Mirror - Vol. 34, No. 04 - September 25, 2008

              WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 25,2008
Vol. 34, Iss. 4 - 28 pages
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Fairfield fraud
follow-up:
Teachers upset with
lack of involvement,
lenient punishment
BY KEITH CONNORS
"All of the faculty are on the same page," Glenn Sauer
said as he shifted his glasses upward.
Well over three months have passed since Sauer,
chair of the biology department, received an alarming
phone call.
"I was the bridge," Sauer said, recalling his role in the
StagWeb grade-changing incident. "Once we realized the
magnitude of it, I contacted Dr. Grossman and the dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences." ,
"First, the professor who saw the discrepancy alerted
me. Sure enough, the first thing I did was look at my grades
and saw that one of them was different," said Sauer.
He added that other biology faculty who had the
student were notified and told to check their grades. Two
additional grade changes were found in the first semester
o f .^. the academic year.
.^r^SSSSj^^ In the opinion of Sauer and
JZZgF'*" '"""^S^ tne majority of the professors
jgg^iastji ^fe» involved, the lack of faculty
involvement from that point
forward is troubling.
"Technically, a situation
like this is in Dr. Grossman's
domain," Sauer said. "But we
feel that we should have been
notified right away. There really
should've been more frequent and
direct communication."
Professor Richard DeWitt
of the philosophy department
echoed similar sentiments, but
even went as far as to say that
certain guidelines do exist in
the University's current Aca-demic
Handbook that mandate
more faculty involvement.
"In terms of procedure,
there is one in place for things
like academic dishonesty,"
DeWitt said. "Dr. Grossman
suggested that academic dis-honesty
guidelines do not
cover this case, which they [do]."
Photo Illustration by Jon
Ollwerther
Missing identity: While
the student has not been
identified, a faculty mem-ber
made an inquiry to the
Fairfield Police, who will
have the report for "The
Mirror" by next week.
However, the cheat-ing
was not a criminal
act because the faculty
member's identity were
not technically stolen and
the grades belonged to
Fairfield.
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Splish splash, we can't take a bath
Photos by Jon Ollwerther/The Mirror
Water no more: A construction worker installing traffic signal equipment on the corner of North Benson Road and Barlow
Road ruptured a water main break early Tuesday morning. As a result, the University and surrounding neighborhoods
suffered low water pressure, discolored water and in some cases, no water at all, as in the Village area of campus.
DeWitt's reference is directed towards Fairfield's
Undergraduate Course catalogue, which mandates a defi-nition
of academic dishonesty, as well as a step-by-step
procedural system following an incident.
First, the catalogue defines "falsification of academic
records or grades" and "falsification or fabrication of data"
Check next week for the police report
and further updates on the cheating
scandal at Fairfield
as forms of academic dishonesty.
According to the catalogue, "in the event of such dis-honesty,
the professors may record an 'F' for the course" and
"when appropriate, expulsion may be recommended."
As for Grossman's final decision itself, Sauer felt
that the punishment certainly does not meet the level of
the crime.
"The faculty failure in the course would be a
more appropriate response," Sauer said, in response to
Grossman's decision to mark the final grade as "with-drawn."
SEE "FACULTY" ON P. 4
killK Women's soccer ties UConn, Pete Francis interview
Commentary Campus Life
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Entertainment
—l
Sports
"A crystal 'Clear'
controversy"
p. 10
"Bonjour, ne ho: new
ways to say hello to
study abroad"
p. 13
"A lone dispatch: Pete
Francis plays the Fairfield
Theater Sep. 24th"
p. 19
"Making it eight"
p. 28