I really hate it when these stories come out. Not that I hate the exposure... but I hate knowing that there are yahoos out there that ponied up cash and bought their grades when I worked hard for mine. And, as a TA (teaching assistant) I really hate those who betray their school's trust like that.

And, finally, as a former community college student who went on to a four-year institution, graduated and went on to a graduate program, I'm just completely pissed off.

The worst part of this is now ALL students who went to that school during that time frame will be treated as suspect by other educational institutions and potential employers. These 84 cast a cloud of doubt over the entire student population.

I used to have that kind of access when I worked IT for the university at the same time that I was a student there, at least for one department. It seems like such a massive conflict of interest, but honestly no-one really could have bribed me to do something as blatently disgusting as faking grades when I worked hard for my own. But I know if I had been inclined to do that I could have found half a dozen people who would have paid me to do that.

We need to take back higher education and put the values back into it. Universal values, like honesty, hard work, and responsibility. Cheating, illegal drug use, alcohol poisoning and accidents caused by, reckless behavior and vandalism... I'm sure we've all seen too much of it. Schools should just throw out students guilty of such behavior- no "suspended for the semester" crap- and possibly join other colleges in blacklisting the worst offenders. I'm sure plenty of administrators agree with me on principle... but would rather keep "problem" students around as long as possible to keep recieving a few more tuition checks.

Incidents like this one don't just come out of nowhere. The dishonest student employees, and those who bribed them, most likely had a habit of dishonesty from the university letting them get away with all sorts of minor offenses- undetected or unpunished.

Now these supposed A and B students are finding out just how hard college really is. And taking space from those who truly earned their grades.

As a TA in 1979, a foreign exchange student actually offered me $500 to raise his grade to a D! I reported him to the dean, who took it to the next level and so on. By the end of the day, he had been expelled and immigration was notified of his new status. He was deported back to Iran, those being the days when "students" were causing the Sha all sorts of problems, and this one had apparently been very active in the US (hence his Fs).

I was also offered some T&A for an A. Ethics sucks, sometimes.

I hope none of those wankers were medical students!

Theres a useful saying to be used here, it invoves a horse and stable, but I can't remember how the rest of it goes...