MINEOLA N.Y. — The administrators of college entrance exams should make immediate security changes to stop cheating, said the prosecutor who has accused a college student of using a fake ID to take exams for six of his buddies. One friend was a girl.
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice told The Associated Press on Thursday that she suspected cheating was widespread and that security changes should be implemented as soon as this weekend, when nearly 700,000 students are expected to take the SATs.
“If we don’t send the message to these kids now,” she said, “they’re going to be the future corrupt politicians, the corrupt CEOs, the corrupt accountants, because they’re going to say, ‘Look I did this when I was 17, and I got a slap on the wrist. Cheating pays.’”
Rice suggested that all students should have their photographs taken when they arrive at a school to take the exams.
When students are caught cheating, the colleges to which they have applied for admission should be informed, she said. That is currently not being done.
Earlier this week, Rice charged six current or former students at Great Neck North High School with hiring a college student and fellow Great Neck alumnus to take SAT exams in their place.
The six are charged with misdemeanors. The college student, Sam Eshaghoff, was charged with scheming to defraud, criminal impersonation and falsifying business records.
