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Two SIU professors won't be punished for finishing ethics exams too fast

BY MIKE RIOPELL, The Southern Springfield Bureau

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:29 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD -- Two Southern Illinois University math professors threatened with firings because they took the state ethics exam too fast will keep their jobs, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Professors Walter Wallis and Marvin Zeman sued the state after being threatened with discipline including firing because the state accused them of breezing through their ethics test too quickly to have fully understood the material.

Their lawyer, Ralph Lowenstein, said Tuesday Wallis and Zeman reached a legal settlement with the state in which both get to keep their jobs and won't face any discipline. The settlement also acknowledges the two passed the test.

''Basically, I would consider it a complete capitulation on their part,'' Lowenstein said of the state.

News of the settlement comes about a year after the professors left a Springfield courtroom saying they'd like to settle the case out of court.

The situation drew attention statewide from others, including Illinois State University President Al Bowman. Hundreds of ISU employees were found noncompliant on their ethics exams, and Bowman sent the state a letter expressing his displeasure.

A spokesman for the Executive Inspector General's office, which administers the ethics tests, said state policy hasn't changed based on the SIU case. Employees are still required to read the exams fully when taking them.