Two Years of Suspension..Potential of Expulsion

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I have been attending a top university and I am in my final year. Earlier this year, I was sentenced to university officials for submitting 2 of someone else's assignments as my own. I was told that I will be sanctioned with 2 years of suspension, as I had been caught before plagiarizing in a previous class. Meanwhile, I was told that I could appeal the punishment and continue in the class. After getting news of 2 years suspension, I still excelled in the class without any cheating and somehow managed to get an A. I was already a Rheumatologist‎ patient and I had just started seeing a psychiatrist, and upon the advice of my lawyer for my appeal, I got a letter written by psychiatrist that I am suffering from depression due to unfortunate circumstances occurring in my family-major one being my close family member passing away. The appeal was rejected and I am sitting here right now with a letter mentioning that the university is maintaining its punishment to its entirety: 2 years suspension, and an F in the course, and deferred expulsion.</p>

<p>This is not the end of the story. In one of my other classes, I was called by one of my friends to take out a midterm for her to see as she was taking the midterm later. Being overconfident, I accidentally took my own midterm. Once I realized what I did, I panicked and threw it away. The midterm was somehow recovered and submitted to my professor. My professor is very cunning and realized that something fishy went about and summoned me to university officials. He alleges that I took out the midterm for myself in order to cheat. The university officials had asked me to come in to see them, but since I was very sick, I sent them a letter requesting them for an extension until December. I have yet to hear from them.</p>

<p>I have come from a good school district and received a high GPA and SAT scores in my high school. I had never cheated before college. I am a good person, but I have a low self esteem and failed in socializing. I had friends but very minimally. Entering college however, I went through a nervous breakdown. I was ever more depressed and had a very low ambition to succeed academically and in my extracurricular activities. To this day, I still haven't fully accepted the ideals of society- working hard, getting a job, getting married, having kids. Perhaps, I didn't fully accept my studies earlier in my college career because deep down I knew that it wouldn't give me complete happiness. Due to my low self esteem, I just become friends with students who come to me, instead of myself making an effort to go to other students and make friendships. It was my bad luck that these "friends" were natural cheaters and got me convinced that cheating is okay. The difference is that they were good cheaters who knew how to get away with cheating, and I didn't. Meanwhile through time, I started to heal and along with the help of therapy sessions, I started to regain momentum and revive a fire in me to succeed materialistically and thus work hard. I entered this semester getting the best grades I have received so far in college, as I started asking for help and going to as many office hours as possible. I am still not a straight A student, but definitely have mended my ways. It is absolutely heartbreaking to realize that my past has come back to haunt me, despite of my desire to be an honorable and contributing part of my university community. I also come from a cultural background where pride takes precedence over anything else, and this is the utmost shame to my family. Their disappointment has not been especially encouraging, however my mother's unconditional love and support has pushed me to find help:</p>

<p>1)After the rejection to appeal, what are my options?
2)Why did the university take so long to mail me the rejection of the appeal especially in the middle of this semester, when I have already invested money, time, and hard work towards my classes? This is 5 months after submitting my appeal.
3)Can I appeal to someone higher in authority at the university?
4)Will bringing a lawyer to the meeting with the university official help?
5)Will any other reputable university take me considering that I have a 2.7 GPA and suspension written on my transcripts? I prefer not go pursue a degree at a lower ranking university, especially since I had worked so hard in high school, and also otherwise in my college studies.
6)Is there any way to change "2 years suspension" to "voluntary withdrawal"?
7)How can I convince the appeal review board at my current university that I "should be given a chance, so I may get readmitted on a probation status that is heavily monitored"?
8) Do you think the university will open the third case since the second case has been resolved?
9) Is it alright to keep asking for an extension? Eventually after a year, the grade in the class for the third case will become a "null." I'm hoping that in the course of these two years suspension, this third case subsides.
10) Do you think coming out clean for the third case will save me from expulsion?</p>

<p>Any advice or comments are appreciated.</p>

2

<p>It sounds as if you have exhausted the appeals process, so you will likely have to do the two year suspension. A university can set its own rules, so a lawyer will not be effective, as this is not a criminal proceeding. Once you enroll at a college, you agree to abide by their rules and their system of justice. </p>

<p>It is doubtful another college of equal reputation would ever accept a twice-charged plagiarist. No, there is no way to “change” your charge to a voluntary withdrawal. You must face the truth. You cheated, got caught , and are now paying the penalty.</p>

