UW-Madison students in Accounting 340 cheated on a take-home exam that was due May 9, according to Michael Knetter, dean of UW-Madison School of Business.
Professor Kathy Hurtt required her students to work independently on the exam, but discovered many of her students worked in groups, said Kate Heinemann, a UW-Madison senior who is in the class.
\We actually had to sign a statement that said, 'I will not discuss this with anybody,'"" she said.
Hurtt declined to comment on the incident.
According to Heinemann, the skills Hurtt acquired as a fraud auditor helped her realize similarities between exams.
""What she told us was she used to be a fraud auditor ... and so it was her job to look for the little details,"" Heinemann said.
In response to the discovery, Hurtt administered an unannounced exam, which resulted in lower scores, according to Kristopher Drankiewicz, a UW-Madison junior who is in the class. However, Drankiewicz said he thought the lower scores on the second exam were not necessarily the result of cheating on the first.
""You can give any kind of exam to someone for a week, open book and open note and they'll do fine,"" he said. ""But when you have them do it in an hour, that's going to be pretty tough.""
According to Drankiewicz, Hurtt said she suspected about 60 students cheated.
However, Knetter said this number is probably inflated.
""I think that [60] is an exaggeration, but we don't know the exact number yet,"" he said.
Guilty students who do not confess will face harsh consequences, according to Heinemann.
""[The department head] gave us a talk about how if we didn't go and confess that you'd be barred from the five year professional [business] program,"" she said.
However, Knetter said Hurtt and the business department are undecided on what actions to take.
""I don't think we have completely determined what the consequences are at this point,"" he said. ""We're going to take action against the students that did cheat. People will learn a lesson from this.""
Drankiewicz said many students, both uninvolved and guilty, are anxious about being suspected and came to Hurtt to describe their level of involvement in the scam.
""I think everyone is pretty worried about it,"" he said.
Because of the incident, Hurtt is considering changing course material for the remainder of the semester, according to Heinemann.
""For the rest of the semester we were going to be talking about internal controls and securing your business and securing your accounting work,"" she said. ""[But] she wasn't sure that she wanted to teach us that now that she realizes such a high percentage of the class are themselves the cheaters.\
