BROWNSVILLE -- As we first reported on Action 4 News Monday night, employees and students at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College were caught cheating.
In our “4” Investigation, sources close to the case said there were a total of 12 to 14 people involved. Tuesday night, we learned the number is even higher.
In a statement released only on Action 4 News Tuesday night, the university said “a total of twenty individuals were implicated by the end of the investigation” that started in the spring of 2008.
The written statement provided a clear breakdown of all involved: “Five employees (in the Distance Education and Instructional Technologies Department) and students, one was an employee only; the remainder (14) were students only” according to UTB.
All twenty people involved are accused of breaching the universities online learning system called Blackboard. Blackboard is accessed via the web to look at assignments, take exams, and look at grades. Action 4 News learned the breach allowed students access to exams before they were given.
“Subjects of the investigation admitted to cheating and helping others cheat. The allegations included selling exam answers and taking exams for others,” UTB told Action 4 News.
The Cameron County District Attorney was asked their advice on the case by UTB’s Police Chief. Assistant D.A. Chuck Mattingly said their advice was to prosecute, but they never heard back from the university.
Following our story, UTB contacted Action 4 News to tell us disciplinary action had been taken against the students.
Employment actions included separation and designation as “non-rehirable.” Academic actions were handled under our academic misconduct policy. Because of federal student privacy laws, UTB cannot comment on penalties that were imposed in any specific academic misconduct case.
The university also revoked all administrative privileges to the Blackboard system giving only two members of the executive management (the Chief Information Officer and Information Security Officer) access.
“Our Department of Internal Audits also reviewed the controls in place and made recommendations. By the end of June 2008, the DE/IT Department implemented new procedures implementing the recommendations. Moreover, we continue to monitor all our processes on campus, including those at DE/IT,” said a UTB spokesperson.
Many asked why it took so long for UTB/TSC to reveal this cheating scandal, but no explanation was offered.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT