[3128] in Humor
here's that funny
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andy Marsh)
Fri Mar 10 16:25:14 2000
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 16:22:14 -0500
To: humor@MIT.EDU
From: Andy Marsh <andym@MIT.EDU>
> From The Tech on Tuesday:
>
>A grade-tampering scandal in Cell Biology (7.06) was revealed by Professor
>Harvey F. Lodish of the Biology department last Thursday. Lodish announced
>to his course that unidentified students had broken into the course grader's
>secure computer system and had lowered the grades of about 20 students while
>raising the grades of two others.
>
>Although Lodish and co-instructor Professor Peter K. Sorger refused to
>comment further on the matter and did not reveal the names of suspected
>students, they did say that deans had identified the two students whose
>grades were raised and that disciplinary actions would be taken.
>
>Lodish "pleaded for anybody who was responsible for this transgression or
>who knew who was to go talk to him at his office after class," said Vinod
>Rao '02, a student in the course. "He made it clear that the responsible
>parties would be punished either way, but suggested that a confession would
>be considered when determining the punishment."
>
>
>
> From MIT News Release:
>
>An incident of grade-changing on an MIT computer -- investigated as a
>computer hacking incident -- has turned out to be a simple slip-up in the
>computerized sorting of names and grades on a spreadsheet.
>
>Professor Harvey Lodish this morning informed an MIT spokesman that the
>mystery was solved. He said the changes were made by mistake by a person
>authorized to enter grades. The professor declined to identify the person.
>
>The sorting of a grades spreadsheet is done by using a computer mouse to
>highlight the two columns of names and corresponding grades. In this case,
>there was a slip-up in the use of the mouse and only the column of names was
>sorted, resulting in grades being assigned to the wrong people. The error
>raised the grades of two students and lowered the grades of 20 students.
>
