What do USC’s cutting-edge art school and the university’s acclaimed eye institute have in common with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott?
They all have the considerable financial support of USC Life Trustee Ed Roski, Jr.
Roski, whose fortune is estimated at $9.3 billion, is president and chairman of L.A. County-based Majestic Realty, one of the country’s largest privately-owned investors in commercial real estate. Majestic owns properties in Texas, which may explain Roski donating nearly $2 million to Abbott’s re-election campaign, making him one of the Republican governor’s top donors. Texas state law does not limit the size of campaign contributions.
Roski and his wife, Gayle, have made two major donations totaling $48 million to USC, resulting in the art school being named after his wife as the Gayle Garner Roski School of Art and Design in 2006. The couple also made a gift to the Keck School of Medicine in 2016 to endow and name the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute.
Roski served several terms as a voting board member, starting in 2000, including a period when he was chairman before becoming a life trustee. His donations to Abbott do not violate any rules for his current status as a non-voting member of the university’s board. Regardless, at a graduate program exhibition opening last Friday, USC art students were disturbed to learn about their school’s shared source of wealth with such a prominent conservative political figure.
“Knowing that Greg Abbott has restricted communities of color and histories of communities of color in Texas, it says a lot about what is supported,” said Tracy Fenix, a dual degree graduate student for Curatorial Practice and Urban Planning at the Roski School who grew up in the Texas borderland.
Fenix was referencing Abbott’s actions that largely target minority groups in the state. For example, his backing of Senate Bill 7, a piece of legislation to reduce polling hours and access to mail-in voting, disproportionately impacting communities of color in Texas. Abbott’s support of the bill led to large-scale walkouts by state Democrats in protest of the legislation.
Fenix is concerned with the ambiguous nature of funding for USC and how the money endowed to the institution may determine the curriculum centered at Roski or any department on campus.
Knowing where USC gets its funding is also a big curiosity for Angelina Jesson, a Roski international student from London.
“USC is a big capitalist school structure. It’s an institution and functions the way America functions, and I think that means that there’s a lot of un-transparency,” Jesson said. “The fact that we have these incredible professors that are talking about social practice [and] social justice, and then having the money coming from a place which contradicts that is weird to me.”
Majestic Realty did not respond to several requests for comment from Roski.
Roski has donated an additional $275,000 to other Texas Republicans besides Abbott for the 2022 midterms, according to Transparency USA, a campaign finance database. Other donations went to George P. Bush’s unsuccessful campaign for attorney general, as well as Dan Patrick’s campaign for Lieutenant Governor.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat, is attempting to unseat Abbott on Tuesday. O’Rourke, who ran for president in 2020, is considered an underdog. Abbott was first elected in 2014.
In recent years, the two-term governor has spent significant time in the spotlight for his positions on gun control, immigration and abortion rights.
In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, Abbott received criticism for his refusal to hold a special legislative session to address gun control in the state, which has some of the least restrictive firearms laws in the country. He has also resisted pleas from gun control advocates to increase the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle to 21.
Abbott’s reelection campaign has also been largely focused on maintaining one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. In May of this year, he signed into law legislation that prohibits abortions in the state after the six-week mark.
Another touchstone of Abbott’s time as governor and his reelection campaign has been advocating for increased border security and enforcement using stricter laws. He has also launched a program where he sends immigrants via bus to sanctuary states across the country.
In addition to Roski’s high-dollar donations, another USC trustee is one of Abbott’s top funders: honorary trustee Dr. Miriam Adelson. The widow of casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson runs drug treatment and research centers in Las Vegas and Tel Aviv, Israel. She served one term as a voting trustee before being awarded honorary status this year.
Adelson donated $1 million to Abbott’s campaign and has a history of giving to other conservative politicians and causes, including a $2.3 million donation to the Texas PAC. Before his passing, Sheldon Adelson had been advocating to legalize gambling in the state of Texas, and Miriam Adelson is now pushing for legalization as well. She is the majority shareholder of the Sands Corporation. Adelson did not respond to requests for comment.
No other USC trustees have made contributions to either the Abbott or O’Rourke campaign.
USC has no restrictions on the political involvements of university trustees. Since Roski’s and Adelson’s donations are individual matters that don’t involve the school, the university declined to provide a statement on the trustees’ association with Abbott’s campaign.
“I think that is a very neutral stance and not holding any accountability to how they’re navigating donor relationships,” graduate art student Fenix said. “[USC is] ultimately forgoing ethical treatment of communities of color in the way that they’re accessing funding to support their students.”
Grace Murray (Specialized Journalism) and Viktoria Capek (Specialized Journalism/Arts) are graduate students in the Annenberg master’s program.