Maintaining a safe, vibrant campus environment is our top priority. Toward that end, units across the university make available a wide range of safety resources and encourage their use by all members of the Trojan Family.

Department of Public Safety

The USC Department of Public Safety (DPS) provides services spanning patrols, crime prevention, parking enforcement and criminal investigations.

• The Trojans Alert system allows university officials to contact enrolled students, parents, faculty, staff and other university friends during an emergency by sending text messages via E-mail, cell phone or pager, smart phones or other handheld devices, or land lines.
• USC's University Park and Health Sciences campuses are outfitted with nearly 300 Emergency Phones, most identified by blue lights, which are strategically located in many buildings, on each level of every parking structure and throughout the campus grounds. The phones provide a direct link to DPS. (For a PDF map showing the locations of University Park campus emergency phones, click here.)
• Silent Witness is an online reporting form for the anonymous submission of information about suspicious, unusual and/or criminal activity occurring on the University Park or Health Sciences campuses, or in the surrounding communities.
• Rape Aggression Defense Training for Women is a comprehensive, women-only course taught by nationally certified instructors.
• Apartment, Building and Office Security Inspections by trained crime prevention officers have the goal of reducing burglary risks.
• The Resident Adviser Security Training Program provides specialized security-training for new and returning resident advisers each fall.
• Adopt a Hall assigns public safety officers to work as liaisons with USC's residential community to address public safety and other issues unique to each hall.
• Operation G.I.F.T. (Group Initiative For Theft-prevention) is a campus-wide initiative aimed at reducing crime within the USC community during the Thanksgiving break and winter recess.
• The Operation Identification property-identification program helps deter theft and aid in recovery.
• DPS offers Bicycle Registration (required by California State Law) during regular university business hours.
• Lost and Found service is available for both the University Park and the Health Sciences campuses.

Division of Student Affairs

The USC Division of Student Affairs is devoted to creating an integrated learning experience that helps students reach their educational, personal and professional aspirations.

• Trojans Care for Trojans (TC4T) provides a private and anonymous service for students to express their concerns about members of the Trojan Family and offers connections to institutional support and resources for Trojans coping with personal difficulties.
• Student Support and Advocacy assists students and families in resolving complex issues - personal, academic or financial - that adversely affect students' academic success and/or collegiate experience.
• Student Health Services
  • The University Park Health Center provides medical, counseling, and health promotion and prevention services - as well as a crisis response team for urgent concerns - to students on the University Park campus.
  • The Eric Cohen Health Center provides services for acute and chronic illnesses, psychological counseling, and intervention for needlestick and bodily fluid exposure as well as gynecology, dermatology and sports medicine/orthopedic care for students on the Health Sciences campus.
• The USC Center for Women and Men provides counseling and educational programs aimed at helping prevent sexual violence and creating healthy relationships - including USC Men Care, a program focused on preventing sexual violence and fostering healthy ideas of masculinity.
• The Office for Residential Education is responsible for cultivating a safe, supportive and welcoming environment in USC's residence halls, as well as for implementing the university's Bias Protocol. All USC-owned residence halls and apartments have assigned resident advisers (RAs) and graduate-student resident coordinators (RCs).
• The Office of Campus Activities focuses on the safety of learning experiences outside the classroom by making sure that registered student organizations comply with the University Policy for Student Organizations, which addresses hazing, vandalism, and the use of alcohol and other drugs, among other topics.
• The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development helps ensure the safety of USC's Greek community through its formalized social-event review process as well as its partnership with the Figueroa Corridor business improvement district (BID), which provides general safety and maintenance services.

USC Housing

USC Housing is committed to providing a safe and secure living environment for the approximately 7,200 students residing in properties owned and/or managed by the university, whether on or off campus. Supplementing these maintenance services, staff from the Division of Student Affairs' Office for Residential Education help support students' academic success, assist residents in working through personal problems and ensure compliance with university policies in USC housing facilities.

• Electronic access control devices have been installed on the main entry doors to most campus residence halls to help deter unauthorized access to buildings. Unlike keys, access control cards cannot be readily duplicated. The access control systems also detect doors that have been propped open and can be used to remotely open or lock facilities in the event of an emergency.
• DPS officers patrol and monitor all USC Housing facilities from 8:00 p.m. until dawn while classes are in session, and 24 hours a day during semester and spring breaks.
• All USC-owned and/or -managed properties in the North University Park area are included within the DPS patrol areas as well as university tram and bus routes.
• USC Housing regularly tests emergency alarm systems and safety equipment, and performs room inspections each semester to check for potential fire and health hazards.
• USC works cooperatively with the Los Angeles Fire Department to promote fire safety in all university areas. By fall 2009, every USC-owned residence hall and apartment complex will be protected by fire sprinklers and fire alarm systems that are monitored 24 hours a day. In addition to extensive fire safety training for resident advisers (RAs), the Office of Fire Safety & Emergency Planning conducts a fire drill within the first two weeks of each semester for all USC-owned housing. The office also works with Facilities Management Services to provide regular inspections of fire safety equipment. USC Housing policies prohibit fire hazards such as candles and incense, hot plates and toaster ovens in university residence halls.
• USC Housing residents may make routine service requests through designated Customer Service Centers or call the maintenance hotline at (213) 740-4646 to report health and safety problems 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

USC Transportation

USC Transportation provides safe, courteous, efficient and reliable services to the entire university community.

• Tram and Bus Services provide safe transportation between the University Park and Health Sciences campuses as well as to North University Park, downtown Los Angeles, Marina del Rey, Alhambra and other locations. Trams and buses operate during working hours as well as on weekends and into the evening for some routes.
• Campus Cruiser provides walking or vehicle escorts within approximately one mile from the center of the University Park campus for students, faculty, staff and university guests who work, study or take classes at night.
• The Yellow Cab Program allows students, faculty and staff to use their USCard to pay for transportation within a broad service area.
• Together with Travel Management & Corporate Card Services, USC Transportation has partnered with Prime Time Shuttle to provide discounts on shuttle services between all Los Angeles basin airports and all USC campus locations.
• Rather than leaving their cars in the neighborhood during the Thanksgiving holiday and winter recess, students may arrange to park them in the USC Parking Center free of charge.
• As an alternative to owning and maintaining an automobile, the Zipcar car-sharing service provides USC students, faculty and staff over the age of 18 with affordable access to low-emission vehicles by the hour.
• The Defensive Driving Program is required for all employees authorized to drive university-owned vehicles.

Center for Work and Family Life

The USC Center for Work and Family Life offers confidential, short-term counseling, consultation and crisis intervention for USC faculty, staff and their dependent family members.