Hi. So recently, my friend, Larry, got into trouble for having his phone in his pocket during a test. He has genetic diabetes and his medication somehow did not work that day. I also noticed he went to the bathroom a lot before the test started. Right before the test, he also took another pill. However, during the test, he needed to go to the bathroom so he told the professor. And when the professor came, he told Larry to empty his pocket. And Larry had his phone is his pocket when he wasn’t supposed to but he didn’t use it. The professor let him finish the test but he had to rush through it because he had to use the bathroom again. But the professor did report him to the school board committee. He had to attend this meeting with these people and they told him that he will receive an F for the class and the class itself costs a lot of money and Larry is also a senior and he wants to graduate on time. He said it’s unfair because most people had their phone with them during the test and he had his phone with him in other classes too. They told him to go home and write a letter to the higher committee who gives out the penalty. What should he say in the letter? Should he mention his medication? What should he say about the phone? Please help.
I’m going to look at this from both points of view.
From your friend’s point of view:
- I’m going to assume that Larry is not his real name and you are purposely using another name for him in order to protect his online privacy.
It was a good idea not to mention the university or which class it is, either. 
- By genetic diabetes, I assume that you mean Type 1 diabetes.
- If Larry needed his phone w/him for medical reasons, then he should have notified the professor ahead of time…before the test…as to why he’d need the phone on his person.
- At the very least, one would expect Larry to have put the phone on the table/desk rather than keep it in his pocket.
- He should have explained to the professor during the test as to why he kept having to use the bathroom.
- It was really dumb of him to forget about his phone in his pocket.
- If Larry is a smart guy, he will have it listed somewhere in his college file on campus with the college administration that he has a chronic disease.
- I’m not quite clear what the connection is between the phone and his diabetes, unless the connection is that because his medication wasn’t working that day, it made him really absent minded/short term memory loss (which can happen) and the phone on his person was because he was using pre-programmed “take your medicine” reminders on the phone. Or…are you saying that BECAUSE his diabetes medication didn’t work very well that day, he had to go to the bathroom a lot during the test, and on any other test day when his medication WAS working and he broke the rules and had his phone in his pocket, he got away with it…but this time was different because of the repeated bathroom visits tipping off the professor’s suspicions? It’s not quite clear from your post.
- Rules are rules. UNLESS there is a documented disability with a legitimate need for him to have his phone on his person during the exam.
From the professor’s point of view:
If I was the professor, I definitely would have suspected your friend of cheating since he:
a. kept getting up to use the bathroom
b. didn’t follow the simple instructions of emptying your pockets
c. had his phone in his pocket every time he went to the bathroom
Also, any regular person off the street would of course assume that the whole “But I didn’t use the phone to cheat” explanation was just an excuse.
Also, the fact that Larry had his phone w/him during other classes has NO bearing on THIS class in THIS situation.
And the argument of “but everybody else was doing it, too!” is an excuse you’d use in middle school.
Larry is an adult and has to face the consequences. He should write an honest & truthful letter. He should leave out all the other times he’s gotten away with this. He should leave out of the letter anything talking about how other students do it, too. He should talk in the letter about WHY he kept having to use the bathroom, about the meds not working effectively that day. He should apologize for not following the professor’s instructions. He should promise to never do it again. He should thank the committee for their time. And he should accept whatever consequences they give him. And he should expect to have to repeat the class and graduate later than he expected.
Thank you for your reply. Larry is a forgetful person but I don’t know if his medication actually affects his memory. He doesn’t need his phone to remind him for medication or anything. I think he just simply forgot to put it away. He never used the bathroom before and that day was an exception. And the professor asked him to empty his pocket the first time he asked to use the bathroom. And he never did use the bathroom again, which was why he had to rush through the test. And he didn’t get a good grade on it either. The letter is to argue why he shouldn’t receive an F. Other than the medication, he doesn’t know how to justify his action.
If “Larry’s” brain was so muddled by his illness that he couldn’t remember to take his phone out of his pocket, he probably had no business taking an exam to begin with. He should have spoken to the professor beforehand and told him something wasn’t right and he was experiencing some kind of diabetic crisis.
And really?
As they say on ESPN football, “Come ON, man!”
Genetic diabetes? Tablets for genetic diabetes? Is that what Larry tells you??
He didn’t really tell me a lot about his disease and just told me it’s genetic and it’s diabetes. I do notice that he has to take 3 pills a day and if he doesn’t take it or if the medication does not work, he will use the bathroom a lot. Like every 10-15 minutes. I know he can’t put “because everyone does it” in the letter. He didn’t think that the medication would happen to not working that day since it never happened in other tests.
T2 diabetes has a very significant genetic component. He could be taking one of the medications that prod the pancreas to produce more insulin, which are taken in pill form. They can cause those who take them to experience dangerous lows in blood sugar, which can cause confusion, which may be relevant to this story.
Or it may be the usual pile of BS.
Have your friend get an account and ask the question. We don’t know if he wants his info out on the web.