The University of Southern California (USC), one of the eight universities involved in the massive college admissions scandal, is blocking students who are linked to the scam from class registration.
“USC has placed holds on the accounts of students who may be associated with the alleged admissions scheme,” the university announced in a statement on Monday, explaining that “this prevents the students from registering for classes or acquiring transcripts while their cases are under review.”
The university, who said that the affected students have been notified, then added, “Following the review, we will take the proper action related to their status, up to revoking admission or expulsion.” Additionally, USC will deny admission to any current applicants who are tied to the scandal.
Among USC’s students are the daughters of Lori Laughlin, one of the 50 parents arrested in what is the largest case of college admissions fraud ever prosecuted in U.S. history. Loughlin and the others involved in the scam masterminded by William “Rick” Singer are accused of falsifying test scores and bribing administrators and coaches to get their kids into some of the nation’s top universities, including USC, Yale, Georgetown University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of San Diego, University of Texas, Austin, Wake Forest University, and Stanford University.
Since news of the scandal broke last week, USC has also fired two faculty members who were indicted by the FBI for accepting over one million dollars in bribes and accepting non-athletes to the school under false pretenses.
In a press release published shortly after the investigation went public, USC’s interim president, Wanda Austin, said, “Moving forward, we will take all necessary steps to safeguard the integrity of our admissions process and to ensure we conduct ourselves with integrity and ethics consistent with our values.”
