your standpoint as somebody who's right there? So the, the way, the reason I think student journalists are getting it right, and student journalists, across the country are so important right now is because we are telling it like we're seeing it.
[00:21:31] Zain: Uh, like you are seeing helicopters buzz around our campus. You are seeing an unprecedented amount of police activity on campus. You are seeing the way that university officials are treating its students. You're seeing the way university officials are shutting off student media. So all of this is not, this is not something that the New York Times, the LA Times has access to.
[00:21:52] This is something the Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media, the two student newsrooms on campus, have access to. And this is something we're seeing every day. That is something that's important. So I really, really hope that newsrooms across the country and journalists really empower student journalists, because this is a really formative time for so many of us.
[00:22:11] And I hope this formative time brings us more closer to journalism rather than turn us away from it, because it can do that. I mean, there's so many conversations happening about the future of journalism and how do you create that, that need and that, that stickiness and with the next generation and, and what you are doing and what your colleagues in student journalism at these different institutions are doing is Actually building the pipeline.
[00:22:38] Sara: It's building the foundation of where we're going to grow from in an industry that has to reinvent, has to reimagine itself in order to maintain its relevance. And you're showing that that relevance is essential and you are, you're doing the work. So hats off to you, Zane, and to your colleagues. Also, your use of the word record, um, is so important because the mainstream media is not capturing this.
[00:23:05] Mitra: So I'll tell you to come full circle. The president that made those comments at Rutgers linking SAT scores and black students died a few years ago and there was no mention of his racist past in his obituary. And so for those of us who covered it, in some ways we're the only record. of what happened during that time in the absence of others capturing that.
[00:23:27] So, um, I do hope you feel like you've been a part of history, whether it endures in the mainstream record or not, I think remains to be seen, but, um, but you're right, you did your part. Um, and I can tell you from personal experience and professional experience, like that experience changed my professional trajectory.
[00:23:47] I don't think URL media if I had not had that lens. Of covering a predominantly white institution of kind of from the inside, but also from the outside. Just to give our last word, um, to Asna herself, who released what her valedictory speech would have been. Um, and I'm just going to read from that. She writes, as your class valedictorian, I implore my USC classmates to think outside the box.
[00:24:15] To work towards a world where cries for equality and human dignity are not manipulated to be expressions of hatred. I challenge us to respond to ideological discomfort with dialogue and learning, not bigotry and censorship. And I urge us to see past our deepest fears and recognize the need to support justice for all people, including the Palestinian people.
[00:24:43] I think your classmate, um, your friend. Kind of does get the last word on this one. It
[00:24:51] Zain: was her statement. Um, and I'm pretty sure if really, she had the chance to give her a speech, we would have heard a lot more, you would have been inspired, uh, parents would have cried, so would have the students, uh, we would have really sort of seen the hope that is for us in the future in times like these, but yeah, it's, it's, it's sad to see, uh, but I think.
[00:25:13] Um, regardless, it doesn't change the honor that she has, it doesn't change the accomplishments that she's achieved, and it doesn't change that she is USC's class of 2024 valedictorian, so come 50 years from now, when you come back, that will still be there, that will still be there even though her speech was there.
[00:25:33] Sara: Well, we're going to keep our eyes on you, Zane, because, um, this story is not going away.
[00:25:38] And we definitely would love to stay connected with you to learn about, you know, how, um, how things, unfold at USC and, and at other college campuses. And that's twice as good. I'm Sarah Lomax, co founder and president of URL Media and president and CEO of WURD Radio in Philadelphia.
[00:26:01] For independent news from our 32 black and brown outlets, visit our website, url media. com. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube for future episodes. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time.