Alleged Academic Integrity Violation

[Mac Blade]

So when I checked my e-mail today, I found a message from my Gen Chem II professor with an attachment alerting me to the existence of a "possible" academic integrity violation. The violation was a 4.5 page extra credit assignment at the end of the semester (which I ended up not even needing to make an A). The statement claimed that my work directly matched another students save formatting changes. I'm an athlete, so I immediately called my teammates who were in the class with me. One of them, also my lab partner for the class, admitted that he took the file off my computer and turned it in. When I asked him why the hell he would do that, he responded that he thought we could turn in identical work because the extra credit assignment was included with a make up laboratory that was handed out. Because he used my work without my knowledge or consent, and he is willing to also attest to this before the professor and someone from the academic integrity board, I should be clear, right?
As to how he accessed my work without my knowledge. It's pretty common for me to leave my laptop at the house where he and some other teammates live, and we know each others' Windows passwords. I know that seems like a ridiculous situation, but a team is built on trust, and I had, until now, no reason not to trust any of those guys. This event, no matter the outcome, will forever change the way I will go about securing my personal data.

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[NickNaylor]

You will likely still have to note that you were the subject of "institutional action," even if you're acquitted. It depends on what your school notes in your student/judicial affairs record and/or transcript. You're in a pretty crappy situation. Good luck.

 

[Mac Blade]

You will likely still have to note that you were the subject of "institutional action," even if you're acquitted. It depends on what your school notes in your student/judicial affairs record and/or transcript. You're in a pretty crappy situation. Good luck.

This is what I'm afraid of. I'm waiting on a transfer admission decision that is dependent upon my final transcript for the year, too. I don't want this to affect my chances of being accepted.

 

[werd]

you need to fight this vigorously. it sounds like you should be able to come out of it okay. you need to be clear about what happened and maybe even show that the file originated on your computer. med schools and other colleges do not take honesty violations lightly. this is significantly worse than something like an alcohol violation or an institutional action for grades or behavior... you need to do what you can to get rid of it.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Get the dean or someone else in student affairs involved. Fight it hard.

 

[searun]

OP, you need to save your ass and your future. If you have to light the fire and burn at the stake the guy who ripped you off, do it without a moments hesitation. This is the rest of your life. Do what you have to do to protect yourself and throw the scum bag to the wolves.

Protect your future! This is a really bad deal for you and you will need to be proactive.

 

[IlDestriero]

My recommendation to you would be to IMMEDIATELY approach your honor committee, or whatever you have there, and report your classmate, and former friend for cheating by stealing your work. Take it out of your professors hands and back into yours. You team mate may change his tune when expulsion/suspension time rolls around. Does he have a scholarship? It may occur to him that he's about to lose it.
You're the victim of cheating, start acting like it and let the honorless bastard go down in flames. At my alma mater, if you failed to report this, when you first became aware that it happened, you'd be expelled as well for allowing it to happen. Zero tolerance, one sanction. Curbed cheating pretty well.

 

[LabMonster]

I agree with some of the other posts. You need to demonstrate your integrity by seeking out an ethics/honor committee and the dean who oversees chemistry AND get your adviser involved also.

I don't agree with the "sky is falling" hyperbole, however, be proactive and never mind what happens to him. Your friend effectively ended your friendship and trust by stealing your intellectual property and falsifying it as his own.

Good luck.

 

[patel2]

I don't see the issue. Talk to your dean and advisor, after your friend formally comes forward and admits what he did. Unless they are irrational people or huge jerks who hate you, I think it's highly unlikely they would keep an institutional action on your record in a situation like this.

If someone breaks into a teachers office and steals an exam, should the teacher be formally sanctioned by the university for not doing a good enough job with security? What if the student worked in the professor's lab and therefore had the key to enter, similar to your situation with passwords.

 

[patel2]

Even though his friend said he would own up, there is a really high possibility that he might back down when faced with academic action.

I really hope your friend sticks to his word.

that's a good point. I would personally say that you should be in the room as the friend tells the professor to avoid any confusion or misunderstandings

 

[Mac Blade]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I have followed your advice and reported the incident to the Dean of Students office. I have no qualms with reporting him, as, if all goes according to plan, I will not even be returning to this school in the fall.

