The US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland announced Friday that eighteen midshipmen have been expelled from the university for cheating on a physics exam in December, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Additionally, 82 other students who took the exam were disciplined for using outside sources during the exam, which was done online during the coronavirus epidemic. An investigation of the exam was ordered by USNA Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck after the December exam. In total, 105 of the 653 students in the class were investigated. One student’s case is still being adjudicated by the Academy’s Honor Board, and four were exonerated.
“Character development is an ongoing process and midshipmen must make the choice to live honorably each day and earn the trust that comes with a commission in the Navy or Marine Corps,” Buck said in a statement. “This incident demonstrates that we must place an increased focus on character and integrity within the entire brigade.”