Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Maryland students admit to cheating with cell phones BY STEPHEN MANNING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ROCKVILLE, MD. - Six University of Maryland students have admitted cheating on an ac counting exam by using their cell phones to receive text messages with the answers, the school said Thursday. Another six students Svere implicated in the case. The scheme worked this way: Test-takers brought their cell phones into the exam with them. They used the phones to contact friends outside the classroom. The friends looked up the exam an swer key that had been posted on the Internet by the professor once the test had started. Then the friends messaged the answers back to the test-takers. Officials with the university business school said they caught the students in a sting: A fake an swer key with bogus answers was posted online after the exam be gan last month; then the exams were checked to see which test takers put down the bogus an swers. It appears most of the 12 stu dents hatched the plan indepen dently of each other, said John Zacker, head of the university’s of fice of judicial programs. He said it was the biggest cheating scheme uncovered on campus involving cell phones. “We’ve had isolated cases in past semesters, but not in these numbers,” he said. The case highlights the strug gle schools face as they try to keep up with technologically savvy stu dents. Hitotsubashi University in Japan failed 26 students in December for receiving e-mailed exam answers on their cell phones. The scope of the Maryland case is unprecedented national ly, said Diane Waryold, execu tive , director of Duke University’s Center for Academic Integrity. It is also a sign that students might have a technological edge on their old er professors, she said. “It’s a generational issue,” she said. “It’s safe to say our students are far more sophisticated.” The six Maryland students who confessed will fail the class and have a mark placed on their tran script that indicates they cheated. Five others either met with school officials or are awaiting trial by the school’s student honor coun cil. The 12th student died over the winter break. Zacker did not know the circumstances surrounding the death and would not release the student’s name. Provost William Destler sent a letter to faculty members over the weekend recommending they not post answer keys while an exam is ongoing. The school has no plans to bar students from bring ing cell phones to class, Zacker said. The number of Maryland stu dents caught cheating has risen recently, from 97 cases in the fall semester of 2001 to 156 cases in the fall semester of 2002, Zacker said. STATE Sanford explains his military decision COLUMBIA — Republican Gov. Mark Sanford says he’s keeping a promise and setting an example for his sons by keep ing his commitment to serve in the Air Force Reserve. “My values are who I am,” said Sanford, a first lieutenant. He said his duty to the military outweighs his obligation to the office of governor. “My values are who the people of South Carolina elected. My values will directly impact whether or not we can pull off change. And so you can’t separate the one from the other.” Sanford, 42, gained his com mission in the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron on Jan. 30, 2002, and critics accused him of using military service for politi cal gain. He announced his can didacy for governor in March 2001. He said he began trying to join the military during his third and last term as a congressman. : NATION Would-be bomber gets life sentence BOSTON — Richard Reid, the self-described member of al Qaida, lashed out at the U.S. gov ernment Thursday before he was sentenced to life in prison for trying to blow up a trans Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes. Reid, a 29-year-old British cit izen who converted to Islam eight years ago, angrily de nounced American foreign pol icy against Islamic countries. “Your government has spon sored the torture of Muslims in Iraq, and Turkey, and Jordan and Syria with their money and weapons,” he said. He then told the judge, “it’s in your hands.” Reid had faced 60 years to life in prison for trying to down the American Airlines flight bound from Paris to Miami a little more than a year ago. Prosecutors said there was enough plastic explo sives in his shoes to blow a hole in the fuselage and kill all 197 people aboard. WORLD N. Korea criticizes Bush’s address SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - North Korea on Thursday said President Bush’s State of the Union address was an “undisguised declaration of aggression.” In its first reaction to the speech, North Korea said it “will never allow the U.S. to wantonly encroach upon the sovereignty and dignity of the (North) and destroy its sys tem.” “This policy speech is, in essence, an undisguised dec laration of aggression to top ple the DPRK system,” an unidentified spokesman of the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the North’s official news agency, KCMNA. DPRK is the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Bush said in his address that North Korea was “an op pressive regime rules a people living in fear and starvation.” Crash CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 troops, and it is capable of moving a 105-millimeter howitzer and 30 rounds of ammunition. The Black Hawk was first de ployed in 1978 and it made its com bat debut in the October 1983 in vasion of Grenada. It performs a variety of missions, including air assault, air cavalry and aeromed ical evacuations. In addition, mod ified Black Hawks operate as com mand and control, electronic war fare, and special operations air craft. The last American killed in Afghanistan was Sgt. Steven Checo, 22, a member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne. He was shot Dec. 21,2002, while on a nighttime op eration in the eastern province of Paktika, near the border of Pakistan. Since U.S. military action in Afghanistan began in October 2001, at least five U.S. helicopters have crashed or had hard landings that have injured U.S. troops. Two Army Rangers and two Marines have been killed, and at least ll other troops have been injured. Larges d Closes Vera Bradle ’ JL HI i_garden .x^udj I* » ! • I——————— Tour CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 dren ages 6 to 17 and free for chil dren under 6. Reservations and further in formation are available by call ing 252-1770 ext.24. Tour sites include: ♦ the Big Apple, a popular African-American nightclub in the 1930s; ♦ the home of Modjeska Simkins, who fought for equality between blacks and whites in schools; 1 ♦ Booker T. Washington High t School, built in 1916 as the only i African-American high school in 5 Columbia; ♦ Bethel African Methodist ( Here’s Your Chance... ♦ To become a part of a premiere living and learning community ♦To live in a co-ed community with on-site classrooms ♦ To interact with faculty in Carolina’s only residential community ♦ To live in the heart of campus in beautifully renovated... Preston College Interested? Join us for an informational tea Friday, January 31, 2003 Principal’s Lodge West Wing, Preston College (Tea and light refreshments will be served) PRESTON APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 20, 2003 SURFYOURSELF www.historiccolumbia.org Episcopal Church, designed by the first registered African American architect in the United States; ♦ and South Carolina Community Bank, the state’s only minority-owned banking institu tion. “If I had to choose, my favorite would be the Monteith School lo cated on its original site near 6505 North Main St.,” said Lisa Randle, Historical Columbia’s director of multicultural and educational programs. “This is one of the few remain ing rural African-American schools in the county and the only one in the city,” she said. Historic Columbia’s Web site says the organization was found ed in 1961 by a small group of preservationists determined to save the Robert Mills House to save it from demolition. Today, the organization has grown to manage four historic house museums and their associ ated objects. In addition, it offers educa tional activities, special exhibi tions, lecture series and work shops. “Every day, people walk by structures without knowing their history,” Randle said. “It is important to remember, and know, the past in order to know where one should go in the future. African-American sites do this for us,” she said. jnTvyjvvxfflRunfffivnnivj^ Comments on this story? E-mail ' , * *" jjpf''1'*%* guineah'kwh’sk ahutnmil.com ^ : t.: i Located in 5-Points next to Hiller Hardware 748-9946