Formerly known as the USC Song Girls, the dance organization that has spent over 50 years lighting up Trojan fans. Now, it has changed its name to USC Song Leaders as an effort to become more inclusive, sparking debate.
The group performs high-energy, choreographed dances at Trojan Athletics, alumni and charity events throughout each school year. USC Song Leaders differ from USC’s cheer team, USC Spirit Leaders, as their dances pair with the music played live by USC’s marching band rather than an external music source.
Formed in 1967, after USC students voted to allow women to join spirit groups, the USC Song Girls became known as “Ambassadors of the University of Southern California”. Before the vote, the University’s only spirit squad was reserved exclusively for men.
USC Song’s identity has remained quite constant during their almost half-century lifetime. The group has only had a handful of leaders since its creation, they’ve donned the same white sweaters since the 60s, and they continue to handle off-the-field, spirit responsibilities like news appearances and speaking engagements at USC events to this day.
But the one-word name change has sparked controversy.
Near the beginning of the 2024 school year, USC Song’s website and social media accounts switched the word “girls” to “leaders.” No statement was released announcing or explaining the change.
In a statement to Annenberg Media, USC Student Life explained that “Spirit Programs (Song, Spirit Leaders, Mascots) and the Trojan Marching Band were brought together as ‘The Spirit of Troy’ in 2022. The Spirit of Troy is actively enhancing a welcoming and positive team environment. To include all students, the Song team recently adopted the name Song Leaders, a name they held in the early 2000s.”
The shift managed to go largely unnoticed until last Thursday, when former Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly criticized the change in a blog post.
“Let’s watch how this works for them because when you erase women and you erase girls, you are playing with fire,” Kelly said in her article. “You are setting us down a path that is very dangerous for women in America when you are not able to say what a woman is or what a girl is without finding those terms offensive enough that they must be scrubbed right out of existence.”
A producer of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Lauren LaBruna, is a 2020 USC alumni and former Song Leader. In a statement to Annenberg Media, LaBruna said many of the organization’s alumni were not consulted before the change.
“As a former USC Song Girl, I am extremely disappointed by the university’s decision to erase women in the name of ‘inclusion,’” LaBruna wrote. “My question to USC is, how is it inclusive or welcoming to erase women? It is a fact that women and women only make up the USC Song Girl team. The team will remain the USC Song Girls to all those who stand in truth and refuse to allow women to be erased.”
Other alumni have also taken issue with the news. Bryan Unsworth, a 1990 USC alum and father of a former Song Leader, said he opposed the name change.
“It is an exceptionally rare opportunity to become a Song Girl, and it represents the pinnacle of dance performance,” Unsworth said. “So to open it up to more competition and more people, I don’t view it as fair, and I think it’s outside the bounds of Title IX. It should be protected for the limited opportunity that women get to escalate to these levels of prominence.”
Title IX requires that women and men are provided with equitable opportunities to participate in sports. The current team is made up of 11 women.
On campus, the fresh title has faced a more welcoming response. Chris Belcher, an assistant professor of gender and sexuality studies, said the name change opens the organization to more students and may encourage male or LGBTQ+ students to audition for the team.
“In terms of the significance, this can signal to people that in this practice, which is typically geared only toward girls and women, they’re taking a more expansive view, and other people who identify in other ways would be open to participating,” Belcher said.
While the new name may be less gender-specific, Belcher warned that the change may not be a comprehensive solution for making the Song Leaders more inclusive.
“Shifts in language, they’re at least doing something,” Belcher said, “but I don’t know that they’re going to change an entire culture and make men feel like they can participate in something that’s been historically feminized or for girls up until this point,” Belcher said.
A Change.org petition was launched Monday in an effort to reverse the decision.
“Such an action erases the identity of Song Girls and the rich heritage of this iconic program. It challenges women’s rights to be identified as girls and denies these extremely hardworking young women’s representation in being female student athletes,” the petition with 77 signatories reads..
USC Song Leaders and USC Student Life have not expressed any intention to reverse the name change.