USC students launch petition to remove Bryan Singer’s name from the school’s media division

A group of students at the University Of Southern California have organized a new change.org petition, asking the school to remove film director Bryan Singer’s name from its media division. The request comes in the wake of a renewed interest in and awareness of allegations of sexual harassment and assault against prominent Hollywood figures, including Singer’s frequent collaborator, Kevin Spacey. “It is completely unacceptable,” the petition—which currently has 1,600 signatures, and which was written by USC student Emily Hanak—begins, “that this prestigious department within our school still carries the name of Bryan Singer, a man accused multiple times of sexual harassment, assault, and pedophilia.”

Singer has been accused of behaving inappropriately with younger men at multiple points during his career, including allegations that he asked 14-year-old actors to film a nude shower scene for his film Apt Pupil, and a pair of lawsuits—both of which were eventually dropped—that were brought up against him in 2014. The two suits came from men claiming the director was part of a “ring” of powerful Hollywood men who used intimidation, false promises, and other forms of coercion to secure sexual favors from them.