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REPORTS THAT THIS IS JUST ONE OF A SERIES OF PERSONNEL ISSUES AT THE SCHOOL. AMANDA: SEVERAL UCF STUDENTS I SPOKE WITH WONDER IF THIS SCHOOL NEEDS TO TAKE MORE DRASTIC ACTION TO MAKE SURE THE SCHOOL IS OPERATING WITH INTEGRITY. AS UCF STUDENTS ENJOY SOME WINTER SUN, NEWS OF YET ANOTHER SCANDAL INVOLVING UNIVERSITY PERSONNEL HAS SOME ASKING IF THE SCHOOL NEEDS A SHAKE UP. >> I’D SAY I HAVE CONCERNS, JUST BECAUSE THERE’S BEEN SO MANY DIFFERENT INSTANCES OF CORRUPTION BEING POINTED OUT. AMANDA: MONDAY, UCF ANNOUNCED IT’S FIRING THE DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL’S INSTITUTE FOR SIMULATION AND TRAINING, ALONG WITH TWO OTHER FACULTY MEMBERS. THE UNIVERSITY SAYS AN INVESTIGATION FOUND A PH STUDENT WHO WORKED FOR AN AGENCY THAT PROVIDES GRANT MONEY HAD BRIBED FACULTY BY OFFERING TO USE HIS INFLUENCE TO SECURE GRANTS IN EXCHANGE FOR A DOCTORATE DEGREE IT’S JUST THE LATEST IN A WAVE OF PROBLEMS REPORTED AT UCF. LAST FEBRUARY, PRESIDENT DALE WHITTAKER RESIGNED AFTER $38 MILLION WAS REPORTEDLY MISSPENT TO BUILD TREVOR COLBOURN HALL. IN OCTOBER, UCF ADMINISTRATOR BRIANT COLEMAN WAS FIRED EMPLOYEES SAID COLEMAN THREATENED, INTIMIDATED, AND BULLIED THEM IN HIS ROLE AS ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND COMMUNICATION. AND EARLIER THIS MONTH, UCF’S INTERIM PRESIDENT REVEALED THE SCHOOL’S PROVOST, DR. ELIZABETH PAY. UCF WOULD ONLY SAY THE SUSPENSION WAS TO INVESTIGATE SOME CONCERNS THAT HAD BEEN RAISED. THE SERIES OF CONTROVERSIES HAS SOME STUDENTS WONDERING IF THERE’S A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM WITHIN THE SCHOOL’S LEADERSHIP. >> I THINK THAT THE PROBLEM IS DEEPER THAN JUST ONE OR TWO INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE, BECAUSE THERE’S BEEN SO MANY TIMES WHE THEY’VE BEEN LIKE "WE’RE GONNA GET RID OF THESE PEOPLE" AND THEN THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED. AMANDA: THE STUDENT WHO RECEIVED THE

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The University of Central Florida plans to fire three people who they say helped a graduate student obtain a doctoral degree in return for the student getting them grant money. The student is also being stripped of their degree.Three UCF faculty members are in the process of being fired, and a Ph.D student's degree is being revoked after university officials say an investigation found that the faculty members helped that student get their doctorate in exchange for grant funding."That's crazy. It makes you think like, ‘aw man, maybe not all the degrees you get are going to be like, for real,’” student Wallace Borges said.UCF announced Monday it was firing the director of the university's Institute for Simulation and Training along with two other faculty members after an investigation revealed they helped a student cheat to get their degree in exchange for grant money."It's shocking because like, it's UCF, you wouldn't expect that to happen because a majority of professors are helpful and would try to get you there without money or anything,” UCF student Keymara Thomas said.According to the report, the investigation was launched after a whistleblower filed a complaint.The ensuing investigation found that a Ph.D student, who also happened to have the power to influence the allocation of grant funding, used that power to, in essence, bribe their professors into helping fabricate their doctoral degree."If it's like a fake degree, per say, it kind of like stops the credit, or credibility I guess of the school,” Borges said.UCF officials say they are working to strip that Ph.D student of their degree and also to change the program's rules to try to eradicate any conflicts of interest that could cause a scandal like this to happen again.UCF says officials have already appointed an interim director and will now begin a nationwide search to find a permanent replacement.