Wrongly Accussed of Cheating--What to Do?

bluealien01 · July 9, 2007, 5:23pm

OP, do you have an update for us on the situation?

sybbie719 · July 9, 2007, 8:01pm

At Dartmouth the academic honor code works, because if you are found in violation of it, you are “Parked” for a minimum of 3 terms. My D says Dartmouth will not hesitate to suspend you for an academic violation of the honor code and know quite a few people who have been parked.

Parkhurst" is one of the scariest verbs in the Dartmouth lexicon. Named for the building in which undergraduate judicial hearings occur, getting “Parkhursted” is a slang term for being suspended or expelled by the College. 

Faculty, other students and, in cases of misconduct, Safety and Security can bring allegations against students. Those students suspected of suspension-level offenses are called before the Committee on Standards. Such cases are a small subset of UJA’s 666 cases.

Once allegations are leveled against a student, that student can choose to accept the allegations and have a sentencing hearing with a dean or to refute the charges and have a hearing before the COS, Director of UJA April Thompson said.

David Chattman '08, who recently returned from a three-term suspension, faced sanctions due to violations of the honor principle in a freshman English class last winter.

Chattman opted for a hearing and said the process was very intimidating.

“The trial is pretty daunting and an intimidating experience,” he said. “There are three teachers and three students and a dean who, beforehand, come up with questions. You get to have an advisor but they’re not really there to help you out, just calm you down.”

After repeated alcohol violations, Kendrick Li '08 conceded his culpability and chose to have a sentencing hearing with the dean, but said that he regrets that decision. He said that students are often stressed and frightened when they face serious charges, but those who stay calm and approach their hearings with rational defenses can improve their situation.

Many students are concerned with the number of honor violation cases heard by COS.

Sayat Ozyilmaz '08, whom COS placed on probation for violations of the honor principle, said that, throughout the process, many students have a subconscious paranoia about getting “Parkhursted.”

“Everyone sees it as this source of enigmatic fear; they don’t know anything about the procedure,” she said.

Angela Fang '07 expressed concerns about violating the academic honor principle unknowingly.

“I always wonder if I could still be caught on a technicality even though I could be so well-intentioned to credit every possible bit of work to the correct author,” she said.

Other students feel that such fears are trivial, claiming that it is not difficult to obey the honor code.

“It is your responsibility to educate yourself about the Standards of Conduct,” Kirsten Wong '06, a member of COS said. “I feel that if you are a responsible person, we aren’t asking too much of you.”

Jared Hyatt '06, who also serves on COS, said that professors can do a lot more to prevent uncertainty about the honor code.

“I think professors should be more explicit explaining what students can and cannot do in collaborating with one another,” he said. “I think many cases would be avoided if professors spent an extra ten minutes describing what is acceptable behavior.”

The standard sanction for an honor code violation is a four-term suspension, but Thompson stressed that COS sentences individuals on a case-by-case basis and, therefore, fears of lengthy suspensions for minor infractions were misplaced.

“Many students make confusions in citations who did not get a four term suspension because that is not appropriate,” Thompson said.

“The sanctions are always deliberated and voted on. We match the sanction to the case. While there may be ‘standard’ sanctions, they aren’t fixed and in stone,” Wong assured.

Chattman said that, although he understood the need for strict sanctions, the penalties levied against students are often extreme.

"Honor principle violations are treated as murder here.

<a href=“http://thedartmouth.com/2006/01/30/news/cos/[/url]”>http://thedartmouth.com/2006/01/30/news/cos/</a>

sybbie719 · July 9, 2007, 8:11pm

This article is about one of my D’s friends who was supposed to graduate thsi past June. Excellent student, recruited athlete, leader on campus, got caught up in an academic violation and got parked…

From The Dartmouth

On trial: the committee on standards

We’ve all heard of them – the miscreants, the prosecuted, the kids who fade into the background under a cloud of secrecy and shame: the Parkhursted. Few people know what “Parkhursting” actually entails beyond a revocation of BlitzMail and a push out of the Dartmouth bubble. Like car accidents and death, people usually think, “That won’t happen to me.” At least that is what Daniel Obaseki '07 thought up until his entrance into the world of suspension. “I used to think there was a certain type of kid that got Parkhursted,” Obaseki said. “The individuals who bought papers, or cheated on tests. I never realized there’s an entire subculture of kids getting shafted by the system.”

