Version A or Version B
A sophomore was referred to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for copying during an exam. The student was unaware of the fact that there were two versions of the exam and copied three answers from a classmate who had the other version. The teaching assistant for the class noticed the mismatch of answers and reported the incident to SJA. The student admitted to cheating and stated that she didn’t have enough time to complete the exam. She also acknowledged that she was hoping to gain a few extra points because she was on Academic Probation at the time and was afraid of failing the exam. Since this was the student’s first referral to Student Judicial Affairs, she agreed to Disciplinary Probation for a year and 10 hours of community service.
Double Checking
A professor referred a student to SJA for copying during a multiple-choice and short answer midterm. The student told the Judicial Officer that she did not cheat on the multiple-choice portion, but admitted to looking at a classmate’s work for two of the short answer questions. The student said that she was nervous about the exam and claimed that she only looked at her classmate’s work to confirm her answers. Even if a student does not change his or her answers, looking at someone else’s work during a test is still a violation of the Code of Academic Conduct and is considered cheating. This being the student’s first referral to SJA, she agreed to Disciplinary Probation for a year and 15 hours of community service.
Fourth Referral
This senior was suspended from UC Davis for one quarter after her fourth referral to SJA. The student copied another person’s work during a midterm examination and though no one witnessed the act of copying, upon grading the exam the TA noticed that the answer to one problem reflected the correct answer for a different version of the test. The senior admitted to the violation immediately and since this was her second academic violation, she was suspended. The other two referrals were non-academic. Generally speaking, if a student is found in violation of the same category of offense – academic or social – more than two times, they are dismissed from UC Davis. Thus, if this student is referred to SJA again for academic misconduct, she will mostly likely be facing dismissal.
Members of the office of Student Judicial Affairs compile the CAMPUS JUDICIAL REPORTS. Additional information about SJA and the Campus Judicial Board may be found at sja.ucdavis.edu.
