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'Parents deserve to know why basic education is being sacrificed for ideological indoctrination.'Friends of college student booked for murder of homeless man claim he acted in self-defense
A teen who is currently in jail in L.A. County on suspicion of murder of a homeless man acted in self-defense, his friends say.
Just after 8 p.m. on Monday, 19-year-old Ivan Gallegos and two friends heard the sound of a car alarm nearby. After calling police, they then went to investigate the alarm for themselves.
'Throughout his childhood, Ivan navigated the realities of both his parents’ involvement in gang activities, leading to their intermittent incarceration.'
They found a 27-year-old homeless man sitting in a car that belonged to one of their other friends who was not present at the time. The car was parked on private property along the University of Southern California's Fraternity Row.
The three young men confronted the vagrant, who may have broken into other cars in the area as well. When the men demanded that he leave the area, the vagrant retorted that he had a gun on him and that the car now belonged to him, Los Angeles magazine reported.
A scuffle then ensued, and the homeless man allegedly reached for his waistband, according to a GoFundMe account established for Gallegos, ostensibly prompting Gallegos to stab the man in self-defense. The vagrant died from his injuries at the scene.
It is unclear why Gallegos may have had a knife on him. No gun was ever recovered from the scene.
"He feared for his life," one of Gallegos’ friends told L.A. magazine. "He had to defend himself."
"When I heard what happened, I immediately knew it wasn't because he had malintent," another said. "Something had to have happened in order for him to do what he did."
Despite their claims of self-defense, police immediately arrested Gallegos on suspicion of murder and booked him into county jail, where he remains on $2 million bail, as Blaze News previously reported. As of Tuesday morning, the DA had not filed any charges against him.
Gallegos is a member of Delta Tau Delta who just completed his sophomore year at USC, studying business. On his LinkedIn profile, he also claims to be the first in his family to go to college.
According to a feature piece from USC Annenberg Media, Gallegos grew up in L.A. under difficult circumstances. "Throughout his childhood, Ivan navigated the realities of both his parents’ involvement in gang activities, leading to their intermittent incarceration," the article said, adding that as a child, he was frequently exposed to "drugs, gangs, and prostitution."
The area where the stabbing occurred is also rife with violence and crime, largely on account of the high homeless population, other USC students claimed.
"Street lights, a lot of them, you'll find, are out," one student said. "What's happening is they're tearing out these boxes and selling them, getting money for them, so they're taking the copper wire. It's a whole thing around here."
Another student insisted that while the USC campus is generally "pretty safe," "everybody is aware that some of the surrounding areas aren't as safe."
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USC won't let Jewish professor teach on campus after he called Hamas terrorists 'murderers' who 'should be killed'
The University of Southern California has exiled a Jewish economics professor after he suggested to student activists that Hamas terrorists should be wiped out. Professor John Strauss, an esteemed and tenured professor at USC, must now teach his classes remotely for the remainder of the semester.
What's the background?
Strauss, 72, shared words in passing with a group of students involved in a Nov. 9 protest organized by the USC Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation, USC Graduates for Palestine, and Trojans for Palestine, reported the College Fix.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the protest was part of a national "Shut It Down for Palestine" action and included a rally where students chanted, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" — widely regarded as a call for Israel's ruination.
Footage shows Strauss, audibly identified by students in the mob, mutter, "People are ignorant."
One activist halts the professor with the claim that they are gathered to "pay respect for those who were killed."
As more activists begin to amble over to Strauss, the professor states, "Hamas are murderers, that's all they are."
Still referencing the terrorist group that slaughtered thousands of Israeli civilians and dozens of Americans on Oct. 7, Strauss adds, "Every one should be killed and I hope they all are."
The professor later defended his comments, telling USC Annenberg Media, "One of them, a woman, I don't know who, yelled out, 'Shame on you, Professor Strauss. Shame on you.' And I immediately yelled back, 'No, shame on you. You were ignorant about Hamas. Hamas are murderers. That's all they are. They should all die. Every one of them.'"
Strauss told another student outlet, the Daily Trojan, "I don't mind if they want to memorialize people who were killed. That's fine, just as Jewish students are memorializing Israelis who were killed."
"But this started as a result of Hamas terrorist attacks," he added.