Obaseki had just returned from a stressful recruiting trip this fall and had been hired by an investment banking firm. He was a senior, five credits away from graduating, and the tracks for the next stage in life had been set into place. Life was good. After dinner with his best friend he stopped at the Thayer BlitzMail terminals to make plans for the night. But then he saw it, an email from his philosophy professor. He had been suspected of plagiarism. The paper that he had stayed up all night writing had been forwarded to Undergraduate Judicial Affairs. The process had been set in motion, and Obaseki would later be suspended for three terms. “I’m thinking ‘This can’t be happening,’” Obaseki said. “‘Oh God, my life is over.’” 

When Obaseki first received the fateful news, he read over his paper and realized that in his rush to send it in via BlitzMail, he had forgotten to add in his citations. “It was clear to anyone looking at the paper that it was a mistake,” Obaseki said. “I had attributed statements throughout the paper to certain philosophers which clearly showed that I was intending to insert the citations.”

According to Thompson, though, “regardless of the intent, a violation of the honor principle is a violation of the honor principle.” 

Dean Nelson compared unintentional plagiarism to exceeding the speed limit. “The college’s book on sources makes it clear that plagiarism is an issue really independent of intention just like exceeding the speed limit is unintentional,” Nelson said. “You may not have been intending to exceed the speed limit, but you still did. If you turn in a paper where you unintentionally made citation mistakes this is still an instance of plagiarism.” Yet intentionality can potentially play a role in the length of suspension. “If there are two students who have been convicted of plagiarism, and one student’s plagiarism was premeditated, the sanction for this individual might look different than a student who made citation mistakes,” Nelson said.

For his evidence, Obaseki brought in his outline, notes, sources and printouts. “Along the margins of my notes were marks which indicated exactly where a certain quote or passage was going to be used in the paper,” Obaseki said. “The dean who heard my case told me that she was not questioning my integrity and that she wished there were 4,000 kids like me at Dartmouth, but that she was going to have to get me on a technicality. If she was not questioning my integrity, the tenet on which the principle is founded, what was she questioning?”

To receive his verdict, Obaseki was brought to the office of a dean who had not heard his case. He had never met her before. In the envelope that she handed him was a letter which found him guilty of plagiarism and told him that he was suspended for three terms. 

“I went into shock mode,” Obaseki said. “I gave the dean a look of incredulity and then left to call my parents and friends.” In the envelope there was also a form for reapplication to Dartmouth which noted that students were not guaranteed readmission. Obaseki had 48 hours to pack his bags and leave campus.

Obaseki now makes up a group of students that he refers to as the “disenchanted and disenfranchised.” One of the stipulations of suspension is that any classes a student takes outside of Dartmouth during the suspension period cannot count as transfer credits. Knutson complained about the lack of options for suspended students. “When felons get released from jail, the government will find them work,” Knutson said. “I had no job or internship. I wasted an entire term.” 

Ultimately, Obaseki admits that he did make an error. “I made the careless and rushed mistake of forgetting to include my citations. However, to say that such a mistake warrants a year of my life is hard for me to accept,” he said. “I have been in love with this school since I first heard about it in high school but I guess what they say is true – unrequited love is a *****.”

<a href=“http://thedartmouth.com/2007/01/19/mirror/on/[/url]”>http://thedartmouth.com/2007/01/19/mirror/on/</a>

anxiousmom · July 9, 2007, 8:41pm

That just seems so unfair! I know Rice has an honor council, but I believe it is run by students, and they set the punishment. In the case above, the student should have been given the chance to add in the citations and resubmit the paper. As a senior, this student has no option to attend another university to finish his degree! :(

lkf725 · July 9, 2007, 9:16pm

How unfair! She * has to * get him? I would have hoped that the dean of a top university would have the intelligence to see something besides black and white, and perhaps do the right thing. Also, I’m sure the professor had plagerism software in addition to the evidence presented and knew darned well that the paper was authentic. This was just vicious. :mad: It reinforces my opinion that external trappings such as money and position don’t necessarily equal class and integrity. :(

ClassicRockerDad · July 9, 2007, 11:54pm

This is unjust and horrifying. Intent and integrity should mean everything. No one loses a year of their life for unintentionally exceeding the speed limit. The professor could have just emailed him back the paper and said “I think you forgot the citations”.

ellemenope · July 10, 2007, 12:55am

Agree with you ClassicRockerDad–surely a paper with NO citations would have made bells ring. But professors have no duty to follow up.