<p>You had a second chance after the first plagiarism charge, but you chose to repeat the behavior. You cannot expect a third chance. </p>

<p>You can, however, decide to play by the rules now. Find a job or internship in your field, work hard for two years, work on developing personal ethics of integrity and honesty, and hope the school will allow you back in.</p>

3

<p>"I was sentenced to university officials for submitting 2 of someone else’s assignments as my own. I was told that I will be sanctioned with 2 years of suspension, as I had been caught before plagiarizing in a previous class. "</p>

<p>I don’t have the answers for all of your questions, but regarding number 7 – how to convince the review board that you deserve “a second chance” – don’t you mean a third chance? Or a second chance at a second chance?</p>

<p>“It is absolutely heartbreaking to realize that my past has come back to haunt me, despite of my desire to be an honorable and contributing part of my university community.”</p>

<p>The above sentence is not even remotely sincere. I encourage you to continue to pursue your options as you think that is appropriate, but you need to come up with fewer excuses for your behavior and don’t go on and on about dead relatives, mental health issues, how good your high school was and your difficulty with the “ideals of society.” </p>

4

<p>1) You apparently already have a lawyer. Ask him or her. If you didn’t have a lawyer, I’d suggest consulting with one. A lawyer who holds himself out as having any expertise will know the answer or be able to find it out easily. It presumably depends on facts you haven’t given us, like what university it is. If it’s a private university, it may be possible to put your case to the actual governing board (board of trustees, or whatever they’re called), as opposed to the administration. If it’s a state university, there might also be some higher authority in state government. Ultimately - after exhausting all appeals within the university and its governance - you can always go to court. That’ll be very expensive, at least, and I suspect that the prospects of success aren’t great.</p>

<p>2) No idea. Probably doesn’t matter to your case. Ask your lawyer if you want as informed an answer as you’re likely to get.</p>

<p>3) See 1.</p>

<p>4) Back to: ask your lawyer. The advantage of bringing a lawyer is obvious. This possible disadvantage is that, if you don’t, there’s some likelihood that whoever you meet with won’t have a university lawyer in the meeting with you. That may or may not be a preferable situation. At this point, they’d likely have their lawyer in the picture anyway, and quite possibly in the room.</p>

<p>5) I’m just guessing, but I’d think that’s not a great idea. There’s probably some place that’ll take you, but it’ll likely be a big step down, perhaps beyond your “reputable” line (which is a bit of a vague and subjective one). It’s likely worse than the alternative of taking the suspension. Of course, you should also (wait for it) ask your lawyer.</p>

<p>6) Hmm. Can you guess what the suggestion here is? I wouldn’t be surprised if your lawyer tells you, when you ask him, that it is possible to change that on your record - down the road, after you’ve returned and been a model student.</p>

<p>7) You know the answer to that. Also: it sounds like you already did that and failed.</p>

<p>Serving out the two-year suspension, returning and finishing isn’t the worst thing in the world, though it might seem like it. If you can come up with something productive and interesting to do during the two years, you might someday look back on it all as a net positive. Obviously, there are financial issues to all of this as well.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>Voluntary withdrawal would be a lie.</p>

6

<p>I would continue seeing a therapist to help you understand the insecurities that led to your compulsion to cheat as well as any existing depression and I would work for two years and then hopefully finish your college degree at this college. Clearly the college feels that you need a couple years away to pull it together. If you, indeed, have one more appeal session it is possible that you get two years changed to one year but the excuses are done.,If you do have any appeal go with a plan for the year (or two). and see if there is anyway to salvage the classes other than the one where you cheated. </p>

7

<p>Lost- why not print out your post and bring it to your next therapy session? I think you need the help of someone in real life and not a bunch of strangers on the internet.</p>

<p>At some point you need to face facts that you are not going to get a degree from this university. You can face it in a couple of years- after you’ve wasted time and energy and aggravation trying to appeal, hiring a lawyer, writing letters and going up the chain of command, or you can face it now and come up with Plan B. Your choice.</p>

<p>If you were my kid (who I would love unconditionally, as your mom seems to do), I’d be telling you to move on. Get a job. Work for a year or two, get professional help for your depression and other issues, confront the truth (you cheated, you got caught, you were dismissed. Full stop- and accept responsibility). And then reapply to college with a new narrative. This time- you have matured. You have accepted full responsibility for your misconduct. You deeply regret your actions. You want to be in college and to get an education.</p>