 

[Astarael]

OP, whatever you do, do NOT edit the file on your computer. Files are time-stamped with the last saved change, and you could potentially use this to verify that yours was created before the copied version on your teammate's computer.

If someone breaks into a teachers office and steals an exam, should the teacher be formally sanctioned by the university for not doing a good enough job with security? What if the student worked in the professor's lab and therefore had the key to enter, similar to your situation with passwords.

I see where you're going with this, but professors actually are responsible for the integrity of data that is under their purview. This includes security of workstations, encryption of data that goes outside of the network, appropriate destruction of records, etc. A prof can get into a lot of trouble if they mishandle data security.

 

[Mac Blade]

Even though his friend said he would own up, there is a really high possibility that he might back down when faced with academic action.

I really hope your friend sticks to his word.

I'm fairly confident he will. It's evident he does not realize the gravity of these accusations and feels his justifications for it will hold water. Though I don't believe they are valid, I have been very supportive of his line of reasoning. That way, he will admit to taking my work without my knowledge before he begins to realize that he won't be getting out of trouble with his weak excuses.

Sorry for the double post. This is the greatest beginning to summer vacation I've ever had.

 

[Avoidthetiger]

OP, just make sure you report on him first. I don't think this will be an IA against you if you get your named cleared.

I feel for you though. My brother recently came home to find his room sorta messed up and an old paper on his desk. Someone had gone through his stuff to copy a paper that he had written [most likely the roommate who shares the room with him]. This professor teaches the same class every semester, and while luckily my brother had already completed the course - he still mentioned it to the professor (who actually had bigger cheating issues - with a student copying someone's elses old work and not even removing the old students name from the paper, haha).

 

[Avoidthetiger]

Just to add to this: Files also have an author section, where the name of your computer will show up.

I just wanted to support this - as I just verified it looking at the personal statements people have been sending me (I promise not to try to figure out who you are). You can go to properties, look up "authors" and bam - you named will be there... followed by a "last saved by" with the other guy's name (assuming he resaved it)

 

[Mac Blade]

Just to add to this: Files also have an author section, where the name of your computer will show up. So if your friend was stupid enough to send the file directly -that is, not copy and pasting the text to a new blank document created in his computer-, your computer's name will be displayed under the author. This is assuming if the file was sent in digital format of course.



Sly.

This is where he actually kind of got away with one. Being lazy, he just copied and pasted the text into an email to himself. On his computer, he then just pasted the text back into a blank document. This made his copy appear in a different formatting from mine. However, I do have the original saved where it says that mine was definitely saved days before his.

 

[Avoidthetiger]

This is where he actually kind of got away with one. Being lazy, he just copied and pasted the text into an email to himself.

Hack into his email! Printscreen evidence. muahaha.

 

[theWUbear]

I'm fairly confident he will. It's evident he does not realize the gravity of these accusations and feels his justifications for it will hold water. Though I don't believe they are valid, I have been very supportive of his line of reasoning. That way, he will admit to taking my work without my knowledge before he begins to realize that he won't be getting out of trouble with his weak excuses.

Sorry for the double post. This is the greatest beginning to summer vacation I've ever had.

I would be neurotic enough to ensure I get him on tape/email/gchat saying it, to have a hard copy in case his story changes

 

[Mac Blade]

I would be neurotic enough to ensure I get him on tape/email/gchat saying it, to have a hard copy in case his story changes

I'm considering this. With an attorney father, this is his advice as well.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I'm considering this. With an attorney father, this is his advice as well.

This is probably the easiest way to cover your ass...just get him to reply in email/gchat about it and bam you're golden. Doesn't sound like my man is too smart so hopefully it won't be that hard...just talk to him about the meeting or something and confirm what's gonna go down.

 

[mauberley]

Doesn't sound like my man is too smart so hopefully it won't be that hard...just talk to him about the meeting or something and confirm what's gonna go down.

In fact, you should have someone follow you around with a boom mic.

[ETA: not trying to downplay the seriousness of your situation, but highlight the seeming obliviousness of your friend.]

