A Classy Move at Auburn

Two heads of departments have resigned their positions at Auburn in the wake of a New York Times' piece that revealed academic irregularities at the university. Professor Thomas Petee, the department head for sociology, anthropology, criminology and social work, and James Witte, the program coordinator for adult education, were forced to step down. The individualized directed-reading courses became a favorite of athletes, including 18 members of Auburn's undefeated 2004 team. Although interim university president Ed Richardson didn't fault the athletic department, James Gundlach, the professor who was the primary source for the New York Times' piece, said the changes were "much more than I expected, to be honest." Gundlach added: "I expected them to do everything possible to clear athletics. You can see that when this first came out, athletics was their primary concern. With those kinds of policy changes in directed readings, and a change in administrators because they are not maintaining academic integrity, I think are all pretty good things to come out of this." Thanks to Preet for the image (registration).