USC gymnasium to limit males from exercise area throughout ladies, non-binary hours

Males will probably be barred from utilizing components of an on-campus gymnasium on the College of Southern California underneath a brand new initiative to make ladies and non-binary gym-goers really feel extra snug whereas understanding.

The Scholar Meeting for Gender Empowerment (SAGE) pushed for the brand new guidelines in partnership with the Lyon Heart, a leisure facility managed by the college.

SAGE describes itself as a “programming meeting and intersectional feminist group underneath the scholar authorities, dedicated to uplifting all voices oppressed by the patriarchy.”

The plan excludes males from understanding in parts of the Robinson Room on the Lyon Heart on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 to 11 a.m., in line with the Each day Trojan pupil newspaper.

Scholar Mengze Wu, a senior majoring in neuroscience, the moved is supposed to handle her discomfort understanding in “men-dominated.”

“My previous experiences with being in enclosed areas the place it’s very men-dominated have by no means been tremendous nice,” Wu instructed the Each day Trojan. “There tends to be this drawback the place I don’t get to take up quite a lot of area until I actually assert myself. And even then, I face quite a lot of hindrance in feeling fully snug.”

Jana Alnajjar, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, politics, and legislation who acts as SAGE’s advocacy liaison, instructed the publication that she’s “heard from a number of ladies and non-binary college students who wish to be concerned in numerous exercise areas however don’t really feel snug being on the gymnasium.”

“Whether or not it’s being approached usually or feeling judged, over time that discomfort leads college students to cease going to the gymnasium altogether,” she added.

Underneath college coverage, utilization of leisure facilities is restricted to approved college students, workers, college, and accredited visitors, with out discrimination.

Alnajjar stated the initiative was rigorously deliberate over a number of months, starting final fall with conferences and revisions. She first contacted the Lyon Heart to create a chosen area for ladies and non-binary college students whereas making certain it remained open to all underneath college coverage.

“Due to college constraints and present federal restrictions on DEI, there was quite a lot of backwards and forwards on whether or not this may even be viable,” she instructed the Each day Trojan. “How can we do it and promote it so college students comprehend it’s an area for them, however nonetheless open to all?”

The California Publish has reached out to USC for remark.

In October 2025, the Trump administration focused USC and eight different universities with a “Compact for Educational Excellence,” providing preferential funding in change for adopting conservative insurance policies, together with freezing tuition, banning race or gender issues in admissions, and limiting worldwide pupil enrollment.

Earlier, USC confronted aggressive federal actions alleging it failed to guard Jewish college students from antisemitic harassment. Measures included federal investigations, threatened funding cuts, and website visits by the Process Power to Fight Antisemitism.

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