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In the scandal heard ’round the Ivy League, Brown University economics professor Roberto Serrano accused his students of using AI to cheat on a take-home exam, and said the school was “meek” when presented with evidence.
And that evidence includes an abnormally large number of students with a masterful understanding of welfare economics and social choice theory:Serrano’s class swelled from the usual 30 pupils to 86 after announcing his course would have take-home exams.
The average score on the take-home midterm was 96%, when it typically fell between 65%–80%.
Serrano alerted students to his AI suspicions and decided to make the final in-person and worth 80% of the final grade.
The average score on the final was a “historic low” of 48.6%.
A university spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed that Serrano still “has not provided the necessary details” for the school to take action.
Serrano decided to administer the take-home tests in response to students expressing anxiety over being in a classroom following a mass shooting on campus during finals week last December.
A worrying trend: In a recent survey, 29.9% of Princeton students admitted to cheating with AI on an exam or assignment. A New York Times essay from a recent Stanford graduate said AI has become a “fact of life” at the school.