 

[Seven of Nine]

I'm considering this. With an attorney father, this is his advice as well.

this is exactly my advice as well and could not stress it more... my state has a "one-party consent" statute, meaning if you are a party to the conversation you are allowed to tape it without the consent (or knowledge) of the other party. can you slip one of those handheld tape recorders in your pocket and have this conversation with your teammate again in which he explains his line of reasoning (and confession of guilt)? there are some seemingly dinky devices at radioshack that work quite well in using the built-in mic to record in such a way.

in all honesty, better safe than sorry. at the end of the day, who are you to him? better watch out for yourself because otherwise, this could come back to haunt you in ways you can imagine. if it works out for the best and the tape is unnecessary, well then nbd. this is your future.

 

[Mac Blade]

this is exactly my advice as well and could not stress it more... my state has a "one-party consent" statute, meaning if you are a party to the conversation you are allowed to tape it without the consent (or knowledge) of the other party. can you slip one of those handheld tape recorders in your pocket and have this conversation with your teammate again in which he explains his line of reasoning (and confession of guilt)? there are some seemingly dinky devices at radioshack that work quite well in using the built-in mic to record in such a way.

in all honesty, better safe than sorry. at the end of the day, who are you to him? better watch out for yourself because otherwise, this could come back to haunt you in ways you can imagine. if it works out for the best and the tape is unnecessary, well then nbd. this is your future.

We're actually in different states right now, but I've found an app for iPhone which records phone conversations. At least in my home state, the one-party consent rule applies. Don't know exactly what the rules about interstate communications are, but at this point, I just really need my evidence.
Oh, I understand how this could affect my future. One F! = bye bye med school acceptance dreams.

 

[Seven of Nine]

We're actually in different states right now, but I've found an app for iPhone which records phone conversations. At least in my home state, the one-party consent rule applies. Don't know exactly what the rules about interstate communications are, but at this point, I just really need my evidence.
Oh, I understand how this could affect my future. One F! = bye bye med school acceptance dreams.

what about the state in which the teammate is? per this random website laugh http://www.rcfp.org/taping/interstate.html federal law is one-party consent, but it usually defaults to the stricter laws of the states in question. it appears there have been some precedents set, but i really have no idea. your dad is much more qualified to interpret and advise you than me haha

 

[theWUbear]

I think approaching the conversation like "i'm concerned about your future, so lets go over your defense, starting with what happened, so we can see the best way for you to approach it. I want us to do this, but want you to get out of it if possible." would be sufficiently sneaky to get everything out of him. man do i love plotting this

 

[bobow98]

You guys are so evil, looking out for #1. Haha. But yeah, regain your honor.

 

[Mac Blade]

You guys are so evil, looking out for #1. Haha. But yeah, regain your honor.

Well, this would be evil if I were guilty and was just trying to scapegoat him. Because he royally ****ed me over and seriously violated our relationship of trust, I really couldn't care less what happens to him. I'd say this incident serves sufficient grounds for the dissolution of the friendship.

 

[Suncrusher]

This is where he actually kind of got away with one. Being lazy, he just copied and pasted the text into an email to himself. On his computer, he then just pasted the text back into a blank document. This made his copy appear in a different formatting from mine. However, I do have the original saved where it says that mine was definitely saved days before his.

FYI, my dad is a university professor and his students try this crap all the time. Document timestamps are meaningless, because all your friend would have to do is set the main clock on his computer to 1 week before yours and re-save the file, and voila...now people who know nothing about computers will think that his file is the original instead of yours. You should have someone from the honor council come around with you and document things like time stamps BEFORE your friend has a good chance to retrodate them. Because after that, you're going to need a computer expert in order to prove that your document came first.

 

[eli20]

what about the state in which the teammate is? per this random website laugh http://www.rcfp.org/taping/interstate.html federal law is one-party consent, but it usually defaults to the stricter laws of the states in question. it appears there have been some precedents set, but i really have no idea. your dad is much more qualified to interpret and advise you than me haha

The teammate would be under jurisdiction of the state that he attends university in due to minimum contacts and also federal if the teammates are of different states (and I think there's a minimum damages) - but this is way overboard at this point.You can most likely solve this through the honor board without needing to take legal action.

 

[Isoprop]

Instead of a tape recorder, you could have a friend witness your conversation with him.

 

[Seven of Nine]

You guys are so evil, looking out for #1. Haha. But yeah, regain your honor.

no, this isn't evil. this is insurance. hopefully you do not encounter life experiences that teach you how important it is to protect your a** and how hard it can be to do that/prove others' guilt. remember, the guilty are still innocent until they're proven guilty, and as a plaintiff, the burden of evidence is on you. in this world, be nice, but not naive.

