Local students didn’t do their university - or Turlock - any good by lying. In fact, because of their deceit, there’s a black mark next to the name California State University, Stanislaus.

We’re talking about the handful of CSUS students who fabricated survey results which impacted a Stanislaus County judge’s decision to move Scott Peterson’s capital murder trial out of Modesto.

“We falsified the info,” said a 20-year-old criminal justice student. “The stuff we submitted wasn’t true.”

He was referring to a 10-county survey compiled by 65 CSUS students that attempted to gauge existing bias against Laci Peterson’s husband.

We find it hard to believe that the professor who oversaw the study, Stephen Schoenthaler, missed the fact that some of the survey results were bogus.

The seniors cited the lack of time and money as the reasons why they did what they did. They said they were required to participate in the survey for 20 percent of their grade, and were given no money for the dozens of lengthy long-distance phone calls they would have to make.

Some just made up the answers, they said, while others used answers from friends or relatives.

The judge who made the venue-changing decision said his ruling was based, not on the survey results, but on the massive amount of publicity that continues to surround this high-profile case.

We hope that’s the case. After all, what credence could, and should, be placed on results of a telephone survey hastily conducted by undergraduate students?

The university - and the Stanislaus County district attorney - are each conducting their own investigation into the allegations of impropriety. According to CSUS, discipline for the students could range from community service to suspension or expulsion.

Whatever the outcome, it’s irresponsible and unethical for a faculty member to assign such a sure-to-fail project, and for criminal justice students to make a mockery of the very subject they purport to embrace.