For years it was possible to gain a doctorate at the University of Western Bohemia in Plzen with a minimum of effort. Now in an attempt to clean up its act, the university is investigating 400 doctor and masters' titles that were granted suspiciously quickly.The complete list of names is being kept confidential, but the identities of several fake PhDs have been leaked. One is the mayor of Comutov, who ran an election campaign promising to stop what she called "parasites" abusing social welfare programs. Another headed the constitutional committee of the Czech parliament. Professors at the university have been implicated in the fraudulent practices. They allegedly received lucrative commissions in return for their complicity. Now several educational institutions across the country are following Plzen’s example and reexamining their academic titles.