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Responding to finding numerous consistencies in exam answers, a professor of the business school decided to take a deeper look into other things that had been handed in by the students.

After finding more a judicial board took over and performed an investigation into the final exam and other assignments the students performed. In the end, 34 graduate students were punished from their findings.

Of the 34, nine students are facing expulsion from the program and another fifteen students face a one year suspension along with a failing grade for the course. Another nine will receive failing grades while one other may receive a failing grade for something separate from the final exam.

Charles Scrase, a first-year student and president of the MBA Association at Duke said, "I think we view ourselves as ethical leaders. At the same time, people are both proud and relieved that we have an honor code system that works and didn't get swept under the rug."

It is good that the university took action and didn't try to hide what was happening. But this reveals an increasingly big problem in MBA programs across the country.

Last year a survey that was performed by Rutgers University professor Don McCabe revealed that 56 percent of MBA students admitted to cheating in 2005. 
 
Evidently students think that they will change their behavior when they get into the corporate world, but that isn't necessarily true. These are extremely bad habits to start getting into.

Every day in the business world people will be offered shortcuts and unethical ways of doing business, which must be rejected and resisted. To begin a business journey by cheating and taking shortcuts is a sure way to be trained for ethical violations in a world that is less forgiving and demanding than the university world.

This isn't a good sign for future business in our country if people take the view that it's ok to do something as long as they don't get caught. We need to do much better than this.

To me it's as important the way you get somewhere as getting there. I think universities should tighten up their exam and assignment reviews and let that be a part of the training as well as taking tests. With 56 percent saying they're cheating on exams, it makes me think that the number is probably much higher. This is a disaster in the making if schools don't tighten up their processes and procedures and do a better job of policing their students. If they don't do it now, the real world will do it in the future.

What are your thoughts on the scandal?