Music industries studies students recently accused of cheating have received an apology from the MIS coordinator, as well as a second chance at passing one of their required courses.

In an e-mail sent to all MIS students March 28, coordinator John Snyder said everyone who skipped the Music Industries Forum March 3 after signing in will be allowed to transcribe a previous lecture to avoid failing.

In a March 11 department-wide e-mail, Snyder had notified all MIS students that the students who had skipped the forum after signing the attendance sheet would fail the course. The students who stayed but did not pay attention would be counted absent for that session. Two absences results in failure of the course.

“Unfortunately, now you have a problem with your degree,” Snyder wrote in the e-mail. “If you do not successfully complete eight semesters of Forum, you have a graduation problem. Many of you may want to reconsider your major. Cheating will not be tolerated in the MIS program and it is not tolerated in this university.”

In a second department-wide e-mail sent the following day, Snyder listed the names of 23 students and indicated who slept, texted, listened to music or left during the forum; of the students, 13 had left after signing in. In e-mails he individually sent to those on the list, Snyder informed the students that they may see him after spring break to appeal the decision, one of the listed students said.

Snyder later apologized for listing the names and asked that those students come see him “so that we can take steps to get you back on track.” Those students counted absent for not paying attention will still be eligible to pass if they go for the rest of the semester.

Before Snyder’s apology and second-chance offer, several students, who asked not to be named, said Snyder should not have sent the e-mails containing the names of the students out to the entire MIS program.

“I applaud the MIS department for their seriousness and dedication to the program, and their students, and their desire to remove any students that take this program as a joke or a waste of time, but I believe they have crossed the line on this one,” said one of the listed seniors in an e-mail response to The Maroon.

Students said unfair measures were taken in the monitoring process.

“There’s a lot of people who should have been on that list who weren’t,” one of the seniors said.

In an effort to get students more involved in forum, Snyder told students that the course will undergo restructuring to be more “student controlled and more carefully booked.”

The syllabus for next semester’s forum has since been amended to include a stricter attendance policy and rules against using cell phones during sessions.

Steve Heath can be reached at [email protected].