Facing Academic Dishonesty Charges: Navigating the Honor Board

[Cyrus]

We had a lab report that was due last week and was rather lengthy. So I worked through the problems together with my friend. We had to turn in individual lab reports. Apparently the TA thought they were too "simliar" and showed it to the professor. Now I got a letter in the mail from the Student Honor Council pending a hearing, which means I am going to get a big fat XF on my transcript... I am so pissed off I can't see straight right now...

It said in the letter that I got today:

If the accused student has no prior record of academic dishonesty or serious disciplinary misconduct {6}, the Dean or designee and the student may reach an agreement concerning how the case should be resolved. The standard "XF" grade penalty will normally be imposed if it is agreed by the student that he/she committed an act of academic dishonesty. Any other sanction agreed upon by the student and the Dean or designee will constitute a recommendation to the Honor Council, and must be supported by a written statement signed by the student and the dean or designee. The written statement will be reviewed by the Honor Council {7}, which shall inform both the student and the Dean or designee of the sanction imposed.

If the Honor Board finds that an attempt or act of academic dishonesty did occur, it shall impose an appropriate sanction. The normal sanction for an undergraduate student shall be a grade of "XF" in the course. The normal sanction for a graduate student shall be dismissal (suspension or expulsion) from the University. The Honor Board may impose a lesser or more severe sanction. generally acts involving advance planning, falsification of papers, conspiring with others, or some actual or potential harm to other students will merit a severe sanction, i.e. suspension or expulsion , even for a first offense. An attempt to commit an act shall be punished to the same extent as the consummated act.

...If you will excuse me, I think I am going to go throw up now...

What a SOB to report that...

 

[luckycharms]

Fight this. Find anywhere in the syllabus or course notes where it outlines a policy on collaboration. Document EVERYTHING. Gather your original lab notebook, calculations, scrap sheets, whatever.

Meet with the professor, unless you think he/she is completely inflexible. I'd bet he's going on the word of the TA and hasn't even looked at the two reports. Ask him to define the difference between collaboration and cheating, and then see how your case compares to his own standard. Be direct and let him know you take this seriously, but without being confrontational.

Your best bet is to nip this in the bud directly with the professor. You'll probably get more sympathy from him than you'll get from the bureaucrats looking to rubber stamp your case.

If at all possible, get a former prof, advisor, lab TA to write you a letter testifying to your character. The burden in student affairs cases always is guilty until proven innocent, so you need to approach this like a court case.

 

[Cyrus]

I have tried to contact the professor, but the problem is that once he reports it to the Honor board is he not allowed to talk with the student until the hearing.

 

[Pengwuino]

Declare war! Fight this thing to the end! Stage a walkout!

Ok the last one probably wouldn't get done... but fight! that's crap, especially considering the amount of REAL cheating probably going on that no one cares about.

 

[Cyrus]

Tell me about it. Man, I am so SCREWED.

 

[Pengwuino]

Fight fight fight! Got a lawyer in the family? I know the school can just screw you over until high school but universities are probably more vulnerable to threats...

 

[luckycharms]

I have tried to contact the professor, but the problem is that once he reports it to the Honor board is he not allowed to talk with the student until the hearing.

Yeah, typical administrative nonsense. It breaks every precedent of due process that would be extended to a violent criminal, but not a student. You, the accused, walks in completely blind. You'll never get the opportunity to question or cross-examine the people who accuse you. You'll be lucky if you even get to speak on your behalf.

Can you confront the TA or is that also taboo? Do you at least have a copy of the lab report? Don't admit anything and make them point out exactly where and what you broke the policy. Find out exactly what the policy is and fight the letter of the law.

There may be outside resources to contact concerning this. There's a group called FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) that handles primarily political/free speech issues but which also concerns itself with legal rights and due process for students. Many campuses have a pro-bono attorney to give legal advice to students. Even your local ACLU might point you in the right direction. A state univeristy probably will give you more options than a private one.

 

[Cyrus]

Thank's for your help Lucky, I will look into that.

 

[Pengwuino]

Yah a private university really has fewer people and fewer laws to answer to. Look everywhere you can because that will nooooooooooot look good to graduate schools or employers.

 

[Cyrus]

I'm afraid the only grad school that will except me is going to be in some 3rd world country now

 

[Moonbear]

And, since you got this letter today, you're 100% sure it's not a joke? I don't want to make light of your situation, but I'm suspicious of everything received on April Fool's Day.

 

[Cyrus]

Well, it did look official, it came in a sealed letter by the school. And of all the rotten days to send it! I am probably going to have to hire a lawyer now.

 

[mattmns]

I would wait before you do anything drastic, as MB pointed out, today is April Fools' day. Contact your school or professor and make sure it is real first.

 

[Cyrus]

I told you, the professor already told me he can't talk with me until the hearing this monday.

 

[Pengwuino]

I told you, the professor already told me he can't talk with me until the hearing this monday.

Go up to him and before he can say a word, say "Is this an april fools joke?". I mean... if they mailed you the letter and you just happened to get it today, it's probably not a joke... but if they handed it to you or something or it was through internal mail... be suspicious. At the start, you probably want to say you have a lawyer because if it's a joke, they'll stop it immediately :tongue2: Otherwise... well good thing you have a lawyer.

