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Sex For Grades Scandal Rocks East Bay College
WALNUT CREEK -- The Diablo Valley College cash-for-grades scandal has taken a new turn with reports that sex may have also be traded for better marks.
The newest revelation has come from Gary Fincher, DVC's admissions and records director, who told the San Jose Mercury News that one student employee had told him and other administrators that sexual favors sometimes were exchanged in lieu of cash.
Dozens of students are suspected of paying up to $600 to records-office employees for each improved grade. At first 84 students were suspected, but Diablo Valley College officials say at least 20 have been cleared.
Some of the students may have transferred to four-year colleges, including campuses at the University of California and California State University systems. But officials at campuses that may have been affected say they would have to be provided names before they could start investigating.
Diablo Valley spokeswoman Chrisanne Knox said Tuesday that once the investigation is complete they will send out corrected transcripts to any schools that received false grade information.
The scam began soon after a new management system designed by a firm called Datatel was installed in the college district in 1999, Fincher told the Contra Costa Times in a story published Tuesday.
A student employee figured out how to run the grade scam and later told others, Fincher said.
The scheme was discovered in January 2006 and administrators believe as many as 400 grades may have been changed, some more than once. Some grades were changed for students in a second college in the district, Los Medanos College.
Fincher, who previously worked for Datatel, started working at the college about three weeks before an anonymous tip led to the discovery of the scam and subsequently worked on fixing the problem, the newspaper said.
He has been out of the office with medical problems since February and has been told his contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of this month.
Fincher, 58, is engaged in a dispute with the district over worker's compensation pay. He told the newspaper he believes he was fired in part because he criticized college leaders for not fixing the grade management system quickly enough.
Campus police investigated the case for 15 months and sent the results to county prosecutors in May.
Deputy district attorney Dodie Katague said he expects to file felony charges against some suspects later this summer.
Sex For Grades Scandal Rocks East Bay College
WALNUT CREEK -- The Diablo Valley College cash-for-grades scandal has taken a new turn with reports that sex may have also be traded for better marks.
The newest revelation has come from Gary Fincher, DVC's admissions and records director, who told the San Jose Mercury News that one student employee had told him and other administrators that sexual favors sometimes were exchanged in lieu of cash.
Dozens of students are suspected of paying up to $600 to records-office employees for each improved grade. At first 84 students were suspected, but Diablo Valley College officials say at least 20 have been cleared.
Some of the students may have transferred to four-year colleges, including campuses at the University of California and California State University systems. But officials at campuses that may have been affected say they would have to be provided names before they could start investigating.
Diablo Valley spokeswoman Chrisanne Knox said Tuesday that once the investigation is complete they will send out corrected transcripts to any schools that received false grade information.
The scam began soon after a new management system designed by a firm called Datatel was installed in the college district in 1999, Fincher told the Contra Costa Times in a story published Tuesday.
A student employee figured out how to run the grade scam and later told others, Fincher said.
The scheme was discovered in January 2006 and administrators believe as many as 400 grades may have been changed, some more than once. Some grades were changed for students in a second college in the district, Los Medanos College.
Fincher, who previously worked for Datatel, started working at the college about three weeks before an anonymous tip led to the discovery of the scam and subsequently worked on fixing the problem, the newspaper said.
He has been out of the office with medical problems since February and has been told his contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of this month.
Fincher, 58, is engaged in a dispute with the district over worker's compensation pay. He told the newspaper he believes he was fired in part because he criticized college leaders for not fixing the grade management system quickly enough.
Campus police investigated the case for 15 months and sent the results to county prosecutors in May.
Deputy district attorney Dodie Katague said he expects to file felony charges against some suspects later this summer.
