LOS ANGELES — At the lowest point in its history, the University of Southern California turned to Rick Caruso.
It was 2018 and USC was reeling from revelations about a campus gynecologist. Hundreds of students and alumnae were lining up sexual abuse suits that would eventually cost the university more than $1 billion. The once-docile faculty was demanding the president’s resignation, and the LAPD and the U.S. Department of Education were mounting investigations.
Embattled President C.L. Max Nikias summoned Caruso, a real estate developer, alumnus and university trustee, to a May meeting and laid out more bad news: The man in line to head the board, a low-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalist, was not suited to lead through the crisis.
