USC may punish April Fools' email pranksters

USC may initiate a disciplinary process for two seniors who pulled off a mass email prank last week.

Levi Elias and Josh Wolk — who emailed over 52,000 students a prank announcement that Rick Caruso was the school’s new president — said in an interview that USC’s Office of Community Expectations told them it was reviewing the incident, and that they may be called to a disciplinary hearing.

A USC spokesperson declined to comment on the matter, citing “privacy laws.”

Initially, the school’s IT department barred the April Fools’ pranksters from accessing any of their USC-affiliated accounts, leaving them unable to respond to emails or submit class assignments, Wolk said. A Community Expectations staffer told them their accounts would be disabled until the unspecified hearing date, Elias added.

But by Saturday afternoon, after Morning, Trojan contacted the school for comment, the IT department restored their accounts. It was unclear why it reversed course.

The revelation that USC may initiate a disciplinary review for the pranksters was something of an about-face from its initial response to the mass email: On Wednesday, the school called it a “clever April Fools’ joke” in an official statement to media after apparently deleting the announcement from university email servers.

Elias and Wolk previously told Morning, Trojan that they used the learning management platform Brightspace to send the mass emails, but declined to share how they acquired the e-list, lest malicious actors take advantage of the system.

Annenberg Media reported that students found the prank “hilarious.” Several admitted to falling for it.

Even local TV station KTLA believed the late-night email, then had to run a correction hours later.

Tomo Chien can be reached at [email protected].