ATHENS, Ohio

Ohio University administrators are looking forward to a better school year this fall. In the wake of plagiarism charges, a massive theft of personal data and a thumbs-down faculty vote for the school president, it could hardly get worse.

Alumni of Ohio’s oldest college are grumbling over a string of scandals. Fund-raising is down. The celebrity football coach is in trouble over a drunken driving case.

“Academics work in a small circle,” says journalism professor Dr. Joseph Bernt. “When we go to conferences, the question that will come up is, ‘What the hell is going on at OU?’”

The public university plans to spend up to $8 million to improve computer security and is defending itself against lawsuits sparked by the data thefts and the plagiarism accusations. It has fired or punished employees over both snafus and has started requiring engineering students to submit papers electronically, so software can scan for similarities in other works.

In May, a committee investigating allegations of copying in the engineering graduate program said it found plagiarism in 40 master’s degree theses dating back 20 years. The investigators called the problem rampant and flagrant.

“I have to admit, I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Dr. Dennis Irwin, dean of the college of engineering and technology, who led an initial investigation.

The probe began after a mechanical engineering student, Tom Matrka, reported in 2004 that he found what he suspected was copying while reading other students’ papers.

Matrka says he’s pleased that the university has acknowledged the problem, but believes more cases could be found if officials looked harder.

Most of the copying was in background material, and there was no evidence of falsified research data, the investigation found. Many of the accused former students haven’t responded to the charges or requested more information from the school. Those found guilty will have plagiarism noted in their permanent records, and the school could strip graduates of their degrees.