Hi - I am new to this forum. I am a researcher at a top tier university and I had a high school student be my intern this summer, I’ll call him “Zack.” Zack had an impressive resume - great grades and had won a national competition.Zack did a spectacular job - he came early, stayed late, worked hard, asked very good questions. Zack came to work for/with me so he could submit the results of the work for his high school class and to enter national competitions. Zack’s project went well and resulted in some very interesting observations.
Since Zack started the school year again, I hadn’t heard from him much. I asked him how his write-up was going - no response. I have come to find out through his teacher that instead of submitting his summer project to the national competitions and to his class, he submitted a rejected manuscript of mine on a different topic, which I had allowed him to read (but certainly not to use as his original submission!) I am currently in the process of adding in additional information and re-writing the manuscript to submit again for publication. He did not lift sentences or passages, he literally took my name off the manuscript and put his name on and handed it in.
I am extremely disappointed in him. I offered him help with project submission which he obviously did not take me up on. He is a very bright kid, but this was a very poor decision on his part. He even forged signatures for this submission and told other lies. He has now been suspended from school and will fail the class if he does not withdraw. However, I am wondering if I should contact the admissions department at my university (and perhaps a few others?) and inform them of what happened? I don’t think he should get away free on this. I have also just now heard this was not the first time Zack was caught cheating in school. Obviously, this violates every university’s honor code.
You say you found out from his high school teacher that he plagiarized your manuscript. What is the high school’s policy on plagiarism and reporting to colleges? If it was my kids’ high school, it would be an honor code and academic violation and would become part of the student’s permanent record, thus, requiring notification of colleges as part of the application process. If I were you, that is something I would ask his high school teacher who reported it to you.
I am unsure what the school’s policy is on plagiarism and reporting to colleges. I can speak to the teacher next week. I do not know if he must self-report or if the school does it on his behalf. I am wondering if he does not self-report, if I should do so. I obviously don’t think that he would do the right thing anymore himself.
In my opinion, yes, at your own university. You know him well and are 100% certain of what he did. His high school should take care of letting other schools know why he was suspended.
This kid needs counseling. He’s obviously under some kind of tremendous pressure from someone to risk so much.
The university I am at is also Zack’s top choice, and I my office is not too far from the admissions office. It would not be difficult at all for me to go in there and find out how to file a “letter of non-recommendation.”
It’s very unfortunate that he chose to do this, because he really is very bright and talented. Prior to this incident, I think he would have been a shoo-in to get into his top choice schools.
Despite his intelligence, he obviously has skewed morals as well as bravado to think it would go undetected. If I were in your shoes, I would speak to the teacher and/or the college counseling office at his school. If I was unable to ascertain that they would deal with it in a fashion that colleges would be made aware of the plagiarism of your work, I would take some action, however, it might be hard for you to know exactly where he is applying. I would try to encourage the high school to step up as the gatekeeper on this as they will know exactly where he is applying.
It sounds harsh to do, but otherwise he’d be taking away an admissions spot from someone potentially more deserving.
It’s too bad he took advantage of the generosity of your time and knowledge.
You are right that Zack made a very bad decision - an unethical one certainly. But he is a high school student and they are famous for making some really poor decisions. You’ve notified his school and he’s been suspended which will go on his academic record and he’ll have to explain that to colleges when he applies. He will not get away free on this.
The kind assumption here is that he was under a great deal of pressure to perform well (his own unreasonable expectations for himself and perhaps other peoples’ as well. ) His bad judgement has cost him the respect and trust of those who would have been happy to help him. He knows that and is probably feeling pretty awful right now.
If you are up for it, and you had a good relationship with him, you might want to take the time to explain to him how disappointed you are in his poor decision - how unfair it was to you and to others. Then remember your teen-age self and forgive him for being an idiot. He has it within himself to be a stronger person than he showed himself to be that time. Sometimes that means disappointing himself or other people by not delivering an outstanding performance - but that’s easier to live with than the shame of being a cheat.
Entries for this competition must be submitted through the high school. The high school teacher contacted me when there were some “red flags” based on Zack’s summer report to his teacher and that is when we discovered what happened. I am being vague about some details here on purpose. But otherwise, I wouldn’t have known until later. Imagine if he had won the grand prize and I found out the title of the work! I would have had to call the organizers of the award to let them know it was plagiarized. (I have evidence that this project was completed before I even met Zack, therefore he could not have been part of it.)
How does the teacher know he submitted your manuscript? If the teacher knows for sure that happened, does the teacher know to which competitions the manuscript was submitted?You would not want to risk marring his reputation in the event he did not actually submit your document so I would be careful with how you approach it, but perhaps the award committees would want to know…
There is a fine line to walk here in a lot of ways. 1. On the one hand, he’s a dumb high school kid and kids make mistakes. 2. He clearly needs some support or guidance to get his values in line and his sh** together. 3. While he’s too young to destroy his future, he needs to not be allowed to get away with this.
@dowzerw, reading comprehension. The student’s reputation has already been marred by his own doings.
From post #1:
“I have come to find out through his teacher that instead of submitting his summer project to the national competitions and to his class, he submitted a rejected manuscript of mine on a different topic, which I had allowed him to read (but certainly not to use as his original submission!) I am currently in the process of adding in additional information and re-writing the manuscript to submit again for publication. He did not lift sentences or passages, he literally took my name off the manuscript and put his name on and handed it in.”
“He has now been suspended from school and will fail the class if he does not withdraw.”
" I have also just now heard this was not the first time Zack was caught cheating in school."
Yes, the teacher (and high school principal) contacted the organizers of the competitions and told them that they were pulling Zack’s submission. So, I am positive that was it. I even was sent a copy of his submission by the teacher and it is obviously my submission, but with his name on it. To my understanding, several people had to approve his submission: his high school teacher and myself (his research mentor). He forged my signature and told the teacher I had given him permission (I had not.) If he has submitted my work elsewhere (not through the school), I do not know.
It is frustrating as in my field, it is very common to send unpublished manuscripts to colleagues for feedback or even to students so they can get a better sense of what you are working on. It is career suicide to turn in such work as your own.
If you can be certain, it’s ok to have an informal conversation with your admissions folks, letting them know what you discovered. I think you might want to also consider personally notifying the contest folks that it was your work and without permission. (Along the lines of, “It has come to my attention.” Short and to the point.)
I wonder if there is another senior researcher who can give you advice. Because I think that, if you do have proof, you can consider sending the young man a letter (not an email or call,) maybe even registered mail, informing him you are disappointed, that he is not to further use any of your work without permission, and that there will be consequences if he does. (As you noted, this is your academic rep.) Again, to the point, only. No softening it with praise for other attributes. Good luck.
Btw, for any college that uses the Common App, the question about disciplinary action is both on the student forms and the school report submitted by the GC. Some hs don’t report, maintain privacy.
Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. It’s a lot to think about. Yes, I do have a supervisor who is aware of this situation and I think we will discuss the next steps in the coming week. I know that the early decision deadline is coming up soon and I think that the admissions committee will want to know about what happened (if Zack still winds up applying here).
That’s a good suggestion to personally notify the contest committees myself. I also don’t want them to think I was complicit somehow.
The whole thing is very disappointing. He even gave me a nice card on the last day of his internship thanking me for all of my help. (Who knew what he was planning??) I am friends with other researchers who had summer interns who complained that theirs were lazy or did not catch onto things quickly or required a lot of “hand-holding.” I was so proud that I had a student who was so smart and hard working. Little did I know…