<p>The academic war for USC is far from over and has only begun. USC has been fighting for about 100 years to achieve “undisputed” academic elite status. As President Nikias has warned, the last leg of this journey is the most difficult part. For unlike Cornell, JHU, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Duke, Columbia and each of the other top schools, USC had zero endowment or wealthy investors to create and nurture us. All we had were those nascent Trojan family members like Judge Widney and his fellow pioneers who had larger than life dreams. In fact, USC is the only top fundraiser without the pedigree of our new counterparts. We pooled our resources to achieve the unthinkable. And in doing so we created the Trojan Family. As the sagacious judge observed years ago, keep working!</p>