West Point Military School shocked by exam cheating scandal

New York | The prestigious American Military School at West Point has created a sensation with a widespread fraud scandal alleging that 70 students cheated on a math test in the spring, the most serious violation of the founding “code of honor” since 1976. .

“A ‘caddy’ does not tolerate lying, cheating, stealing or anything like that,” said the school code, located on the north bank of the Hudson River in New York.

But in May 2020, the code slipped: by correcting the arithmetic tests, taken online due to the epidemic, the professors discovered the fraud and concluded it was fraud.

Seventy-three students – almost all were involved in the first year, and each was initiated by the Internal Commission.

After investigation and inquiries, two files were closed due to lack of evidence and another four students were released after resignation.

In the remaining 67 cases, 55 students admitted their mistake and are now following a special program called the “Special Leader Development Program” to promote their rehabilitation.

Eight files should be in the next investigation, four intermediate way.

“Despite the challenges of distance education and the pandemic, the West Point Honors Code and Personality Development Program remains strong,” said school spokeswoman Christopher Oford.

“The process of complying with this code is working and there is no exception in these cases. All cadets must answer for a violation of the code,” he said.

He said it was the biggest scam reported at West Point since 1976. That year, 152 students were accused of cheating, and the Army Secretary had to appoint a special commission.

It was decided that the rights of the students were not respected and the investigation was not complete.

Founded in 1802, West Point has about 4,000 cadets from the Army enrolled in a four-year course. In lieu of free education its students must sign up five years after graduation, the U.S. military estimates the price at 5,000 225,000.