By: Radhika Dutta

As most of you have probably heard the big college scandal that has been happening for about a month now. This scandal has been taking over social media and news platforms…  it’s everywhere!! Here are some important information to know just in case you have been living under a rock!!

  • Around 50 people (30 were parents) have been accused for the biggest bribery scandal in college history.
  • Big hollywood stars were apart of this scandal such as Full House star Lori Loughlin mother of Bella Giannulli and Olivia Giannulli who attended USC. Olivia is also a famous youtuber who goes by Olivia Jade. Felicity Huffman also was accused for bribery. She is in the show Desperate Housewives.
  • The colleges involved were Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, Wake Forest University, University of Texas, University of San Diego, and USC.  
  • Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli (creator of Mossimo clothing) paid $500,00 to get their 2 daughters to become rower recruits on the USC crew team. The two girls don’t even participate in crew.
  • An exam proctor, 9 coaches, 2 SAT/ACT administrators, and 33 parents have already been arrested.
  • Lori Loughlin was fired from Hallmark and Netflix. I guess we won’t be seeing anymore Aunt Becky!
  • Lori and her husband are selling their beautiful house in Bel Air for 35 million dollars to secure the 1 million dollar bond.
  • Olivia Jade is furious with her parents and has been trying to avoid them. She blames her parents for the downfall of her career. Olivia Jade in a video previous to the scandal had said that she doesn’t take college seriously and focuses on partying. That video got a lot of backlash as it made it seem that Olivia was not grateful for her wonderful education. After that video was released she posted an apology.
  • Lori Loughlin and her husband went to court in Boston and plead not guilty. Her charges could put her and her husband in prison to up to 20 years. Before entering the courtroom, Lori was greeted by fans and even signed autographs and posed for pictures. One fan screamed, “Pay for tuition Lori!”
  • Sephora ended a makeup partnership with Olivia Jade.
  • Felicity Huffman pled guilty and will be facing 10 months in prison. She is guilty of paying 15,000 to facilitate her daughter cheating on the SATs. Huffman was among 13 parents to also plea guilty. Huffman is due back in court on May 21 for a sentencing hearing. Her Netflix project has been postponed.

There has been a lot of backlash from college students. Most think it is unfair how rich people can buy themselves into college without actually working hard to get it. There are more worthy students who deserve the spot in a good college but did not get it because of this scandal and rich people who buy their kids in. There were even protestors protesting at colleges.

Overall this whole scandal has been a huge mess, and it does not seem like we will see the end of it anytime soon. Although I do feel somewhat bad for some of the kids of rich parents who did not know that their parents did this and ashamed them, what the celebrities and wealthy parents did was not right at all. It is unfair to hard working students who put in a lot of effort in their school work and did not go to a very good school because rich kids took their  spots. Well all we can do know is wait and see which parent is next to enter the jail cell!

Sources:

https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a27097659/why-lori-loughlin-rejected-plea-deal/

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/us/lori-loughlin-mossimo-giannulli-plea/index.html

https://parade.com/554726/paulettecohn/see-inside-lori-loughlins-35-million-mansion-is-up-for-grabs/

https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/college-cheating-scam-scandal-felicity-huffman-lori-loughlin.html