College Professor Misaccusing of cheating

Parents Forum
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<p>Hey, I posted this in the College Life thread also but maybe you guys have better advice:</p>

<p>Hey,</p>

<p>I am not actually the one being accused but my girlfriend is. We both go to a prestigious top 20 university which I won't discuss right now for privacy sake. </p>

<p>The situation is that she is taking a rough pre-med course right now and did not do too well on her first 2 midterms but apparently got a strong grade on her 3rd midterm. However, the professor apparently thinks she cheated because her grade was higher (although she studied more and better, I was there for her study times) and because her test was apparently similar to a girl next to her (a girl who consistently gets high grades). However, the professor has not accused the other girl (contradiction?) even though my girlfriend asked him if he ever saw her look at the other girl's paper and the professor did not answer her instead stating that "there were so many people in the room, I couldn't have been looking at you the whole time.". However, on the paper accusation he states he saw her look at the other girl's paper (lie?). She also has the word of the girl that my girlfriend never looked at her paper. The professor will not even let her look at the two papers to see why he thinks she cheated. </p>

<p>The professor offered her a 0 on the midterm instead of the accusation but this isn't really fair. To make matters worse, she is here on a scholarship that she will lose if the honor council convicts her. She has spoken to the Dean of the Honor Council and she was very ambiguous even stating that even if she is innocent, there is a chance she could be convicted. My question is if she should go higher up or what? I feel like a professor at a prestigious university should not be making an accusation that has so many holes that could possibly ruin the life of a college student.</p>

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<p>I would collect statements from people who knew how much she was studying for that test, while it is fresh in their memory. </p>

<p>Also, when they look for someone cheating from another student, one of the clearest ways is if they find they had the same wrong answers, not the same right answers.</p>

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<p>If she didn’t cheat, she should fight this to the bitter end. Consequences be damned.</p>

<p>If she did cheat, even a little bit, maybe the prof is giving her a huge break.</p>

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<p>Agree with Redwing. Never confess to something dishonest, unless you in fact did it. If you did it, come clean.</p>

<p>Honors procedures vary from school to school, but I’ve been involved in honors cases at both the universities I’ve taught at. I can’t believe that an Honor Council anywhere would convict somebody of cheating just because her grade is higher on this test than on the previous ones. There will have to be some proof. For instance, if your gf reproduced errors, as well as correct answers, from the stronger student’s paper, that might be telling circumstantial evidence.</p>

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<p>I think the worst parts are that during the time the professor accused her, she told him that she would be willing to retake a test right there and then and she could walk him through her entire thought process on the test but he denied the re-take and even the chance for her to look at the test until an honor council session (likely next semester). </p>

<p>She is going to try to talk to a dean that is higher up about this situation although she is wondering if it is worth the time to try and fight this since if she is convicted (could happen even if she didn’t cheat is what the dean of honor council said) she will lose her scholarship and this school isn’t cheap.</p>

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<p>Won’t she lose the scholarship anyway if she takes the 0 and fails the course?</p>

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<p>She could still get a D in the course if she gets a 0. Also, it is a courtesy scholarship meaning that she got it because one of her parents works for a part of the school.</p>

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<p>This is key! Get affidavits from all the people she studied with who could affirm that she studied like crazy. Lots and lots of corroboration–if possible, when, where, etc.! </p>

<p>Proving innocence is a difficult thing–it’s a lot harder to prove a negative. A number of papers should be examined to see if the same pattern of errors appeared in them, besides the paper of your gf. </p>

<p>I don’t like exams that aren’t proctored well because of just this situation. </p>

<p>Time to get her parents involved–it’ll be a money matter for them.</p>

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<p>That certainly adds a complication. This parent needs to know about the situation. </p>

<p>I would be heart broken if my adult child copped a plea to cheating when they didn’t in a misguided attempt to protect my reputation or employment at the College. </p>

<p>If, on the other hand, my adult child had in fact cheated, even a little bit, I would need to know that. The actions of my offspring reflect on our family’s honor and in this case, my standing at the college. She has an obligation to the parent to disclose this information.</p>

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<p>I recommend looking to see if the university has guidelines for handling cases of academic dishonesty. A procedure may be in place for an appeal – or not. Some universities give the final word to the professor. It’s not unusual to have a professor making these types of determinations based on whatever information s/he has. Professsors have control of their classes at most schools, and academic dishonesty is decided by the instructor unless it goes to an honor board. As you proceed be aware that depending on the institution the professor may have a LOT of say in this matter. I’m not defending that, just calling attention to it.</p>

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<p>Her parents know. Her mom wants her to take the 0 on the test regardless (because like I said, the dean said even if she is innocent honor council has a possibility of convicting her) because she can’t pay for school without the scholarship. Her dad wants her to ride it to Honor Council for the decision.</p>

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<p>No way you take the zero. Get a lawyer to demand a retake, get the name of the university’s insurance company and prepare a lawsuit. Don’t be afraid of these people.</p>

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<p>^^^ Yeah!!! :mad:</p>

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<p>There sometimes are law students who would love to defend an innocent person (for free) before an honor committee.</p>

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<p>Just please be innocent! Don’t put everyone through the wringer if you really did cheat.</p>

<p>I’m thinking of the case of Floyd Landis who spent oodles of his own money, collected donations from many others, wrote a book about his innocence in the quest to fight allegations that he doped in his bike riding career. Many people emotionally bought in to helping him prove his innocence. And then to admit years later that he really did dope.</p>

<p>I’m glad that he has come clean, but wish that he had just admitted his wrongdoing up front and taken his licks.</p>

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<p>Generally professors will not accuse a student of cheating unless they have some sort of case. For example, you could have two papers from students who were side-by-side who had similar misspellings. My favorite ploty is to have similar-looking questions on alternating exams with opposite answers and have students answer the question for the wrong exam. </p>

