Under pressure
A student was referred to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for allegedly plagiarizing a paper in a UWP class. The professor noticed that numerous sections of the paper were taken verbatim from other sources. The student admitted that she was very stressed and did not have time to paraphrase her sources. The student agreed to be placed on Deferred Separation until graduation, meaning that if she is found in violation again, she will likely be suspended or dismissed from the University. Instead of completing 15 hours of community service, the student chose to submit a sanction payment of $150 ($10 for every hour).
Collaboration
A student was referred to SJA for allegedly copying or collaborating on multiple quizzes, a midterm and a final exam for an economics class after the professor was told anonymously that he and another student were seen working together during the final exam. When the professor reviewed the students’ work, he realized that not only the finals but all of the students’ previous tests had similar or identical answers. When referred to SJA, this student alleged that he did not copy from anyone during the tests and was not aware that anyone was copying from him. The other referred student admitted that she had copied from the student without his knowledge. Although doubts still remain about the conduct of the first student, the University agreed to drop the charges and give him an Administrative Notice. An Administrative Notice is not a disciplinary sanction, but means that SJA will keep a record of the incident. This record could aggravate disciplinary sanctions if the student is found in violation for academic misconduct in the future.
In place of another
A professor referred a student to SJA for allegedly taking two exams for himself and another person in a Statistics class. When the student met with a Judicial Officer, the student initially denied any form of misconduct. In later meetings, however, the student admitted to taking the tests for another person, as well as signing the name and ID of the other student on the attendance sheet. The student agreed to accept a one-year suspension for taking the exams for the other student. The student will also be placed on Deferred Separation until graduation.
