BUTTE, Mont. ― Montana Tech faculty members want to revise the school’s “academic dishonesty” policy and undergo safety training after a summer in which they battled organized cheating by dozens of Middle Eastern students.
The school announced in August that it had expelled 15 summer school students.
The Montana Standard obtained a Faculty Senate report written by general engineering lab director Matt Egloff. It indicated students in six engineering courses were caught using phones, smart watches, hand signals or ear pieces; some created distractions and one apparently copied the answers from a previous year’s test, even though the exam was different.
Faculty said students became more aggressive when confronted. One faculty member received a threatening phone message.
The faculty is asking the Academic Standards Committee to create an XF grade on transcripts for students who fail a class because they cheated.
