Why could the artists not do the same? The OP has no more access to the admissions file or original artwork than the artists. </p>
<p>Again, three years later, finding the roommate’s artwork on the sites of other artists might actually indicate that it is they who did the plagiarizing.
And Bay, I don’t think you are a bad person to ignore the possibility that the OP has wrongly accused the roommate (publicly) and included enough details that the roommate can be identified and harassed by others at UCLA who might be reading this thread. You are just focusing on the wrong issue.</p>
<p>Not sure I follow you here. You mean, why don’t the artists report the applicant’s fraud to UCLA, as well? Sure, they could do that if they want to. </p>
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<p>I don’t know how many Juniors at UCLA are art majors. It is quite possible that there are few enough that someone reading this thread might think they know who is being referenced, and they might also know who OP is. Will they engage in harassment over this? Anything is possible. I would hope not, but I tend to give smart college students the benefit of the doubt, especially when anyone can say anything anonymously over the internet these days, and young people know this better than I do.</p>
<p>I would go even further and say that, given the many details the OP has published about her roommate and herself, the OP now has something of a responsibility to report this in order to give the roommate the opportunity to defend herself against the now public accusations. If the proof is not indisputable, then the OP has a responsibility to post here to clear things up. Unfortunately, with the details published, the OP may suffer from the accusations regardless - certainly she will no longer have the generous discount on rent she has enjoyed for three years. As you say, Bay, one would hope that college students would have the wisdom to think before posting on the internet. News events of this particular week indicate that high school students certainly do not possess that wisdom.</p>
Ha! Nope, I don’t know either of them (and given the details in this thread, I am quite happy NOT to know them). I am from the other end of California. I don’t feel you have to know someone to say that you will not blindly accept accusations against them - If you haven’t heard both sides of the story, then you haven’t heard the story.
It appears to have worked so far… or at least since last summer.</p>
<p>Um so several artists have somehow gotten hold of one artists high school work via internet pictures, and each decided to present one or two pieces as their own years later. Indepedently at that. Yup, that makes sense.</p>
<p>^ It makes exactly as much sense as suggesting that UCLA would not notice that 100% of an application portfolio, and all works produced over three years while attending UCLA, were plagiarized…</p>
<p>Sorry. I missed that part. Last I heard the OP was doing this for the greater ideal and purity of “ART”, not trying to save UCLA from its own apparent admissions incompetence. I’m not against anything that improves the admissions process but the idea that the OP’s friend will be expelled is frankly farcical to me. Most likely the OP will get a letter saying thank you we are always striving to improve our processes and your letter helps. </p>
<p>Overkill? Where? I’ve said all along that if the OP has proof, submit it. But there’s no doubt in my mind that motivations will be questioned and institutional embarrassment will try to be avoided. It’s just the way companies work.</p>
<p>If the OP’s first post had said something like, “My friend lied on her portfolio submission to UCLA three years ago. I didn’t say anything because I was living with her and paying nothing but now the b<em>tch wants to charge me rent. I so want to fix her rich little b</em>tt”? Would you still be so sanguine about her actions? Believe it or not I’d actually have more respect for the OP if that was the reasoning. The history of ART is filled with frauds and fakers, one more UCLA undergrad isn’t going to change anything on that front.</p>
<p>As for the people who think I’m (and I guess alamemom) are being too tough on the OP remember, she’s 20 years old. In this country she can vote for a president, buy a house or join the military. She’s an adult who’s about to make an adult decision. She needs to be aware of the repercussions.</p>
<p>If she submits an anonymous accusation I really believe that it will go nowhere. UCLA, no company, no school is in the business of doing someone else’s dirty work by investigating allegations that might expose them to legal liability. At most, I suspect UCLA will look into it, talk to the student IF there are concerns and then they will let it die. </p>
<p>Finally, where is the parental outrage for the so-called ‘friend’? The OP has accused her of plagiarism and fraud with her only evidence being a little bit of googling and what the ‘friend’ told her (I’m sure the OPs ‘friend’ is the only high school student who didn’t make themselves sound bigger than they were). Unless the OP submitted the application for the ‘friend’ she has no way of undeniably knowing what the friend submitted or told UCLA. </p>
<p>To the parents out here, if someone accused one of your kids of this kind of fraud would you just walk away or would you fight? Would you challenge the allegations from someone too cowardly to come to you first and give you a chance to explain or would you just roll over? If someone accused one of my kids I promise you I’d be relentless in defending them and remorseless in attacking their accuser. If the ‘friend’s’ parents are as wealthy and connected as the OP says they will most assuredly fight it. If UCLA can find any way to side with their own student they will.</p>
<p>First of all, thanks you all for spending time and energy to give me advices, I truly appreciate them all. </p>
<p>As discussion gets deeper, it seems like I need to make some clarification. However, as some people have concern, I do hold back some information just so I don’t reveal too much about my roommate and myself. I did hide some major points of this story, which I would really want to share just so I can get the most accurate advices out of it. However, putting those information right out here publicly might be too risky. I wonder if adding some major details about this story to people who care about this thread through private messages would be a proper thing to do. But first, I think I have to have 15 posts in order to activate my private message tool . </p>
<p>I am not sure if using private messages is any better than posting public comments. If it is still not a good idea, I will just end this thread. Thanks again to all of the advices, they really make me think a lot more and deeper about what I am/was planning to do.</p>
