ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Three faculty members at the University of Central have been given notice that they are facing firing for allegedly helping a graduate student obtain a doctoral degree in return for the student aiding an institute at the school in getting grant money.
The three faculty members were put on paid leave Monday and have an opportunity to contest the university’s findings. They have been barred from UCF facilities.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that UCF officials began an investigation when someone called a university hotline to report a student was “being unusually helped” in exchange for “providing and overseeing research funds” for a lab at the Institute for Simulation and Training. The student worked for an agency that provided research grants, and the agency had been one of the institute’s biggest sources of funding.
The three employees are the director of the institute and two professors who were on the student’s dissertation committee. According to its website, the institute focuses on the promotion of “human-centered modeling and simulation technology and increasing our understanding of simulation’s role in training and education.”
“This is a disturbing incident involving a small number of people who intentionally violated our policies and breached our trust,” said UCF Interim President Thad Seymour in a statement. “We will not tolerate it, or let it go quietly.”
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