INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from CBS News reporting on USC's campus-wide email warning about opioid dangers; the quoted portion is drawn from that reporting and is marked unconfirmed as the full email text was not published352 chars
We need you to be aware of the dangers posed by drug use. In particular, we want you to be informed on the dangers of abusing opioids. Drug use is prevalent across college campuses and can be especially dangerous when drugs are obtained from unknown or unofficial sources, as they may contain fentanyl or other contaminants that can cause sudden death.
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
USC sent this campus-wide email one day after a fourth student death on November 11, 2019; the letter focused on opioid dangers and was part of a broader university communication that students later criticized for being insufficiently transparent about the scope of the deaths.
The letter came after USC's total semester death count had reached nine students, with at least three from accidental fentanyl poisoning; the delayed and indirect wording was noted critically by students and the Annenberg student media.
This was classified as an advisory rather than a Clery emergency notification because the overdose deaths occurred off-campus at apartments and private residences and did not represent an ongoing on-campus threat.