USC has one of the top video game development departments in the nation. A large conference was scheduled, giving students a chance to showcase their talents and projects before some of the titans of the industry. Four hours before the conference was to begin, USC cancelled it because none of the female panelists could attend and they felt preventing an all-male panel would put them "on the right side of history."

From The Daily Trojan:

[T]he video game industry reaps incredible profits, so women en masse entering the top ranks of the industry can contribute greatly to the decrease of the gender pay gap, which economists largely attribute to a dearth of women entering profitable — often meaning STEM — fields.

So when USC secures a panel with leaders in the video game industry, such as the Head of Game Design at Blizzard Entertainment and the CEO of Riot Games, it has a net positive effect for everyone involved, from the students whose work would be showcased to the women who attend a highly diverse school which is actively redefining the industry standard. Everybody wins, until the top games department in the country cancels the “Legends of the Games Industry” — that’s not me editorializing, that was the actual name of the panel — just four hours before the event because the panelists happened to, well, collectively lack vaginas. The cancellation of the event denied female students an educational opportunity in the name of feminism. This action of “diversity” is the opposite of progressive; it’s reflective of a new regressive status quo to ensure that everyone is equal by holding everyone back.

As expected, outrage ensued. Students who were going to have the privilege of showcasing their games to their professional heroes became furious. More than twice as many students reacted as “angry” or “sad” than “liked” the Facebook post notifying them of the last-minute decision. You see, when most people, gaming aficionados and plebeians alike, hear “Head of Game Design at Blizzard,” they probably think of the colossal impact of World of Warcraft and StarCraft on mainstream culture, not about whether or not said executive is a man or a woman. To further add insult to injury, the only reason the panel had no women was due to scheduling conflicts.

Officially, the event has been postponed to an undisclosed date.

“There was no perfect choice here,” Director of USC Games Tracy Fullerton said. “There was only the choice to stand for one set of values or another. So, I chose the path I believe in. You all are free to disagree, but I think it is the right side of history.”

In essence, “the right side of history” was prioritized over a valuable academic opportunity to advance the intellectual development for male and female students alike. In an industry which is finally beginning to eliminate a sense of otherness for women in games, USC, which has a role at the vanguard of progressivism, has chosen to take two steps back by reconceptualizing gender as an academic and professional liability.

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