Editing Herzing Issues: Academic Integrity (section)

=== HU-078: Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook group functions as documented forum for systematic third-party exam-content sharing ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:14em" | Severity
| Medium
! style="width:14em" | Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| Public Documentation of Exam-Content Sharing Across Cohorts
! Date added
| 2026-05-05
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | Senior Director Academic Operations / Program Chair / Compliance
|}
'''Finding.''' A comprehensive review of the public Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook group export (1,350 posts and 14,112 comments spanning December 2022 through May 2026) confirms that the group functions as a documented forum for systematic recommendations of third-party platforms containing HESI exam content: Quizlet (specific recommendations of users Handle 9, Handle 8, and others), Studocu (for blueprints and HESI practice tests), NAXLEX (multiple confirmations of verbatim HESI questions), YourBestGrade (referenced for milestone preparation), Bootcamp cheat sheets (uploaded as group files), and Mark Klimek's PDF notes. NCLEX cheat sheets covering Diabetes, Eating Disorders, Growth and Development, Burns, and Analgesics are uploaded as files in the group. Even graduating students recommend these resources as essential, indicating institutional non-enforcement and de-facto cohort-wide reliance.

'''Evidence.''' Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook group export (PostsExporter for Facebook, 1,350 posts including content, 14,112 comments, group ID 689851319336385). Source Group: Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook Group Export (Dec 2022 to May 2026), Topical/Keyword Review (Volume 6).

'''Reported statement.''' Student AM said she used Quizlet sets and Studocu materials for HESI preparation and found the Studocu practice tests helpful. Student AF (Jun 25, 2024) shared Quizlet links and said the sets from Handle 8 and Handle 9 were good. Student H (Jun 30, 2024) said she used YourBestGrade for milestone preparation, that being able to use drug books during the test was the biggest help since there were a lot of pharm questions, and that she also did a lot of practice tests on NurseLabs.com. Student BZ said the Studocu blueprints were spot on. Student N (Aug 29, 2024) advised going to Quizlet because the questions were almost the exact same as the exam. Student CA said the Bootcamp cheat sheets were the best resource for summarizing HESI and NCLEX topics and that she would upload them to the group's files. Student U (Sep 29, 2024) named Quizlet and Studocu. Student AC noted she had been messaged by fake profiles claiming to sell exam answers and that others had commented that exams appeared on Quizlet.

'''Standards.''' HESI/Evolve copyright protections (Elsevier); 17 U.S.C. §§106, 501 (copyright); Herzing Student Code of Conduct (cheating, unauthorized collaboration); ACEN Standard 4.6 (academic integrity policies must be enforced consistently). The comprehensive scope of this Facebook archive, 1,350 posts spanning 3.5 years and 14,112 comments, establishes that the practice of recommending third-party HESI-content platforms is not isolated, hidden, or covert: it occurs openly in a public forum where Herzing administration could reasonably be expected to monitor or be aware. The institution's failure to enforce academic integrity standards consistently ({{HU|HU-026}}, {{HU|HU-067}}, {{HU|HU-068}}) is reinforced by this scope of public documentation.

'''Impact.''' If the institution were to bring disciplinary action against any individual student for using these resources, the action would be unfair given the cohort-wide normalization of this practice across multiple years. The institution's apparent acquiescence to this practice, coupled with {{HU|HU-074}}'s escalation of HESI weighting to 82 percent of course grade, means that grades are determined by exams whose content is publicly circulating, undermining the validity of any HESI-based academic determination. This compounds {{HU|HU-026}}, {{HU|HU-027}}, {{HU|HU-037}}, {{HU|HU-051}}, {{HU|HU-067}}, and {{HU|HU-068}} into a comprehensive program-level academic integrity finding. Graduates who pass the HESI based on memorized question banks rather than nursing competency may enter clinical practice without the assessed skills, a direct patient safety concern.

'''Notes.''' This issue extends {{HU|HU-026}} (HESI answer posting on Notion), {{HU|HU-037}} (in-cohort exam sharing), {{HU|HU-051}} (cross-cohort exam sharing). This entry was generated from a different evidence base (the Facebook group archive) than {{HU|HU-037}} and {{HU|HU-051}} (GroupMe archives), and the systematic pattern across both communication channels strengthens the program-level finding. The exam-sharing pattern documented here is not a student-misconduct issue where individual students can be disciplined, but an institutional non-enforcement issue where the institution has either declined or been unable to address a documented program-wide practice. Verification recommended: institutional review of the HESI exam content security agreement with Elsevier; review of academic integrity enforcement actions taken or not taken; comparison of Herzing graduate HESI scores to cohort NCLEX pass rates to assess whether HESI-based grading reliably predicts nursing competency.

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