FAMU has asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to take over the FAMU grade change investigation.University officials said they believe their involvement would strengthen the university’s efforts to have those involved prosecuted. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has committed to the investigation.
“We are pleased that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has made this determination,” said Sharon P. Saunders, university spokesperson. “Their involvement will send a signal that we are serious about seeking prosecution.”
On September 18, 2007, FAMU Police Department launched an investigation after discovering that unauthorized grade changes had been made.
WOW!! I do not trust outsiders point blank period!!!!!! Yet, I also do not like insiders who would put the University I love in this situation! I think they should step foward and admit who they are and what they have done. Do what is best for the University!
ReplyDeleteSTEP DOWN!!!!
Ummm, this is definitely a great move on behalf of the Ammons' administration to call in the feds. I bet some folks are pissed off.
ReplyDeleteThey are not going to step down. They are to arrogant to do that. This is just what we need: a profound sweep of INTEGRITY! I applaud the genuine effort to restore the character of FAMU in the nation!
ReplyDeleteYeah, great move. Now those that would like for this to go away can't play politics with politicians/appointed officials behind the scene.
ReplyDeleteArrogance the down fall of false men/women!! Idols unto themselves.
ReplyDeleteTHROW the book at the perps!
ReplyDeleteThe person(s) responsible for this problem clearly don't give a damn about FAMU. The university is under a microscope with SACS is reading every headline. Anyone selfish enough to put FAMU's future in such jeopardy should be behind bars.
BURN in hell grade changers!
i'm sure when the folk(s) who did this (grade changing) probably never imagined that it would come to this, and i bet this mess goes way back and can be traced to a veteran worker who's been there for quite a number of years, not someone fairly new. i see jail time on the horizon if the allegations hold up. and that's a good thing. props to Ammons.
ReplyDeleteI have a hunch that no FAMU employees are involved.
ReplyDeleteI believe a copy of the grade sheet is kept by the instructor, a copy is kept in the department, a copy goes to the dean's office, and a copy goes to the registrar's office. If a grade on a student's transcript differs from his grade on any of these copies, then the person(s) who is(are) responsible for fraudulently entering grades on the student's transcript may not be easy to catch. Because if different people work with the same transcript over several semesters and there is no record of when individuals worked on the transcripts, then who do you send to jail for fraud? Bringing in the feds sounds good, but it will only increase the negative publicity and bring in lawers to defend the accused. Unless there is clear evidence of who committed the fraud, FAMU will be faced with negative publicity again. I think this matter should have been handled internally. The damage has already been done. We need to institute a fail-safe method of recording grades on transcripts, and let it be know that any degree that was issues on the basis of fraudulent grades will be revoked. We don’t need a long protracted search for the guilty who may never be found.
ReplyDeleteFSU's tough love gets results
ReplyDeleteBy BILL MAXWELL, Times Columnist
Published November 25, 2007
While so-called meritocracy is shutting the doors to higher education to black students in many states nationwide, Florida State University in Tallahassee is quietly paving a way for highly motivated black students to achieve who otherwise would be unable to attend a first-rate university.
The St. Petersburg Times reported on Monday that FSU has the highest black student six-year graduation rate in the nation. To wit: About 71 percent of FSU's black students graduate within six years, exceeding the state average by 17 percent and the national average by 30 percent. In fact, mostly white FSU graduates more black students than historically black Florida A&M University across town.
Those of us who have been following such trends and keeping track of the programs being implemented nationwide to recruit and retain black students are not surprised. Through its Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement, FSU has been doing almost everything right to nurture black students for several years.
Even before former Gov. Jeb Bush implemented One Florida in 1999, which ended affirmative action in college admissions, FSU was quietly finding ways to attract and keep black students through CARE.
Using real-life criteria, CARE accepts students from low-income families who are the first to attend college. Students are judged on traits such as their character, study habits, willingness to succeed and the motivation they showed in high school. Scores on the SAT are secondary.
Satisfying these criteria will get you into FSU, but they will not keep you there. Indeed, getting in is the easy part. After students are admitted, they must, for example, attend a six-week summer program on campus that introduces them to the rigors of academia. Counselors, mentors and administrators ferry the students around the city, and they try to obtain adequate financial aid for the students so they will not have to work too many hours.
