<p>From today’s edition of the University of Texas newspaper</p>
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<p>Arrogant snot. He deserves to be fired. He violated Federal law, and served as prosecutor, judge, and jury.</p>
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<p>Considering privacy laws now in force at colleges, under which parents don’t get notice of their kids grades unless approved by the kid, the release of names and grades on a public blog is outrageous!</p>
<p>The only way to teach this teacher that this is inappropriate behavior was to fire him.</p>
<p>I agree he deserved to be fired. He expects his students to follow the rules but thinks it is OK for him to break them - in a big way. What sort of lesson is that to anyone.</p>
<p>Not that I am in any way saying it is OK for the students to do what they did. At my daughter’s school cheating/plagiarizing gets an automatic F in the class with a notation next to it showing why the F is because of cheating (I think they call it an F shreek). Not public humiliation but any one the student chooses to send the transcript to - such as potential employers - will get to see it. An appropriate consequence. This prof’s public blog - not appropriate.</p>
<p>"Midterm Exam – Status and a Warning</p>
<p>November 3, 2008 - 10:47pm — Loye Young</p>
<p>In light of the many students who still have not yet turned in their assignments, I will release the instructions for the exam tomorrow.</p>
<p>In addition, I must give you a stern warning about academic honesty, especially now that you will be working on your midterm examination.</p>
<p>I have wasted much of today reading plagiarized essays. Six (6) students have already been caught and will receive an “F” for the course. The Dean of the College, the Chair of the Department, the Provost, and the Executive Director for Student Life have all been notified. The students may be subject to University disciplinary actions, and appeals to such a decision should be in conformance with University regulations.</p>
<p>As stated in the syllabus, “No form of dishonesty is acceptable. I will promptly and publicly fail and humiliate anyone caught lying, cheating, or stealing. That includes academic dishonesty, copyright violations, software piracy, or any other form of dishonesty.”</p>
<p>A question: Would it have been acceptable (legally and otherwise) for Young to have taken the same actions and posted the same blog but without naming the students?</p>
<p>If there was a problem with what the instructor promised students who cheat in his class, it should have been brought to his attention after the first class when syllabi were distributed detailing the penalties for cheating. If an instructor spells out the penalties for cheating in his class and students choose to take his class and cheat knowing the penalties, it would be unfair for the instructor not to penalize cheaters as promised.</p>
<p>Since the post was a violation of Federal privacy laws, should the names be reposted here?</p>
<p>dntw - it is a violation of the law. I am not an instructor but know about ferpa rules - I would expect a University professor to be aware of them. I would imagine the school makes their faculty aware of these laws which is probably why he was fired for breaking them.</p>
<p>Agree with BCE - the names should not be posted on CC.</p>
<p>I asked the same thing of mods awhile ago but didn’t get a response. I think their names should be removed ASAP.</p>
<p>Once the names are posted on the Internet, they are there forever. Moderator’s certainly have the discretion to remove them from this thread, but doing so won’t protect anyone’s privacy. </p>
<p>The instructor was an adjunct, not a professor, and his department head was responsible for ensuring that the course parameters he listed on his syllabus didn’t violate any laws. Apparently not even one student was concerned enough about the injustice of the penalty for cheating to have brought the syllabus to the department head’s attention at the beginning of the semester.</p>
<p>The fact that it is a violation of the law suggests a legal remedy should be pursued, and if the instructor’s actions merit punishment, the law has mechanisms to carry out that punishment. History has proven that not every law is just simply because it’s a law, and I suspect the average members of a jury in Texas would not be as critical of the instructor as posters on this thread.</p>
<p>The professor unnecessarily exposed his school to defamation law suits. Although truth is a defense, what if one of the students didn’t have the intent to plagiarize? The student may sue the university for damages resulting from one of its employees -the professor. It’s not smart to expose your employer to unnecessary legal liability.</p>
<p>Why is everyone up in arms about his publicizing their names and not at all concerned that not only did they plagiarize but did so after being warned of the consequences…Wow</p>
<p>Intent to plagiarize or not is irrelevant, just as ignorance about what constitutes plagiarism isn’t a defense.</p>
<p>While I certainly don’t condone the students’ actions, he should have been fired. The university has a system for dealing with those who cheat. There was no reasonable basis for the professor to add to it and break the law in the process.</p>
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<p>We take the fact of the punishment of the plagarism as a fact and don’t condone it. No one is defending the students who cheated from getting their F or getting kicked out of school. But the publication of their names on the internet is not an appropriate punishment, no matter how much the students were warned about those consequences. </p>
<p>Just as if the teacher had said that the punishment for plagarizing was a public caning…merely warning students of a punishment that will come does not validate the legality of the punishment.</p>
<p>They were also only accused of cheating, not convicted. While they may well have (they probably did) it is not his job to do so. His job likely is to bring the evidence to the Dean of Students or similar outfit and allow the student a chance to contest his allegation if they so choose.</p>
<p>This is grossly inappropriate and wrong.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee publishes the names of every student brought up on Honor Code violations, the trial date, the outcome and date, including dismissals from the school. They POST that information publicly in the cafeteria on campus. </p>
<p>When you break the law with plagiarism, you don’t have much of a leg to stand on about privacy rights. What privacy right is there to commit plagiarism? He gave them each public notice of what he would do if they were caught.</p>
<p>Now if he is wrong in his assertions and they did not commit plagiarism, he risks being sued for slander.</p>
<p>But I wouldnt call him “an arrogant snot.” Plagiarism is a serious problem on college campuses and cheating is another problem. Some plagiarism occurs because of innocent stupidity…kids who make an error in failing to accredit the source out of negligence, not malicious intent to take credit for someone else’s work, or an incorrect citation. Those can be handled differently. But blatant and malicious plagiarism should be dealt with severe punishment, an “F” grade, and if it occurs twice, then dismissal.</p>
<p>I wouldnt have done what he did. Its too risky. But I would definitely tell my students, “if I catch you cheating in any manner, you will receive an immediate “F” on the paper or test, and an “F” for the semester and asked to leave the classroom and not return, nor will I allow you to take another course from me. If it happens more than once in the college, you will be dismissed.”</p>
<p>Posting the names of students who plagiarized may seem like a fair consequence for having committed the act, but if a student is actually innocent, there is no way to reverse the damage which could be caused by this announcement to the world. So, if we were to post that this professor had adulterous relations, or other such personal damaging unproven statements, would he/she think that this would be okay, I wonder?</p>
<p>Interesting and, I think, balanced story on the situation:</p>
<p>[Vigilante</a> Justice on Plagiarism :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/13/tamiu]Vigilante”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/13/tamiu)</p>
<p>While I don’t condone publicly identifying the students, it does seem that there’s not much doubt about the plagiarism. And if I were a professor at TAMU, I’d be pretty upset that the administration seems to be treating the plagiarists as victims. From the linked article:</p>
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