West Point has expelled 8 cadets following last year's cheating scandal

• Over 70 cadets at West Point were accused of cheating on a math exam in May 2020.
• On Friday, the academy released a statement confirming that 51 of those cadets will repeat a year and eight will be expelled.
• The academy also announced that it will discontinue a program put in place to help protect cadets in violation of the academy's honor code from being kicked out.

In what's being called West Point's biggest cheating scandal in decades, 51 cadets will be required to repeat a year and eight have been expelled, academy officials said Friday.

Last year, 73 cadets were accused of cheating on a final math exam in May, which was taken remotely because of the pandemic.

According to a statement from the academy, of those 73 cadets, six resigned during the investigation, four were acquitted, and two were cleared. Of the 61 left, 51 were turned back a full year, two were turned back six months, and eight were expelled.

"Character development is the most important thing we do at West Point. It is critical to building leaders for our Army," Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams said in the statement. "The tenets of honorable living remain immutable, and the outcomes of our leader development system remain the same, to graduate Army officers that live honorably, lead honorably, and demonstrate excellence. West Point must be the gold standard for developing Army officers. We demand nothing less than impeccable character from our graduates."

Those allowed to stay at the academy will be on probation for the remainder of their time there. And, of the eight expelled, five were offered the opportunity to reapply to the academy after serving eight to twelve months as an enlisted soldier, but readmission is not guaranteed, according to the statement.

The academy also announced that it will discontinue a program known as the willful admission process, which can protect cadets in violation of the honor code from being kicked out. According to the academy, 55 cadets involved in the scandal admitted to cheating through the program.

According to a report by USA Today, this was the biggest cheating scandal for the academy since 1976, when over 150 cadets were caught cheating on a mechanical engineering exam.