Then the hard part starts: CARE students are required to study in the student union lab a minimum of eight hours a week. If their grades fall, they must put in more hours and improve. To assist them, they are given tutors and technicians who always are on duty and eager to serve.
History professor Fabian Tata coordinates the lab and, according to the Times, he meticulously tracks every hour students spend there. The payoff is that the retention rate for CARE students, 92 percent, is higher than that of other FSU freshmen, 88 percent.
The source of Tata's success with his students is simple, as he told the Times: "We are hard on them. We make sure they realize what an opportunity this is."
I spoke with two CARE students by telephone. One, a sophomore with a B grade-point average, said: "They gave me a chance to study at FSU, even though I made 961 on the SAT. The University of Florida wouldn't even talk to me, and I didn't want to go to FAMU. I'd stay in the lab 24-7 if they'd let me. This is the best thing that ever happened to me. I can't let my family down."
The other, a junior with a B+ grade-point average, said: "I'm tired all the time because I have to study so hard. I want to be an engineer, and you can't be an engineer if you don't work hard. If I had stayed in Fort Lauderdale, I would've been killed on Sistrunk Boulevard or something. Some of my classmates at Dillard used to laugh at me because I made good grades. I didn't care. I want to make it so I can help my family. Dr. Tata is tough on us, but that's what we need. If you want to lollygag, you'd better not get in the CARE program. You'd better be motivated."
Although CARE is a great success story, I hope that it does not become a permanent, institutionalized crutch at FSU and at the state's other universities. My hope is that black organizations, civic and otherwise, discover the wisdom of FSU's tough love and start demanding that black students work hard and develop the kind of character and values that successful people worldwide exhibit.
This essential work should not be left to the universities alone. It is a shared responsibility.
"I didn't want to go to FAMU"
ReplyDeleteI guesss FSU's ice is colder than our also eh?
Damn shame. What else are they offering down there...
White is Better 1101
The article is an powerfully interesting attestment to why it is key and critical for FAMU to address the concerns that have crippled our university. Those numbers by FSU do not lie and they are to be commended. We at FAMU need to stop defending our history and hold this new generation accountable for the profound opportunities we have given them. We must step up and stop allowing the WE ARE BLACK mindset to cripple us. Ammons is bringing tough love back to the campus with the spirit of excellence with caring. Instead getting upset about the person not wanting to come to FAMU, let's find out why and adjust to the needs and demands of the people our mission says we are to reach! I LOVE YOU FAMU!
ReplyDeleteThat FSU article breaks down what we have been worried would happen to HBCUs in general. FSU now graduates more blackfolk than FAMU, and that trend will not likely change unless FAMU ups its game. FSU is LOVING this new attention and will sooner or later go public with what they've been able to do. Wow!
ReplyDeletedoes the person whose behind this grade change fiasco have a coke problem?
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was on the hill and I failed a math class and I inquired about a grade change trough clandestine activity and they wanted too much...I took the course over and passed!
..im so glad I did!
Anonymous said
ReplyDelete"I believe a copy of the grade sheet is kept by the instructor, a copy is kept in the department, a copy goes to the dean's office, and a copy goes to the registrar's office. If a grade on a student's transcript differs from his grade on any of these copies, then the person(s) who is(are) responsible for fraudulently entering grades on the student's transcript may not be easy to catch."
It's all electronic now. The instructor turns the grade in by computer. The copy in all locations reflects what is on the computer.
Supposedly only the instructor or the registrar can give or change the grade. Any change of grades must go through a process with the instructor initiating the change through a hard copy and then the change being approved by the department, dean then the registrar.
It looks like the computer protocols have been breached. If so all academic transactions are suspect.
We have taken too much forgranted in that our primary constituents want more than our politically driven institutions that cause failure while the FSUs pick up on that need. Look, cut the BS! We need to raise the standard at our school. This we cannot blame racism for. This is the ineptness of leadership. We ourselves are damaging the HBCU.
ReplyDeleteBill Maxwell said:"In fact, mostly white FSU graduates more black students than historically black Florida A&M University across town."