<p>Look carefully at the syllabus for the class. What is the penalty for cheating? Is the professor following through with his or her own syllabus?</p>

<p>Either way, do not think that the professor has been frivilous in his or her accusation. If a student feels that they have been wrongly accused, then they should go to the professor. Since that has not worked, then the next step would be the department of program chair, perhaps enlisting the help of the student’s advisor. If the student still does not feel that they have been heard properly, they should appeal higher up the chain – to the dean or whomever.</p>

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<p>Don’t think that hiring a lawyer (or worse yet, a law student!) is going to help. The university will have procedures already in place, and that’s the way it will be handled. At my university, a student can hire a lawyer to advise them, but the lawyer is not allowed to present a case at the hearing.</p>

<p>And typically the chain of communication in these cases goes from the professor directly to the judicial board. The department chairman and student’s academic advisor are not involved and have nothing to contribute.</p>

<p>I wish I could tell you which way to go on this, but there are too many unknowns. I never made a case against a student unless I had a smoking gun, but I know another prof who makes accusations based on flimsy evidence. Best of luck to your girlfriend is all I can say.</p>

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<p>By definition, everyone’s correct answers should look alike, so I have a hard time seeing how you can prove cheating simply from a correct answer.</p>

<p>There sounds like there may be more going on in this story. Did your friend have some sort of history with the professor prior to this test? It seems odd that if there is any question at all that a professor wouldn’t give a student the opportunity to prove that they know the material. </p>

<p>As spdf pointed out, schools have pretty clearly defined policies regarding Honor reviews so it’s unlikely that she’ll be allowed an attorney to speak on her behalf. Though having her attorney sit in the room and take copious notes during the proceedings certainly sends a message. Just because the paperwork says you can’t sue doesn’t mean you give up all rights of recourse. Occasionally the mere threat of a noisy lawsuit, complete with demands to access files wherein this professor accused other students of cheating, is enough to bring a reluctant opponent to the negotiating table. </p>

<p>If she didn’t cheat, then fight it to the bitter end. The prof needs to provide his proof and explain why he is unwilling to have a neutral observer administer and proctor a different test.</p>

<p>If she cheated even in the smallest way, take the 0 and move on.</p>

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<p>I’m probably biased, as a professor, but my take? This story is not adding up because we seem to be missing a lot of pertinent details. </p>

<p>It is a GIGANTIC HORRIBLE hassle to accuse a student of cheating, to even suspect it, because you have to deal with it. It is very unpleasant, it involves bad feelings and conflict, and it is usually a gigantic time drain that drags on and on. All for what? The professor has NOTHING to gain from taking this on. Except feeling an ethical obligation if he believes something was amiss. </p>

<p>By the details of the story, the prof had to have a) looked at the exam results, b) noticed that your gf scores went way up (unusual if a big class) and c) remember afterwards who your gf was sitting next to to start making the comparison. </p>

<p>Might the professor be wrong? Absolutely! And if so, she should fight it (and people have made great suggestions in that regard). But from what you have written, he has to be going on much more than what you’ve been able to provide. It also sounds a bit like you are scraping the barrel for proof she didn’t cheat: </p>

<ul>
<li><p>We have no idea about the nature of the exam, the type of questions, how they overlap and so on. Is it similarities with regards to wrong answers or write answer? How does the shared pattern compare to the class?</p></li>
<li><p>A prof should not give an exam or output of one student to another to look at. Just not ethical.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>*An exam on the spot is not going to be meaningful. Likely a week or more has passed. Moreover, taking a repeat exam may result in improvement anyway (esp if one later looked up answers to see how they did). Moreover, most students can remember multiple choice questions they were stuck on-- and the answer they ultimately chose. Creating a new exam would take more than a week. </p>

<ul>
<li><p>A prof. should not tell one student what grade another student received (nor the consequences of how another was dealt with on a discipline matter). Just not ethical. </p></li>
<li><p>And whether gf studied a lot or a little tells us nothing about whether she would also cheat. Pressure to succeed can drive both behaviors simultaneously. </p></li>
<li><p>There is a large difference between saying “you can’t see someone the whole time” and “having seen someone do something”. Who knows what gf said, what prof heard, and what prof responded with. </p></li>
<li><p>There is no reason one student writing an exam under time pressure would necessarily notice than another student was looking at their answers. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>Your gf may be very unfairly accused and needs to take action if that is true. Hopefully there is due process in place to sort this out. </p>

<p>I’m just saying that we don’t have a lot to go on here. And this story might just be suffering from the ‘telephone game’: professor explains his version and gf interprets it, gf explains it to you and her parents, you both interpret it, you explain to us, and we interpret it (and fill in the blanks along the way). A lot is lost in the translation, so to speak.</p>

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<p>@starbright: Thanks for posting. You said much of what I wanted to say. Honor Council cases are time-consuming and emotionally draining. The most recent case I brought had incontrovertible physical evidence of cheating, but the student fought it all the way, even bringing in a lawyer after she was convicted. That was her right, but it was galling that someone who was so obviously guilty was more than happy to impose costs on me, my TA, and everyone involved with the Honor Council. <end of=“” rant=“”> </end></p>

<p>@vinceh: I can give you a story about how to “prove” cheating from my time at a Big Ten school. My colleague suspected a BF and GF of cheating on an exam. It was a multiple-choice exam, so he took the BF’s answers as the answer key and determined the “grade” of all the other students. The GF got a grade of 96%; no one else was above 70%. In other words, you had two students whose answers were almost exactly the same, but no one else in a class of several hundred was remotely close to having the same answers. Predictably, the BF and GF said that they had the same answers because they studied together.</p>