Master Plan Comments

The overview of the master plan seems excellent. The goals it outlines makes it seem like a plan that can only be welcomed and received positively although at a closer look it appears more invasive than the vague outline suggests. All the improvements the plan suggest seem favorable although unavoidably it will displace some people because the University wants to expand, but the space they want is already being used and occupied.

It is good that the plan addresses ways in which the plan will affect and attempt to help the community. Hopefully, it can be enacted in a way that the surrounding community has some what of a voice in the changes that are made. The plan says one of its community goals is 'to identify mutually beneficial connections'; this is an important idea that will be difficult to make a reality. Currently, USC does not have a mutualistic relationship with the community due to the limited interactions and the general attitude of superiority that USC students feel they have over the community and the people within it. I think it is true to say that most USC students do not think of the community in a positive sense, and the perception of real outsiders unfamiliar with the University and its surrounding area have an even worse impression of the area around USC.

The irony of the plan is that in order to make USC more of a community a currently existing community will be altered and changed. It is an interesting plan that seems essential to the growth of the University although I think the way it is executed will be the test of its effectiveness and fairness. I hope that in the end it is something that will be beneficial to all parties that it will impact.