ReplyDeleteThis is another misleading statement. FAMU still graduates more blacks with baccalaureates than anyone else in the nation. FSU graduates a higher PERCENTAGE than FAMU.
Numbers don't mean a damn thing. What are these black graduates doing once they leave FSU? What are their degrees in? It's good to know that FAMU's rejects are able to get into FSU. Social graduating black students will not help these students. FAMU's curriculum is much more rigorous than FSU's and it is much more difficult to graduate from FAMU than FSU. Lets look at this thing realisticly before jumping to conclusions. It seems to me that FSU is playing the role of junior colleges.
ReplyDeletePoster 3:06 is RIGHT!
ReplyDeleteCheck this website
ReplyDeletehttp://www.diverseeducation.com/AfricanAmericanBaccalaureate2007.asp
This is the link in case the above doesn't work.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.diverseeducation.com/
AfricanAmericanBaccalaureate2007.asp
NuRattler,
ReplyDeletePlease post your email.
Why is Maxwell claiming FSU graduates more blacks than FAMU instead of saying it's a higher graduation rate?
ReplyDeleteOnce more Maxwell has it wrong. What else do you expect from someone who still claims Castell Bryant was a good financial manager despite what the state auditors said?
I agree that everything is done by computer and the new EIT/PeopleSoft can tell everything that is needed to know, (who, when, where, and what and how many times) so if the instructor does not have a hard copy and did not initiate the grade change, then the person(s) that use their password and initiated the change should be dealt with.
ReplyDeleteAnytime anything is done with PeopleSoft it can be tracked, so the US Attorneys’ office and the PeopleSoft/EIT personnel should work together and find out who is behind this.
I agree that the degrees should be revoked for the persons with the false grades, and if the students are currently in school and paid for, or allowed their grades to be changed, they too should be expelled from school and that should follow them wherever they attempt go.
This a great institution and the current LOYAL students, faculty and staff should not suffer for the ones that did this.
Power to the Ammons Administration and US Attorneys!!
Hubba, That!
ReplyDeleteGrades are submitted by computer accessibility/passwords. The professor submits the grades to the registrar's office on the Monday following the end of Finals Week. Grade changes occur by paper forms. Professors submit grade changes, then they are approved (or not) by dept. chairs. If they are approved, then the hard copy goes to the appropriate dean's office, where it is then, most likely, approved by the dean/designated dean in the appropriate capacity. Next the form goes to the registrar's office, where it is then approved/signed off on by the designated official in the registrar's office. Generally, the process takes approximately ten to fourteen days, providing it is a "regular" grade change. If the student is a candidate for graduation, then the process is a bit faster, around seven days or fewer. When all signatures have been affixed, every division/department gets a copy of the signed document, and the professor gets a copy as well (which is generally a "yellow" copy). No one, not a dept. chair, dean or anyone else, except the university provost/president, has the power to change a grade, if the professor does not do it. If grade changes have occurred without the aforementioned process being adhered to, then a problem arises (and most likely an "inside person in the registrar's office" has been engaged in dirty business. This should be interesting. Grade tampering/changing is a very, very serious offense. For verification/clarification purposes, I'm a professor at FAMU, and I know what the procedure is for submitting grade changes. The process never wavers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is an inside job, and I once again agree, this should and will be VERY interesting.
ReplyDeleteAlso being a faculty member, I am aware that some staff have the ability to reinstate or late register a student to a class in addition to assist in adding them to a grade roll way after the fact. Faculty members who leave the university are still in the system.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like some federal money was involved (Financial Aid).
For the Feds to come in, we could theoretically be talking about creating a whole transcript by computer. I hope that is not the case.
read the article carefully Rattlers! FSU has higher retention rates than FAMU, by NO MEANS do they graduate more black students than FAMU!
ReplyDeleteLog on to the board of governors website and check the stats for yourself....
"it is much more difficult to graduate from FAMU than FSU"
ReplyDeleteNot if you know someone who can change a grade for you!
You are gonna eat that last statement!
ReplyDeleteMan you want a degree at FAMU all you need is some cash $$$$$$$. Why study at FAMU when you can buy any degree you want?
ReplyDelete