A group of architects from the prestigious firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have been busted for cheating on a key professional exam.
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards has named eight people that it says shared or received content from the Architect Registration Examination, a six-part test required to become a licensed architect, according to the New York Post.
The New York architects named were Charles Harris, Irene Wangpataravanich, Marti Gottsch, Rami Abou-Khalil, Isaiah Miller, Miguel Ferreira Da Silva Brochado, Nicole Kotsis and William Eng-Feng. A whistleblower outed the group, and NCARB is accusing them of circulating content from the exam on an e-mail chain.
NCARB has suspended the certificates it already awarded to Abou-Khalil and Eng-Feng, and the other six will not be allowed to receive their certificate for two years.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was the firm responsible for designing One World Trade Center along with several other of the world’s tallest buildings. SOM is one of the most prolific design shops in the city, having built 28 buildings spanning 35 million square feet over the past decade.
One test-taker who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity downplayed the significance of the group’s actions.
“It’s not like we snuck into the exam and took photos. We didn’t remove any content from any of the exams. We just had conversations,” the person said. “In any office, people talk about exams.” [NYP] – Eddie Small