 

[Cyrus]

Why would my professor joke about something like that to a random student of his? This school has 45k students, I don't think he has the time or the inclination to do such a thing...

 

[Pengwuino]

Why would my professor joke about something like that to a random student of his? This school has 45k students, I don't think he has the time or the inclination to do such a thing...

Oh if you don't know him then get ready for a fight. I have professors that would do that... but only to people they knew. Good luck monday.

 

[JamesU]

Did the friend you were working with get a letter too?

 

[Cyrus]

Yes, he got one too. I am not allowed to talk to him until the hearing too

 

[mattmns]

I told you, the professor already told me he can't talk with me until the hearing this monday.

I must have misread your posts Good luck!

 

[JamesU]

Yes, he got one too. I am not allowed to talk to him until the hearing too

Well, it doesn't sound like an april fool's joke, way too serious. Good luck

 

[Pyrrhus]

Too bad, cyrus. I hope everything works out fine for you.

 

[Moonbear]

Why would my professor joke about something like that to a random student of his? This school has 45k students, I don't think he has the time or the inclination to do such a thing...

Yeah, if you've already spoken to your professor, then it's sounding pretty real. I was thinking more along the lines of a friend of yours getting ahold of some letterhead and making it look official. Good luck with that.

 

[Cyrus]

Well,

luckycharms, Pengwuino, mattmns, Cyclovenom, yomamma, and Moonbear

I must confess, you all have been had.

Happy April Fool's Day. :rofl:

I honestly thought you all would sniff out my BS from reply #1.

P.S. Don't forget to set your clocks forward 3 hours for daylight savings time tonight.

 

[Moonbear]

Well,

luckycharms, Pengwuino, mattmns, Cyclovenom, yomamma, and Moonbear

I must confess, you all have been had.

Happy April Fool's Day. :rofl:

I honestly thought you all would sniff out my BS from reply #1.

Phew! :rofl: And here, I've been trying to gingerly step around the issue that it really DID sound like cheating from post 1, but I didn't think it would help if I told you that. I was suspicious early on, but then really thought you sounded too serious, and suspected more that it was someone else playing the prank on you. You pulled it off well! :rofl:

 

[mattmns]

Yeah you really had me worried

 

[luckycharms]

Well,

luckycharms, Pengwuino, mattmns, Cyclovenom, yomamma, and Moonbear

I must confess, you all have been had.

Happy April Fool's Day. :rofl:

I honestly thought you all would sniff out my BS from reply #1.

P.S. Don't forget to set your clocks forward 3 hours for daylight savings time tonight.

Yeah, yeah, you got me. And I was going to write you a stellar grad school recommendation. :tongue2:

Seriously though, if this were true, you'd be totally screwed.

 

[nocturnal]

Did you write the "quoted" letter, or was that copied from an actual school policy? What about the whole 'XF' on your transcripts business, do they really do that?

I actually felt really bad for you but didn't post anything because I diddn't know you.

 

[Pengwuino]

You guys actually believed him?

 

[Pyrrhus]

Well,

luckycharms, Pengwuino, mattmns, Cyclovenom, yomamma, and Moonbear

I must confess, you all have been had.

Happy April Fool's Day. :rofl:

I honestly thought you all would sniff out my BS from reply #1.

P.S. Don't forget to set your clocks forward 3 hours for daylight savings time tonight.

:rofl: Should have known!

 

[luckycharms]

You guys actually believed him?

This scenario is almost verbatim from a friend of mine who was accused of having similar results (to his lab partner, no less) and was "convicted" by a kangaroo court. After fighting expulsion, he only got a mark on his transcript which haunted him all the way to graduate school admissions. These honor boards are no joke.

 

[George Jones]

My wife was "caught cheating" on a final exam in E&M. An official committee decided that my (not then) wife should fail the course, and that an official letter detailing the incident of "cheating" be put in her file.

The exam took place in a large classroom, and a number of the students in the course gathered in the room for last-minute studying before the exam. As a check that she could remember Maxwell's equation, my wife wrote them on the blackboard in small script.

At the time of start of the exam, the prof (A) came into the room, my wife forgot about erasing the equations, and she took a seat near the back of the classroom.

About 30 minutes into the exam, prof A noticed the equations and recognized my wife's handwriting. He immediately went back to her, and aked her if she had written the equations. She admitted doing so. He turned her exam answer booklet to a blank page, and asked her to reproduce Maxwell's equations, which she did.

At my wife's hearing in front of the committee, A said that: 1) he thought my wife could not read the small equations from where she was sitting; 2) he thought my wife had no intention of cheating; 3) my wife successfully reproduced Maxwell's equation when challenged.

In spite of this, A told the committee that he felt that my wife should be reprimanded. Committee member B, another physics prof, said that my wife's offence was very serious, because even if my wife couldn't read the equations, people closer to the board might have been able to, thus skewing the marks of the entire class on the final exam. My wife feels that A was strongly under the influence of B, and that without B's encouragement, A might not have taken any official action.

Regards,
George

 

[z-component]

I was thinking more along the lines of a friend of yours getting ahold of some letterhead and making it look official.

Oh, god! That's the worst idea of an April Fool's joke ever. If anyone ever did that to me, I would NOT take it lightly. But, good idea Moonbear.

 

[Cyrus]

Did you all rememeber to set your clocks forward 3 hours today?