Wandering eyes
A student was referred to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) for cheating during an exam. The student’s eyes were wandering during his psychology exam when the professor first noticed the suspicious behavior. The professor then made an announcement to the class to keep their eyes on their own tests. Shortly after the announcement was made, the student started to look at the exam of the student in front of him. After conferring with one of his TAs, the professor decided to move the student to the front of the room to prevent any further cheating. After the exam, the student was referred to SJA for cheating off other students’ exams. The student took responsibility for his actions and agreed to be placed on disciplinary probation until graduation. Disciplinary probation means that if the student receives any further violations, he will most likely be suspended for a minimum of one quarter. The student also agreed to complete 15 hours of community service.
Online help
A professor referred a student to SJA for submitting a plagiarized paper in a social sciences class. The student’s paper was submitted two days after the deadline, and was extremely high quality work. However, the professor noticed organizational mistakes throughout the paper that did not meet the prompt’s requirements. The professor then searched online for suspicious phrases from the student’s paper and found an online article that was clearly the uncited source of the student’s paper. When the student met with a Judicial Officer, he admitted to plagiarizing his paper and agreed to be placed on deferred separation status. Deferred separation means that the student waives his right to a formal hearing if he is referred in the future for any kind of academic misconduct. He also agreed to complete an assignment about plagiarism and 10 hours of community service.
Blog buddies
In an Asian American studies course, a student was referred for plagiarizing a blog assignment for the course. Two students were identified for having virtually the same blog entry for the week. However, after the professor and the TA met with the students, one of them admitted to using the other student’s work as a template to help him write the blog entry. He stated that although he did not intend to plagiarize the material, he took full responsibility for the fact that his blog entry was plagiarized. The SJA officer offered him disciplinary probation until graduation as well as a plagiarism assignment and 10 hours of community service, which the student accepted.
