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I am a professor of economics at Brown University, where I have taught for the past 34 years. During much of that time, I have taught Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory, an advanced undergraduate course in mathematical economics.

But this spring semester, I suspect that more than half of my students cheated their way through the course. And even after I reported it, it took Brown far too long to get involved.

Here’s how it happened: In part due to the tragic shooting that took place at Brown on December 13 during a review session for a final exam, I decided to move my course’s two exams—the midterm and the final—from an in-class exam to a take-home, closed-book format. I thought that would help students deal with exam anxiety. The exams would be made available to students through an online portal, and they would have 11 hours (for a two-hour test) to complete and submit each. Unsurprisingly, the course enrollment jumped to 86, far above 30, the highest maximum in previous semesters.

The results from the midterm were immediately suspicious.

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