After eight and a half years of teaching at USC Roski School of Art and Design, former associate professor David Kelley received a layoff letter from Dean Haven Lin-Kirk on Aug.15.
It is unclear how many full-time faculty members got laid off. Annenberg Media reached out to Roski, but the office did not respond for comment as of publication.
Kelley said he did not receive a renewal letter for his three-year contract in July. “There was no meeting in person; it was just a letter received by email,” he said. “So it seemed strange if I taught somewhere for almost nine years not to meet my colleagues and my students, because we’ve been a very close community.”
California employers like USC are required to give written notice at least 60 days prior to a mass layoff of 50 or more employees. The notice must be sent to affected employees, state labor officials and local government. If violated, employees may be entitled to receive back pay awards. According to Kelley, the layoff letter offered “a lump sum payout in lieu of notice.”
Kelley did not receive information from the department regarding the next steps for the three courses he planned to instruct in the fall. The USC Schedule of Classes shows that Sue Shu, a 2025 graduate of the Roski Master of Fine Arts program, is the new lecturer for two of those classes.
Days after the layoff notice and without warning, Kelley was shut out of his faculty access to the university’s online system, including Gmail and Google Drive. The university didn’t collect classroom keys or notify him of access changes. “I arranged that myself, with the people I knew, who would know where my things were and ask them to gather them,” Kelley said. “But nobody offered to do that for me.”
Eva Aguila, a Roski alumna, said she didn’t have a class with Kelley in her program, but invited him to be her thesis chair. Of the three faculty members on the graduate thesis committee, the chair reads the paper first and oversees project progress. Aguila has still kept in touch with Kelley after graduation and invited him to her solo exhibition in August.
Aguila said she knew Kelley when he first approached her for a studio visit to understand her art project. Kelley subsequently encouraged and helped her successfully apply for a fellowship from the Center for Ethnographic Media Arts.
“He went out of his way to engage with me and learn about my work,” Aguila said. “He was really invested in the students, so I feel like the student population is going to lose out on a professor that cares.”
The remaining full-time faculty will absorb additional responsibilities, including student advisement and thesis committee duties.
“In the case of David and the other faculty members who were let go,” Campbell said, “You lose someone who is inspirational in terms of their practice and the way that they move through life as an artist, a designer or a thinker.”
Rosie Li, a senior studying fine arts, said her individual study professor and mentor for her solo exhibition was also laid off in August. Li said students affected by the layoffs received an email on Aug.19 from Edgar Arceneaux, Associate Professor of Art and Chair of Art, regarding an in-person meeting with him.
Li said Arceneaux held the meeting on the second day of school to provide resources and help students navigate the changes.
“He offered us the options to freely choose a new mentor from full-time faculty or local artists,” Li said, “After I shared my preference, I received a follow-up email very soon after the meeting, so I believe the school still cares a lot about our well-being.”
On the faculty’s side, Campbell said they received more communications from the University president regarding layoffs, yet there was no communication about personnel changes from the Roski Dean Lin-Kirk.
“I don’t feel like I was invited to understand the situation by the dean,” Kelley said. “Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to reach out and have some face-to-face communication, right?”
USC Interim President Beong-Soo Kim and Provost Andrew T. Guzman met with the Roski faculty in person to address the university’s financial state on July 28. Kelley was not invited to the meeting.
“There’s a lack of respect for people’s livelihood,” Kelley said, expressing frustration with the short layoff notice he received.
Andy Campbell says, “When colleagues leave, there’s just a lot of grief. When there’s no place to really put that, and when you’re expected to put on a brave and a good face for students as the semester begins, you know, that can be its own kind of hell.”