Students should not be punished for a department’s inability to teach or its pursuit for glory.

Some graduates from the NIU engineering program were forced to stay through June to better projects that they were led to believe were good enough to pass the course.

As a result, at least one student’s job prospects had to be put on hold. But Assistant Professor Jim Papodopolis said he was sorry for the inconvenience and would explain the situation to potential employers.

But a letter from a teacher isn’t good enough. Employers choose graduates who are available when they want them, they don’t wait for students to finish a project that just wasn’t up to par.

Papodopolis claimed, “I had to decide between allowing them to graduate with bad design projects, or keeping them until the projects got done right.”

The fact that Papodopolis had to make the decision at all reflects poorly on the program’s ability to teach effectively. The students should not be punished for inept instruction.

The program’s recent accreditation brings into question another motive for holding the students back because part of the accreditation process involves evaluating students’ works.

Students should be an academic department’s primary concern, not made into its marionettes because a resentful puppet will eventually cut its strings.