<p>OP needs to act like an adult and take responsibility for her accusations, but you get to be outraged and attack an accuser if it involves your offspring? Hmm…there is something seriously wrong with that way of thinking, not to mention this:</p>
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<p>^That is, to say the least, a pathetic rationale for ignoring plagiarism and fraud.</p>
<p>alex,
I think you have received some good advice on this thread, and I agree that providing more detail may compromise privacy, so I will not be posting anymore on your dilemma, either. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>alex: my art professor brother and wife (also an art school grad) were over for dinner tonight. I hypothetically tossed your situation out there. They both said if the evidence is there (meaning it’s indisputable), then to submit it to the proper authorities anonymously. </p>
<p>They both said students from their school have been dropped in the past for similar offenses.</p>
<p>Ale memom you were the one who suggested the artist may have plagiarized the student, yet some how you turned it around, pretty slick</p>
<p>In college she may be able to get through classes with mediocre art and pass. She may be swift enough to not fake her work now.</p>
<p>As for the ops motivation, it’s irrelevant, if they have the facts, and if now she decides to report it, so what? We all talk about karma, and sometimes dishonest people push others to the point where those people get fed up and decide to finally do something.</p>
<p>If the op created the original works of art sheresented in her application portfolio, she will have proof. Through grades at high school, the art itself, and it would be very simple to defend the work. A simple note from the art teacher at high school. A picture of the set in the bedroom. </p>
<p>If indeed this is a false accusation, with art it would very easy to defend.</p>
Yes, indeed, I (well, I assume by “Ale memom” you mean me?) was the one who suggested there were other unlikely possibilities no more unlikely than the unlikely story provided by the OP. I am sorry that I did not clarify that in my response to you.</p>
<p>I agree that it would be an easy charge to defend, but the roommate needs to know she has been accused before she can attempt to defend herself. Anonymous postings on the internet do not allow her to do so.</p>
<p>When one suspects plagiarism ie a prof, they will look for the evidence and then confront the student. They don’t warn them. The likelihood someone and the school is following this thread is nil. </p>
<p>As for making a portfolio with copies of others art representing it as their own, not so farfetched. I have a friend who posts amazing pictures of animals she has painted on her Facebook, the likelihood that an admissions person would suspect it was "stolen"work would be very unlikely. Not that my friend steals the work, but that someone could steal hers and claim its their own. Same with photography, sculptures, etc.</p>
<p>With nothing more than a few googled images the OP is accusing the ‘friend’ of fraud. If it were one of my kids would I stand idly by? Not a chance. Would I attack the accuser? You bet, with everything I had; I would scorch the earth under her feet and then salt the ground. </p>
<p>Are you actually arguing that you wouldn’t defend one of your own? That you would passively let someone make unsubstantiated accusations about your son or daughter and you wouldn’t react? For her sake, let’s hope the OP goes up against someone like you and not me. </p>
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<p>No, what is pathetic is the OP hiding behind some moral ideal to justify her actions when all her subsequent postings point to a resentment and bitterness toward the ‘friend’. And can we stop referring to the accused in this case as her ‘friend’, nothing could be further from the truth.</p>
<p>According to the OP, the accused has done everything that UCLA has asked of her, maybe not to the level of her application portfolio (the OP’s opinion), but apparently enough to remain a ‘student in good standing’ at UCLA. Yet the OP continues on this ‘crusade’. Out of curiosity, why hasn’t the OP confronted the accused? Believe it or not there may be an explanation; personally I refuse to buy the OP’s story hook, line and sinker. </p>
<p>The OP has sat on this “evidence” for three years; she has allegedly spent the last year googling images and contacting artists (can you say ‘obsession’?) and only now, after her meal ticket disappears does she decide the high moral ideal of “ART” needs to be preserved. Bull. You are free to believe that the accused is acting for the greater good but I know a vendetta when I see one.</p>
the OP doesn’t seem to have “unsubstantiated evidence.” his/her evidence seems very valid and thorough.</p>
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do the OP’s intentions matter here? the fact is the it is highly probable that the “friend” has plagiarized artwork and might still be doing so.</p>
<p>the first thing the OP needs to do is confront this “friend” and ask what’s going on to see if there’s an explanation. if there isn’t, then the “friend” needs to be exposed, not so much for what happened 3 years ago, but because the “friend” may still be plagiarizing (probably not all her work, but she may be taking credit from time to time and that needs to stop).</p>
<p>Vendetta or not, if the student stole others work and claimed it as her own, the op can and should report her. I don’t much care the ops motive. It really is irrelevant. </p>
<p>I hear all this talk about how cheaters always get caught, that it catches up to them, karma, etc, but if we insist on waiting for peopple to have the “right” motives for reporting, then no one will ever have to answer.</p>
<p>She doesn’t need to confront the friend. If there is proof, just report already. </p>
<p>Vendetta? So what if that’s the motive. Again, I hear, oh mind your own business, those people always get caught, well no they don’t if everyone minds their own business.</p>
<p>You seem to have gotten yourself all worked up over a hypothetical scenario. Someone is <em>falsely</em> accusing your child of plagiarism?? Bring out the parental big guns and blast them away!! (Never mind that your <em>child</em> is an adult too.)</p>
<p>There is nothing in this thread indicating that OP’s evidence is false. Even if it were, nothing would happen to the accused student as a result of it. If all of her submitted artwork is her own, she should have no problem producing the originals. Case closed. Big deal. </p>
<p>If, on the other hand, OP is correct, then the student should be held accountable for her actions, like any adult would. Don’t you agree? Otherwise, in effect, she has <em>stolen</em> a place at UCLA using a fraudulent application and that is wrong.</p>
It makes exactly as much sense as suggesting that UCLA would not notice that 100% of an application portfolio, and all works produced over three years while attending UCLA, were plagiarized…</p>
. </p>