I am writing in response to the remarks attributed to Student Regent Valadez in The Northern Star on Oct. 10 regarding my position on the “Reg Stamp” fraud issue. I agree 100 percent with Regent Valadez. 100 percent about resisting deletion of credit for any INNOCENT students involved in the REG stamp forgeries. His position is consistent with the good judgement he has displayed in the past in articulating the interests of NIU, its students, faculty and staff. I respect him greatly for those efforts.

My concern in the “REG stamp” fiasco is with the students who pled or were found GUILTY of registration fraud and forgery—there’s the rub. They are guilty not only of illegitimate registration but more importantly of cheating their fellow students by “butting in” for course registration permits intended for those who followed procedures and honestly waited their turn. I’m sure Valadez would defend those students’ rights before those of students who were found guilty of the fraud and who, nonetheless, received credit and grades aided and abetted by the Associate Provost, the Judicial System and Registration and Records—none of whom has the legal right to award grades.

They also cheated the faculty who taught classes, graded tests and papers assuming the students listed as registered were all honest. But more importantly, those guilty of registration fraud and those who helped them cheated the university as a whole. Imagine what kind of news headlines might have been designed to describe the shenanigans involved in the issue—”University Endorses Student Fraud and Forgery!”—”Ethics?—Out the Window at NIU!”—”Learning to Cheat and Get Away With It!” etc. The Board of Regents already has enough problems in the public relations area.

I do disagree with Valadez on one statement if he is quoted correctly—that is that it is the faculty’s role to “…teach and not to decide who is registered correctly.” The whole idea of a “permit” system is to permit the faculty or their designees (e.g., a Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies) to monitor registrations as well as grades. Neither the Associate Provost nor the Judicial System nor Registration and Records has the right to grant a permit to register for a “P” class—only the faculty or their designees have that right.

If I have a “gripe” in this case, it involves the integrity of the registration system and how it was abused by dishonest students and the administrators and record keepers who assisted them. They acted to the detriment of the honest students, the faculty who teach them, and to the reputation of NIU. “Once integrity goes out the window, the rest is just a piece of cake.”—J. R. Ewing.

Charles U. Larson

Professor

Communications