REPORT: Barnard College Officials Are Investigating An Alleged Cheating Scandal

Wikimedia CommonsBarnard College officials are reportedly investigating an alleged cheating scandal in the school's English department, Columbia campus blog Bwog reports.

According to Bwog, students in the class "allegedly passed answers back and forth and confirmed responses on their phones during regular reading quizzes, which consisted of basic poem identifications."

The senior lecturer teaching the class reportedly let students "self-grade" their quizzes, and became suspicious when the majority of students in the 123-person class received grades of 90 or better.

Making this alleged scandal even worse, the class — Major English Texts II — is "notoriously easy," according to Bwog.

No Barnard students have been expelled or faced disciplinary action, but the class instructor did call for "witnesses and confessions during class," Bwog reported. The registrar and dean are reportedly investigating.

It's not the first time in recent memory that accusations of cheating have plagued a top school. Last year, 125 Harvard students were investigated for cheating in an undergrad government class; many wound up temporarily withdrawing from school.

Barnard Vice Provost Hilary Link sent us this statement:

The College takes all allegations of cheating seriously. In this particular situation, college procedure was followed in that the professor, in consultation with relevant committees and her department chair, discounted quizzes because of a serious concern that academic integrity may have been compromised. In accordance with college policy, the professor supplemented the course assessment with a final exam. To date, no Barnard students have been identified as having cheated.