State of the Union on Campus

Students and faculty gathered in the lobby of Wallis Annenberg Hall on Tuesday night to watch President Barack Obama speak on issues from middle-class economics to terrorism, ending on this note:

“My fellow Americans, we too are a strong, tight-knit family. We, too, have made it through some hard times. Fifteen years into this new century, we have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and begun again the work of remaking America. We’ve laid a new foundation. A brighter future is ours to write. Let’s begin this new chapter – together – and let’s start the work right now.”

The president’s sixth State of the Union address was shown on the giant screen in the lobby of the journalism and communications building, followed by the Republican response by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

Students and faculty watch President Obama’s State of the Union speech in the lobby of Wallis Annenberg Hall.

Afterward, a panel led by Dan Schnur, executive director of the USC Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, housed in USC Dornsife, discussed the president’s speech. Panelists included Jessica Yellin, former chief White House correspondent for CNN and visiting fellow at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Daniel Rothberg, former Daily Trojan managing editor.

Schnur noted that more than 200 people crowded the Annenberg lobby to watch the speech. “That was the largest turnout we’ve had for an on-campus political event since Election Night 2008,” he said.

The viewing and panel discussion were sponsored by the Unruh Institute and USC Annenberg.