back in time
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A Call to Duty On Dec. 8, 1941, USC administrators gathered at Bovard Auditorium to address a campus community still in shock after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Vowing to dedicate resources to the wartime effort and also a program of peace, university leaders braced students for drastic changes. War had come, and it would transform nearly every corner of campus life. Within eight months, USC student enrollment plummeted 15% and 75 faculty members left to join the war effort. Academic programs seemed to change overnight as language, economics, international relations, occupational therapy, photography and aerospace sciences courses expanded. USC was chosen to open a naval preparatory flight cadet school. The Marine Corps Reserves, the Army’s Specialized Training Unit, the Naval V-12 program and the Naval ROTC soon followed. By 1943, more than 1,400 military students
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were on campus. By 1945, servicemen accounted for more than 75% of the male student body. Nonmilitary students and faculty members also mobilized to do their part, including researchers who developed new technology to protect pilots at high altitudes. In this picture taken 10 days after Pearl Harbor, students gathered outside Bovard Auditorium to sign up for the Campus Volunteer Defense Service. Within a year, the Student War Board was established to coordinate campuswide activities like blood drives, air raid and fire hazard training, health campaigns, war bond fundraising and morale-boosting events. The end of World War II brought joyful celebrations across campus—as well as an influx of returning servicemen. As the campus transitioned to peacetime operations, enrollment soared to 24,000 by 1947, ushering in a modern era at the university. ELISA HUANG Autumn 2021
PHOTO COURTESY OF USC UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
World War II changed the course of the university—and student life.