The teammate would be under jurisdiction of the state that he attends university in due to minimum contacts and also federal if the teammates are of different states (and I think there's a minimum damages) - but this is way overboard at this point.You can most likely solve this through the honor board without needing to take legal action.

i believe OP is aiming to resolve this through his honor/institutional board, but you still need your evidence. he just needs to make sure he isn't breaking any FCC laws in the discovery process. the question of jurisdiction is about the cheating happening at the university, its jurisdiction for taping the conversation.

Instead of a tape recorder, you could have a friend witness your conversation with him.

that might not hold up as well. a hard recording won't change its story, doesn't care to "just stay out of it"/think this isn't its problem, and is immune from bias accusations. better have the confession straight from the horse's mouth.

 

[Mac Blade]

So to update- Last night, I spoke with my former ethics professor - who helped write the current academic integrity policies - about the situation. He said more than likely, I'll be fine assuming my teammate corroborates my claims. Furthermore, he noted that his biggest contribution to the current system was a restructuring that allows for someone in my position to be exonerated without any note of it on their record.
This morning, I called my friend and recorded the call. I got him to admit that he had taken the file from my computer without my knowledge. He said he was still going to come clean about it at his meeting today at 4:30. For insurance, however, I told him that I had recorded the call and that if he did not tell the truth at the meeting, I would be forced to bring for the audio evidence, thus proving that he also lied to the professor and academic integrity facilitator.
I'm currently waiting to hear back from him about how the situation was resolved.

 

[Seven of Nine]

So to update- Last night, I spoke with my former ethics professor - who helped write the current academic integrity policies - about the situation. He said more than likely, I'll be fine assuming my teammate corroborates my claims. Furthermore, he noted that his biggest contribution to the current system was a restructuring that allows for someone in my position to be exonerated without any note of it on their record.
This morning, I called my friend and recorded the call. I got him to admit that he had taken the file from my computer without my knowledge. He said he was still going to come clean about it at his meeting today at 4:30. For insurance, however, I told him that I had recorded the call and that if he did not tell the truth at the meeting, I would be forced to bring for the audio evidence, thus proving that he also lied to the professor and academic integrity facilitator.
I'm currently waiting to hear back from him about how the situation was resolved.

nice. it sounds like it will work out for the best for you. it also sounds like you helped out your teammate by warning him about the tape so he doesn't dig his hole deeper

 

[NickNaylor]

So to update- Last night, I spoke with my former ethics professor - who helped write the current academic integrity policies - about the situation. He said more than likely, I'll be fine assuming my teammate corroborates my claims. Furthermore, he noted that his biggest contribution to the current system was a restructuring that allows for someone in my position to be exonerated without any note of it on their record.
This morning, I called my friend and recorded the call. I got him to admit that he had taken the file from my computer without my knowledge. He said he was still going to come clean about it at his meeting today at 4:30. For insurance, however, I told him that I had recorded the call and that if he did not tell the truth at the meeting, I would be forced to bring for the audio evidence, thus proving that he also lied to the professor and academic integrity facilitator.
I'm currently waiting to hear back from him about how the situation was resolved.

Attaboy. I'm impressed with your detective skills.

 

[Isoprop]

So to update- Last night, I spoke with my former ethics professor - who helped write the current academic integrity policies - about the situation. He said more than likely, I'll be fine assuming my teammate corroborates my claims. Furthermore, he noted that his biggest contribution to the current system was a restructuring that allows for someone in my position to be exonerated without any note of it on their record.
This morning, I called my friend and recorded the call. I got him to admit that he had taken the file from my computer without my knowledge. He said he was still going to come clean about it at his meeting today at 4:30. For insurance, however, I told him that I had recorded the call and that if he did not tell the truth at the meeting, I would be forced to bring for the audio evidence, thus proving that he also lied to the professor and academic integrity facilitator.
I'm currently waiting to hear back from him about how the situation was resolved.

Hopefully, you told your friend that you were recording the call BEFORE the conversation started.

 

[Seven of Nine]

Hopefully, you told your friend that you were recording the call BEFORE the conversation started.

why would he do that? that would be counter-productive to his goal.

 

[artemis680]

why would he do that? that would be counter-productive to his goal.

