From 'Song Girls' to 'Song Leaders'--USC's famed squad has changed its name

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Posted on 11/08/2024 5:27:35 PM PST by Fiji Hill

As the USC Trojans football team battles it out game after game, the famous cardinal and gold pom-poms and white sweaters stand out on the sidelines.

The formerly-named USC Song Girls have spent the better part of 50 years cheering on the Trojans and lifting spectator spirits. Formed in 1967 after USC voted to allow women to join spirit groups, their new name, Song Leaders, reflects a desire to be more inclusive.

There was no announcement or official statement, but USC Song’s website was recently updated to reflect the change.

Not everyone was happy about it. Former Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly has a producer who used to be a Song Girl, Lauren LaBruna. Kelly spoke about the name change on her show a few days ago and she didn’t hold back.

“Let’s watch how this works for them, because when you erase women and you erase girls, you’re playing with fire. You’re setting us down a path that is very, 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,” Kelly wrote.

Despite Kelly’s distaste for the move, some like the new name. Song alumna Marisa D’Amico, who was on the squad in the 1980s, feels “Song Leaders” is more fitting for a squad that’s been dubbed the “Ambassadors of the University of Southern California.”

“To me, it doesn’t bother me at all,” D’Amico said. “I think, you know, when I was there, we did not have the cheer girls that are in the end zone or cheer persons. I actually like the term ‘song leader’ a lot better than song persons, ‘cause that really sounds like you’re stretching to be, you know, equitable.”

This isn’t the first controversy USC Song has been involved with regarding gender equity. A Title IX investigation found that former song coach Lori Nelson, who resigned in 2020, body-shamed and harassed dancers on the squad.

“She was fat shaming people, allegedly,” D’Amico said. “So there’s just been a lot of scandal...So I think it’s the university attempt to make things right.”

Nelson denied the allegations, saying she was discriminated against.

The name change has also led to a petition aimed at “protecting the Song Girl legacy” that seeks to revert “Song Leaders” back to “Song Girls.” The petition was begun by Bianca Bao, the mother of a former Song Girl captain.

USC, a school founded by Methodists, resisted the cultural revolution of the 1960s but began moving left in 1980. It has now gone completely woke.

1 posted on 11/08/2024 5:27:35 PM PST by Fiji Hill

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