“The Oscars are on Sunday because the best way to end Black History Month is to have the whitest Oscars ever,” joked Ellen DeGeneres in reference to the 88th Academy Awards.

After the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the list of Oscar nominees, which consisted exclusively of white people in the top four categories (actor in a leading role, actress in a leading role, actor in a supporting role, and actress in a supporting role,) the Academy came under fire with allegations of racism within the nominations. This was the second year in a row that all of the nominees in these categories were white.

The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite quickly began to trend on Twitter, with many deciding to boycott the show altogether. Taking place on February 28th, 2016, this years Oscar ratings reached an 8-year low.

Host and comedian Chris Rock tackled the #OscarsSoWhite topic all night, beginning his opening monologue by calling it the “White People’s Choice Awards.”

“We want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors,” Rock went on to say.

The night continued with jabs at the lack of diversity. Angela Bassett starred in a “Black History Month Minute” short where, as she began to honor and describe an actor, it seemed as though he would be black- until it was revealed that she was talking about the white actor Jack Black.

Stacey Dash, a black actress who has come under fire for whitewashing herself as well as stating that “there shouldn’t be a black history month” also appeared for a bizarre, failed joke. In what was supposed to be a stroke of irony, she walked out on the stage and referred to herself as the “new director of a minority outreach program” who “can not wait to help my people out.” An uncomfortable few moments followed as audience barely laughed or applauded. The joke seemed to go over the heads of the predominantly white crowd as they seemed to be out of touch with her controversial, anti-black remarks.

“I feel that there was not an unfair representation. People are just jealous because people who deserve Oscars are winning them, and people who do not are just being sore losers,” said sophomore Saad Akram.

Junior Nadia Morales disagreed, stating that “there’s always been a trend of a lot of black actors not getting their fair due and receiving the credit they deserve. It’s just recently come into light and more people are becoming aware of it.” Morales continued, stating  “the fact that Stacey Dash gave a speech on black lives matter was very irritating. She’s been claiming white and made a huge commotion about it, and then sat up there and said “hey, we matter, go us. It made no sense.”

While diversity was a big topic at the Oscars this year, sexual assault was as well. Joe Biden appeared and gave a touching speech on reducing sexual abuse both on and off college campuses just before introducing Lady Gaga who performed her nominated song “Til It Happens To You.” He encouraged viewers to take a pledge to intervene, which can be found at itsonus.org.

On the red carpet before the show, Lady Gaga admitted that she is a survivor of sexual violence herself. During her performance, victims of sexual abuse stood together, arms out, with phrases such as “not your fault,” “we believe you,” and “survivor” written on them. “Lady Gaga’s performance was stunning and it was so powerful to see her up there with the Vice President of our country addressing such important issues at a highly publicized event,” said junior Heather Babin. “They hit the key topics about sexual assault and her performance was amazing. The song itself really presents the matter and how people may possibly feel mentally, with people telling them “it’s okay” or “try and move on” because sexual assault is not okay and it’s not that easy to move on, and people need to understand that,” Babin finished.

Another headline moment of the night was Leonardo DiCaprio’s first Oscar win. Many have argued that he deserved an Oscar many times before, but this year DiCaprio finally won the Best Actor award for his role in The Revenant. “I felt that it’s been long overdue for his acting skills to be recognized in one of the most highly watched and credited award show for actors,” said junior Shahara Rahman. “He has worked so hard and I felt like it was finally his moment to shine.”

Other winners included Brie Larson as Best Actress, Mark Rylance as Best Supporting Actor, and Alicia Vikander as Best Supporting Actress. Mad Max: Fury Road racked up six awards, winning more than any other film, and Spotlight took home the Oscar for best picture.