Today I was labeled a "whistleblower and tattletail because I, along with numerous other students, witnessed a table of individuals cheating on an exam in our Anatomy and Physiology class which is a major pre-req into entrance into the nursing program. One of the individuals completed the exam and recieved it back, and took the test back to the table where she distributed all the correct answers to them, in which they in turn proceeded to change all their previous answers. In absolute boldness, one of the girls said quite loudly, "what is the answer to the last one?", and the first individual read off the answers to her. The proffessor does not proctor the exams. He simply hands them out and grades them as soon as you complete them, and then hands them back with the right answers corrected in. He does not wait until each student has completed the exam to pass out the results. Nor does he cruise the classroom to make sure that everyone is done before begining a new lecture. I felt that this was a major loophole that obviously a table of students had taken advantage of. In his syllabus he states that SUSPICION of cheating will result in failure of the exams.
Because at least 15 other students witnessed the cheating as well, we held a brief meeting about the issue and I told them I would address the professor since I was sitting next to the students and saw the entire situation. After class myself and another student asked to speak to the professor in confidentiality. The accussed students had caught wind earlier that they were going to be outted and had actually stuck around in the classroom to see who the individuals were. After they left, I told the proffessor what I and the other students had witnessed. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and told me there was nothing he could do since he didn't see it happening and that next time I would have to tell him while it is happening. He also stated "and if they cheated on the last exam it didn't help them much because they made a 55". They recieved a 98 (which is an A) on today's test that they cheated on. The proffessor regarded me with an "I could careless" attitude and proceeded to pack his things. He did not ask me any questions about who else was involved, raised no concern that he is passing CHEATING students with an A into a highly competitive medical program who are in direct violation of the Colleges Code of Ethics. As I left with the other student, we noticed that the accused were actually waiting on us to leave and procceeded to follow us and threaten us for telling on them. They cautioned that I had better mind my own business and continued with verbal harrassment to the point I had to use profanity to stop them from FOLLOWING ME TO MY CAR. This incident has been brought to the proffessors attention by more than one occasion and he has not taken any steps in changing the testing process.
There is going to be a pending investigation involving the students and the facult member who is now KNOWINGLY aiding them in their attempts to fraud the system. Nursing is a limited access program and is based solely on a point based system. Only sixty of 250 students are admitted each fall and to think that a group of UNQUALIFIED individuals are cheating their way to an open slot is a dissapointment to the College's Mission Statement. We do NOT NEED THESE TYPES OF PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF THE PUBLIC'S HEALTH! These are not leaders, these are not nurses. How would you feel if the doctor who was about to diagnose you had cheated is way through medical school? We have got to crack down on academic dishonesty and stop allowing it to continue because it's easy to turn the other cheek. How would you feel if you sacrificed work and family to dedicate yourself into getting into the nursing program, only to find out that there weren't enough slots, and the people who got in CHEATED their way in.
I am sorry for the detail but it is the only way to explain the severity of the situation. As professionals in the field who have worked very hard to get where you are, what would you have done?