Don’t know what government Mr. Knutson is talking about…

debryc · July 10, 2007, 2:41am

That Dartmouth example is terrifying, I agree. I wonder if any Dartmouth student (or parent) can jump in with their own interpretation of the Honor Principle at Dartmouth. Is it entirely student run? I ask because the fear of consequences as described by the article has NOT been part of my own experience at a college with an honor code. Perhaps the fact that my college’s honor code is entirely student run contributes to its perception as something we’re proud of, not something we’re scared of.

I agree with Professor Donald McCabe, that it’s not the honor code itself that prevents cheating, but rather the positive peer pressure from an academic culture that values honesty. A college administration cannot just blindly formulate an honor code and expect it to be followed. In this kind of situation the honor code is just an empty promise.

debryc · July 10, 2007, 4:04am

ellemenope, the Honor Code at my school consists of two parts. One is to be honest in my own work. The other part is to report any cases of academic dishonesty.

marite · July 10, 2007, 6:45am

LMNOP:

The prof does not have an obligation to follow up, to be sure. But it is no more onerous a task to email a student than to report him or her for cheating (indeed, the latter may be more time-consuming and burdensome, and should be as accusations of cheating are serious matters). By the same token, deans do have the latitude to find that 1. there was no actual cheating or 2; the cheating was unintentional and 3. to make the punishment, if indeed one was required, fit the crime. I find that in this instance, both prof and dean acted as hanging judges. The message it sends to students is not that they must not cheat but that the profs and deans will criminalize sloppiness and forgetfulness and are heartless. It does not reflect well on Dartmouth.

Sklog_W · July 10, 2007, 8:42am

As I mentioned previously in the thread I was brought up on academic dishonesty charges, and at my school (MIT) they’re about as harsh as Dartmouth’s seems to be. There’s a stigma around the COD (Committee on Discipline), the group of teachers and students who oversee the cases. When I recount the story of my 1 in a hundred shot of avoiding suspension (which I did) most of the graduated students who I know respond with a stunned “you went to the COD and survived?!”

Very intimidating, but it’s oddly true that if you don’t buy into the hype you can come out unscathed. If you absolutely convince yourself of your innocence and don’t fall into the trap of starting to believe allegations that are vague and not true (as mine were) you can destroy an under-prepared teacher with little to no evidence.

I submitted over 30 pages of paperwork in my defense, best idea of my life, I showed down to the smallest detail why my situation was unique, I did not deny wrong doing, but denied the fact that is deserved harsh punishment, and thus avoided suspension. MIT is good to their students it turns out, and I’ve never failed to be impressed with how they’ve set up their system, because in all honesty I saw myself as suspended long before I got the simple probation and docked grade.

plus as I mentioned before, the teacher who went over the head of her department (I had no departmental hearing, one of the many reasons the COD got ****ed at her during the hearing and undoubtedly helped my cause) with her accusations just got denied tenure, so that makes me happy.

tokenadult · July 10, 2007, 8:49am

It will? Which government? What kind of felons? What kind of work?

garland · July 10, 2007, 9:28am

That case is truly horrifyng. He lost a year, and possibly the job he had just achieved.

Since his integrity is not being questioned, then the question is, as he asks, what is? The inability to perceive shades of gray (yes, the citations were missing, but demonstrably not because of lack of integrity) speaks badly for the intellectual acuity of the people involved. I would not want to be in a class led by that kind of thinking (or lack of it.)

ellemenope · July 10, 2007, 1:31pm

The era of “zero tolerance” sometimes leads to unfair results where the punishment does not fit the infraction. Marite, I am glad to hear that many professors look at the infraction in context before wielding the heavy axe of disciplinary committees. I’m afraid that most of the stories we have heard on this thread haven’t spotlighted that.

I wonder if the Dartmouth committee felt constrained because the student was a recruited athlete (didn’t want to be seen as giving a recruited athlete special consideration).

marite · July 10, 2007, 1:41pm

There I’ve been, under the impression that profs tend to bend backward to avoid having to deal with honors committees and administrative boards because it can be such a hassle to provide evidence of wrong doings, pleas to consider mitigating circumstances, etc… In other words, hauling a student in front of a committee is supposed to be a measure of last resort, when a prof is morally certain that a wrongdoing has been committed, rather than the result of vague suspicion.

If the case is as reported, the dean did not believe that there was a case of intentional plagiarism. Maybe Dartmouth should do a GWB and commute the student’s sentence?

Wrongly Accussed of Cheating--What to Do?

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