#trending: Petition calls for UCLA to investigate influencer and tutor Brooke Lim’s admissions essay after plagiarism accusations
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Early last week, a Google document detailing Ms Lim’s plagiarism was posted online and subsequently circulated on TikTok by the account “sugaresqueessay”. The document, written by unnamed authors, accused Ms Lim of plagiarising “over 70 per cent” of an essay titled On Being Afraid Of Eating which she published on her blog Grayscale Copy on April 18. The essay was also shared on her Telegram channel. Ms Lim allegedly wrote that the longform essay on eating disorders was an autobiographical recount and that the topic was “very personal and sensitive” to her. The Google document, however, claimed that Ms Lim’s essay was plagiarised from multiple books and articles, and even included a table comparing the various texts which Ms Lim allegedly copied to the original materials. “The similarities include: Sentences, whole paragraphs, plot points, and specific details. While some words have been painstakingly paraphrased, the overall structure of full paragraphs are copied with no credit whatsoever to the original creators, despite the obvious correlations.” The authors behind the document explained that they were able to identify the plagiarised text because they “have eating disorders” and have read books about the condition. Upon noticing the similarities, the authors claimed that they messaged Ms Lim anonymously but she did not respond. Ms Lim, however, supposedly removed the plagiarised text afterwards. The document also accused Ms Lim of plagiarising her response to a media interview with lifestyle website The Ladies Cue in January this year, where she allegedly reproduced an interview answer by dating app Bumble’s founder Whitney Wolfe Herd.MS LIM APOLOGISES
In a video posted on TikTok on Monday, Ms Lim apologised to all her students, social media followers as well as the authors of the books which she plagiarised.She emphasised that she had not gained financially from the publication of the essay and added that the work had not been submitted as a college admissions essay or as part of any academic assignment.
Apart from taking down the essay from her blog, Ms Lim said that she was “all ears” to any suggestions on how to rectify the matter.
Many online users condemned the English tutor’s actions, calling it “disturbing”, “appalling” and “unethical”.
Some even dismissed her apology as “superficial”.
On a Reddit thread discussing the controversy, one user wrote: “Considering the fact that she’s a (General Paper) tutor, and has a huge platform with many students looking up to her, this is honestly unacceptable and super unethical, not to mention unfair for the authors of the books.”
Several people, however, expressed support for Ms Lim and claimed that some netizens had gone too far in their efforts to punish her.
One TikTok user wrote: “She is wrong indeed and has to face the consequences but haters (are) trying to ruin her entire future. That's just too much.”
Responding to TODAY’s queries, Ms Lim said that she is aware of the petition and understands the concerns raised by those who have signed it.
She clarified that she has not accepted UCLA’s admission offer and is not yet a student of the school.
She added that UCLA has not reached out to her following the plagiarism accusations.
“I trust that the school will do its due diligence and I would be open to clarifying my stance directly should the need arise,” she said.
TODAY has also reached out to UCLA for comment.
