Sickening standard

Pharmacy professor accused of selling exams – shame on everyone involved.

Today, we hang our heads in shame.

The Board of Regents and University pharmacy professor Flynn Warren Jr. are defendants in a civil federal court case filed Aug. 3, that accuses Warren of collecting and selling pharmacy test questions.

According to court documents, Warren asked students taking his North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination prep class to memorize test questions and e-mail them to him. Warren later collected the questions and organized them into a study packet.

Future students then paid the University $100 to take the optional “Pharmacy Board Review” course and were given the study packet containing the question set.

“A comparison of only a portion of Defendant Warren’s materials with (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy) Examination Questions revealed that at least 150 questions are verbatim, nearly verbatim or substantially similar,” a court document reads.

Saturday, NABP officials suspended the NAPLEX examination nationwide.

This is more than a major embarrassment to the University System of Georgia and our pharmacy school.

It raises the question, “Are ethics, integrity and academic honesty truly valued by The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Warren and this University as well as its pharmacy students – past, present and future?”

The blanket of blame warms them all.

NABP, which boasts to enforce “uniform standards for the purpose of protecting the public health” in its mission statement, failed to follow through with a man they knew had a history of wreaking havoc.

In 1995, NABP accused Warren of compiling and selling NAPLEX test questions to students. Warren signed a contract promising to “cease and desist.” However, NABP has failed to monitor Warren’s actions for the past 12 years.

NABP officials need look no further than their own spreadsheet of NAPLEX test scores for every pharmacy school in the nation. The document, available here, showed our University consistently excelled with 100 percent pass rates and near-perfect scores.

We too shake our heads at lead University administrators who had knowledge of this civil case for nearly a month yet failed to inform University pharmacy students. Academic rigor? Our stomachs ache too much from laughing to address those implications.

Warren, you’ve frustrated us, too. In some twisted way, you might have thought you were ensuring your students a brighter future, but thanks to you, their diplomas may wind up worth little more than the paper on which they’re printed.

We also are disappointed in the students who allegedly memorized and recited test questions. What were you thinking as you jeopardized your careers, the University and the entire pharmacy profession in the process?

We feel for the hundreds of undergraduate students who came to the University with hopes of healing the masses with medicine.

What will become of the pre-pharmacy students and the many other students hoping to take the national exam? Will the Board of Regents reconsider the $40 million it recently gave the University’s pharmacy school? We’re guessing yes.

Next time we need a prescription filled, we’re running background checks. Georgian pharmacists need not apply.