<p>Some institution will take you. The fact that it might not be as prestigious as the one you were dismissed from is another issue you will work on in therapy. A degree from a lower ranked university (with a college education) is going to do more for you and your life than a couple of years spinning your wheels, hiring a lawyer, appealing the university’s decision, and trying to recast your dismissal as a voluntary withdrawal.</p>

<p>I hire people for a living at a huge company. We hire people all the time who have degrees from a different college than the one they started at. If any of them were to describe being dismissed as a voluntary withdrawal, they would be fired and escorted from the building by security. Something to think about. You can stop the cycle now- or you can spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder.</p>

8

<p>Would not the deferred expulsion indicate that the college is willing to see what happens in the next two years?</p>

9

<p>5) No
7) Actually, your Uni is already offering your a third/fourth chance, just two years hence. (If you did not have health issues, expulsion would be expected with the second infraction.)</p>

<p>Take the time to get some counseling/mental health care and work. Get healthy. Go back in 24 months with a new outlook on life.</p>

<p>Best wishes to you.</p>

10

<p>I think it would be better if you could realize and admit that depression, rheumatological illness, social problems and having friends who are (skilled) cheaters are not valid excuses. You can move on in many ways but for your own mental health, work with a therapist to understand why you cheated and try to take responsibility while also, in time, forgiving yourself if possible.</p>

11

<p>bluebayyou: Where are you getting this policy from? I don’t think it is universal throughout all colleges.</p>

12

<p>Momofthreeboys: No deferred expulsion means that if another offense comes up, then the punishment is expulsion.</p>

13

<p>But another case has already come up- you know about it, your friend knows about it, and the professor knows about it. The university hasn’t connected the dots yet, but once they do, you will be expelled (retroactively). You’ve run through three strikes already, you’ve been told you’re being suspended, and for some reason, you are waiting for the shoe to drop on this third offense as if you actually have the option of continuing at this college and graduating.</p>

<p>You will be expelled once the third case works its way through the system. I don’t want to be harsh- I’m sure you’re a good person with a kind heart who has made a mistake (or a couple). But why you are chewing up daylight thinking that you can fight your suspension, knowing that even if you can, you’ll eventually be caught on the third offense, strikes me as wishful thinking or delusional.</p>

<p>come up with Plan B. Get a job. Go to counseling. Figure out your life and what you want from it, and why you have engaged in such self destructive activities. Reapply to college after you’ve had a chance to regroup, take responsibility, etc. </p>

14

<p>blossom: I don’t understand what you mean by expulsion retroactively. They have to call me in before making such a decision. Are you meaning to say even after meeting me personally, their decision won’t budge? </p>

<p>Yes, I am currently working on Plan B right now and trying to get a job. Still going to counseling. Why do you think I have engaged in such self destructive activities?</p>

15

<p>Lost- exactly what evidence are you going to present to them when you meet with this committee that demonstrates your remorse? The fact that you’re trying to withdraw to cover up your suspension? The fact that even after two disciplinary “events” you took a quiz for a fellow student and then tried to cover your tracks? The fact that rather than meet with the committee when they asked you to, you “kicked the can” down the road until December?</p>

<p>I have no idea why you are engaged in self destructive activities, but I don’t know you and I’m not a therapist. But I do have some experience with university disciplinary committees and hearings and there is really only one tactic that works- show up when they ask you to, demonstrate your shame and remorse, show them a plan of action to make sure the activity doesn’t repeat itself, explain what you will do differently, describe how you plan to spend the two year suspension (counseling, etc.) and tell them that even you know you don’t deserve another chance, you are asking them respectfully to reconsider.</p>

<p>getting involved in some shady deal to take a test for another student (and you describe the professor as “cunning”??? what’s that supposed to mean?) is not a good way to demonstrate that you have learned your lesson from your last two infractions. Wondering if you need a lawyer is not a good way to show your level of introspection. Figuring out if a similarly prestigious college will accept you since you don’t want to “trade down” is not going to impress anyone with your emotional growth.</p>

<p>I’m sure you are a good person. Learn from this lesson- we all make mistakes. The best course of action is to own up to what you’ve done and to make sure you don’t repeat your mistakes. And to move on.</p>

16

<p>The OP’s post was lengthened after I responded. That entire second paragraph is new – the one about the third round of cheating (helping a friend by taking a midterm from the classroom) that still hasn’t made its way through the university yet. Attorneys will certainly take your money but why would you want to further burden your shamed parents with a legal bill?</p>