Agreed.
The legality shouldn't really matter. The recording doesn't have to be admissible in court, he's just keeping it for possible use with the review board. As far as I know they are more interested in the truth about the violation than they are in anyone's rights. The only issue I could imagine with it is if the ex-friend decided to legally pursue Mac for recording the call.

 

[Isoprop]

The only issue I could imagine with it is if the ex-friend decided to legally pursue Mac for recording the call.

Bingo. But I'm not a lawyer, and his father IS. So OP should talk to his dad about the legality of taping phone conversations in his state (and his friends).

 

[Seven of Nine]

Agreed.
The legality shouldn't really matter. The recording doesn't have to be admissible in court, he's just keeping it for possible use with the review board. As far as I know they are more interested in the truth about the violation than they are in anyone's rights. The only issue I could imagine with it is if the ex-friend decided to legally pursue Mac for recording the call.

Bingo. But I'm not a lawyer, and his father IS. So OP should talk to his dad about the legality of taping phone conversations in his state (and his friends).

it's perfectly legal in some states to secretly record a conversation of which you're a participant without the knowledge of the other participants. wiretapping is illegal because the government/spies/etc are not parties to the conversation. hence the discussion above regarding "one-party consent" laws.

 

[Taikonaut]

Good job so far OP. I am curious how this saga unfolds. As a lesson for the future, never buy that "complete trust" BS from anyone. Always cover your six.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Ballin.

Played your cards perfectly looks like you'll have nothing to worry about.

 

[Mac Blade]

In the end, everything turned out alright for me, and thanks to the way our system works, there won't be any record of my ever being the target of an investigation. I'm definitely glad I was proactive in how I handled the situation and really removed any opportunity for my teammate to go back on his story.

Also, we both live in one-party consent states, so the not notifying the other party of the taping before the conversation began was not necessary to ensure legality.

Thanks to everyone who responded with advice that got me on the right track, it's been a very long last day and a half.

 

[NickNaylor]

In the end, everything turned out alright for me, and thanks to the way our system works, there won't be any record of my ever being the target of an investigation. I'm definitely glad I was proactive in how I handled the situation and really removed any opportunity for my teammate to go back on his story.

Also, we both live in one-party consent states, so the not notifying the other party of the taping before the conversation began was not necessary to ensure legality.

Thanks to everyone who responded with advice that got me on the right track, it's been a very long last day and a half.

 

[Mac Blade]

Good to hear that Mac Blade. But the burning question here is: What happened to your teammate?

Well, this is the sadder part of the story... To preface, I think I'll mention that when I was talking to my old professor last night, he said that the reason he left the academic integrity board is that, "academic integrity at this school is a joke."
So, my teammate said that they seemed most interested, first of all, in him corroborating my claim that I didn't know anything about his taking my work. He confirmed that I knew nothing about it. They, however, didn't seem to care how he came to possess my work without my knowledge. Furthermore, the nature of the assignment was such that a strong case can be made that it was implied we could turn in the assignment as a group. In fact, my teammate said, there were at least 30-40 files in the professor's stack, and they were all for this assignment in particular. Once the facilitator from the academic integrity department noticed this problem, I guess he decided that all the charges should be dropped in most cases. Clearly, for my teammate they had to at least give him a zero for handing in someone else's work entirely. In the end, he ended up with a zero for an assignment (this is actual a decent penalty in his case because this assignment would have boosted him from a C to B in the course), a mark in his file of the incident, and one less friend.

 

[Seven of Nine]

well mac blade, it seems like you might sleep a little easier tonight. at the very least, it's a lesson learned for your teammate. if it wasn't this, it'd be something else. regardless of whether he got off easy or they really brought the hammer down hard on him, your future is protected & your slate still clean.

 

[HAV000]

In the end, everything turned out alright for me, and thanks to the way our system works, there won't be any record of my ever being the target of an investigation. I'm definitely glad I was proactive in how I handled the situation and really removed any opportunity for my teammate to go back on his story.

Also, we both live in one-party consent states, so the not notifying the other party of the taping before the conversation began was not necessary to ensure legality.

Thanks to everyone who responded with advice that got me on the right track, it's been a very long last day and a half.

Glad for the happy ending, and that the SDNers were helpful!

 

[Etorphine]

This is why it's never a bad thing to be too paranoid, and never give out your passwords.