Lies and petitions
Various anti-Israeli student groups at the university as well as activists off campus — including the scandal-plagued identitarian Shaun King — circulated a deceptively edited version of the video along with insinuations that Strauss had called for Palestinians to be killed beyond just the members of the murderous group recognized by the American government as a terrorist organization.
A viral post on X that pushed the edited video stated, "Here is @USC professor John Strauss saying 'every one of them should be killed, and I hope they all are' while passing by students who organised a memorial for 10,000+ Palestinian martyrs killed in the past month."
Canary Mission, a watchdog group that documents anti-Semitism in academic institutions, noted that the individual who appears to have spread the video in this first instance, Tara Alami, is a radical leftist at McGill Univeristy in Montreal who has "called for Israelis to die, celebrated the death of Israelis, expressed support for terrorists and promoted a violent hatred of Zionists."
The USC Graduates for Palestine similarly also posted a deceptively edited version of the video on Nov. 10 to their Instagram account, intimating that Strauss had called for "everyone to be killed," again with the suggestion that he meant all Palestinians.
Leftists on campus seized upon this false narrative to paint Strauss as a villain.
Coinciding with the circulation of the deceptively edited videos, campus activists started a petition demanding Strauss' termination "for racist and xenophobic behavior." The petition, which has received over 7,100 signatures, decontextualized the professor's remarks, suggesting they were "not only offensive but also promote and incite violence."
The Los Angeles Times reported that Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles, demanded that the university investigate Strauss and take steps to protect "Muslim, Palestinian and Arab students as well as any others who are targeted by hate and bigotry."
Hamas critic in exile
Within a day of the incident, Strauss was told by an associate dean he had been placed on administrative leave, exiled from campus, and altogether relieved of teaching duties, reported the Times.
A spokesman for the university noted days later the professor would instead be teaching his graduate and undergraduate classes remotely for the remainder of the semester.
USC provost Andrew Guzman indicated in a Nov. 13 letter to Strauss, obtained by the Daily Trojan, that following "multiple formal complaints" filed against him with the school's office for equity, equal opportunity, and Title IX, he would be barred from campus until further notice.
The letter stressed that the "interim measures" were not punitive in nature but rather were "designed to minimize disruption to the educational environment and to ensure a safe environment for both [Strauss] and [his] students."
Strauss indicated he wants the university to let him back onto campus and to issue "a factual statement of what I did not say."
A petition demanding that the administration bring Strauss back to campus, which has already received nearly 12,000 signatures, stated, "Jewish people have not come this far by hiding in fear. Perpetrators of violence and false accusations must be removed, not their victims."
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In bid to oppose racism, USC School of Social Work nixes use of the word 'field'
The University of Southern California's School of Social Work is dropping use of the word "field" in an effort to oppose racism.
"As we enter 2023, we would like to share a change we are making at the Suzanne-Dworak-Peck School of Social Work to ensure our use of inclusive language and practice. Specifically, we have decided to remove the term 'field' from our curriculum and practice and replace it with 'practicum.' This change supports anti-racist social work practice by replacing language that could be considered anti-Black or anti-immigrant in favor of inclusive language," a notice about the change states.
"Language can be powerful, and phrases such as 'going into the field' or 'field work' may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign," the notice claims. The notice indicates that it is from the "Practicum Education Department" and to the "USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck Practicum Education Community, Faculty, Staff, and Students."
\u201cToday, @uscsocialwork sent out this letter announcing that they will no longer use the word \u201cfield\u201d (as in \u201cconducting field work\u201d) because it\u2019s perceived as racist. Is this with merit or empty virtue signaling? @elonmusk @IngrahamAngle\u201d— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD) 1673317259
"In solidarity with universities across the nation, our goal is not just to change language but to honor and acknowledge inclusion and reject white supremacy, anti-immigrant and anti-blackness ideologies," the notice states. "We are committing to further align our actions, behaviors, and practices with anti-racism and anti-oppression, which requires taking a close and critical look at our profession — our history, our biases, and our complicity in past and current injustices. It also means continuing to work together to train social work students today who understand and embody social and racial justice."
The notice said that altering terminology can be difficult and fully making the switch will require time.
USC's School of Social Work has a land acknowledgment posted online.
"The Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California acknowledges our presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Gabrielino-Tongva peoples. We recognize that these Peoples were forcibly removed from their homelands," the acknowledgment states in part. "With humility, we recognize and respect all Indigenous peoples, their histories, and their ties to the land."
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