17

<p>Am I correct in saying that first you plagiarized and were caught, then you submitted someone else’s work as your own and were given a 2-year suspension and deferred expulsion, and THEN you cheated again by taking a midterm out of the class for one of your cheating friends?</p>

<p>If so, your third offense should result in expulsion. A deferred suspension or expulsion usually means that it will be enacted if you commit another transgression. </p>

<p>The college showed you mercy when they gave you a 2-year suspension to get yourself together, psychologically, rather than expelling you outright. I suppose that it is remotely possible that they will consider this third offense as part and parcel of the earlier situation and continue to have mercy on you. That is, IMHO, your only hope of continuing at this school at any time.</p>

18

<p>blossom:</p>

<p>“But I do have some experience with university disciplinary committees and hearings and there is really only one tactic that works.”</p>

<p>1)Were you a professor, student, or a university official on the committee?</p>

<p>“show up when they ask you to, demonstrate your shame and remorse, show them a plan of action to make sure the activity doesn’t repeat itself, explain what you will do differently, describe how you plan to spend the two year suspension (counseling, etc.) and tell them that even you know you don’t deserve another chance, you are asking them respectfully to reconsider.”</p>

<p>2) Okay, well I didn’t show up because I was genuinely sick and I was anyways out of town working. But let’s ignore that and consider this: I didn’t show up and of course that looks bad to the university officials. In my next meeting, do you recommend just to confess and be remorseful in the hopes that they will keep the suspension at two years and nothing more?</p>

19

<p>Lost- I am not a professor, student or university official. But I have close friends/family who have been involved in varying capacities in university disciplinary activities. And in my professional life, I have interviewed hundreds of people who have “come clean” about an infraction that happened in college. </p>

<p>Either you were genuinely sick- too sick to attend a hearing- or you were out of town working. Which one? This gets at the essential accuracy of what you are trying to accomplish- i.e. come clean and tell the truth. Telling a university committee that is trying to determine if you are worthy of another chance and their trust that you are too sick to show up- when in fact, you were healthy enough to be out of town working- isn’t a good move.</p>

<p>And I’m not clear on why you think the committee will stick with the suspension at two years. Unless I’ve misunderstood your narrative, you’ve had a third disciplinary issue since the first two came to light. And you were told earlier that after two strikes, you needed a two year suspension which would become expulsion if there were a third incident. And if I’m understanding the timeline, since then- you indeed have had the third incident. it just hasn’t been entered into your record because you asked for an extension until December.</p>

<p>Correct me if I’m wrong- but I think you are about to spend the next 6 weeks hoping that the inevitable doesn’t happen. I personally think you are better served spending those six weeks coming up with Plan B.</p>

<p>And it goes without saying that when you get caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing, my recommendation is to confess and be remorseful. What else would you be- triumphant? In denial? working on a cover-up?</p>

<p>You don’t seem to understand that you are standing on very shaky ground in terms of academic integrity. Do you really think there’s another path besides confessing and being remorseful? Depression and Asthma and low self esteem and whatnot are not going to be a substitute for having self awareness and owning up to what you’ve done.</p>

<p>You need to figure out if you were too sick to show up or were out of town working. That seems to be step one here.</p>

20

<p>

</p>

<p>That much of your post I believe. You don’t seem to think that what society expects of everyone else should also apply to you. Even the punishments which society (in this case, your college) has decided to mete out are inconveniences you should be able to get around. You want to “withdraw” instead of getting expelled, you want to attend a high ranking school even though you’ve shown you can’t be bothered to follow an honor code, you seem to think that by not showing up to the hearing for the 4th offense that this will all blow over. I’m not seeing much that shows you’re sorry for the way you behaved. You seem to be sorry you got caught and don’t want to suffer any consequences or accept much responsibility for it, but nobody made you cheat. After getting caught plagiarizing earlier in your college career, why did you think it would be a good idea to submit 2 assignments that weren’t your own this year? I think once college officials get wind of the 4th infraction, the chances of being readmitted to this school are miniscule.</p>

<p>I’d continue seeing a therapist and get a job while you figure out how to finish your education. Do you have loans you’re going to have to start paying back? Make sure you stay on top of that. Do you know how many credits you need to graduate? As a transfer, you’ll be looking at a year (minimum) to get a degree somewhere else. Maybe more if all your credits don’t transfer. I’d hold a steady job for a couple years then look for a state school nearby that you could commute to and finish your degree. </p>