institutional action - am i cooked?

Started by IAmNotJackieChan
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IAmNotJackieChan

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Hey everyone! This is my first time posting here since I haven't had enough karma to post on Reddit .

About a year ago, I received an institutional action (IA) after being part of a GroupMe with roughly 300 students. According to my school's academic honesty policy, students are required to report any academic misconduct they witness, and failing to do so can result in sanctions.

Essentially, some students in the GroupMe were discussing an exam that had a three-day testing window. Students who had taken the exam on the first day were sharing information with those who had yet to take it. Although I never participated in the conversation or sent a single message, I was still held responsible for failing to report it, resulting in an IA on my record.

The IA itself isn't necessarily what scares me. I'm prepared to explain the situation, take accountability for my failure to report it, and demonstrate how I've grown from the experience.

My biggest concern is whether Texas medical schools automatically screen out applicants with an IA, regardless of the circumstances. I'm planning to apply primarily through TMDSAS, and the thought of being automatically rejected before anyone even reviews my application is terrifying.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or know how Texas medical schools approach IAs involving academic dishonesty?

Am I cooked?
 
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Could you explain what you were specifically cited for in your IA? How does being in a group chat constitute a breach of your academic honesty policy? How many others were involved in this incident? Were all 300 people in the group slapped with an IA? Couldn't you mute during the exam period and miss those messages?

I'll let @wysdoc answer how TMDSAS schools handle IAs. For most of us, we want the context of the IA and how the student conduct office describes the incident and punishment (which you haven't described). I'm not sure if any of us have ever been in a text chain that large, but I would like to know whether you were told what to do in such situations under your honor code and syllabus.
 
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Mr.Smile12 said:
Could you explain what you were specifically cited for in your IA? How does being in a group chat constitute a breach of your academic honesty policy? How many others were involved in this incident? Were all 300 people in the group slapped with an IA? Couldn't you mute during the exam period and miss those messages?

I'll let @wysdoc answer how TMDSAS schools handle IAs. For most of us, we want the context of the IA and how the student conduct office describes the incident and punishment (which you haven't described). I'm not sure if any of us have ever been in a text chain that large, but I would like to know whether you were told what to do in such situations under your honor code and syllabus.
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Hello,

Yeah, so the head of the physics department is actually notorious for doing this on a yearly basis. All 300 students in the GroupMe who had their real names displayed were subject to disciplinary action. Those using fake names or anonymous usernames were generally not identified and therefore weren't sanctioned (so less than 300 total, 200+ as a ballpark. It was a HUGE thing).

Every identified student was given two options: accept the sanctions and receive an Institutional Action (IA), or proceed with a formal hearing, where an unfavorable outcome would also result in an IA.

As for the punishment, students received a one-letter-grade reduction in their overall course grade, along with a zero on the third exam, since that was the exam being discussed when the GroupMe was reported. Students also received an official email notifying them of the academic honesty violation and associated sanctions.

What makes this situation particularly frustrating is that it didn't matter whether you actively participated in the conversation, muted the GroupMe, or never even saw the messages. Simply being a member of the group without reporting the misconduct was considered a violation of the university's academic honesty policy.

GroupMe also allows users to download the entire chat history, including a file listing every member and another containing all messages. This made it possible for the department to identify everyone associated with the group, regardless of whether they had actually participated in any discussions.

Essentially, even students who never sent a single message or were completely unaware of what was being discussed could still face the same disciplinary consequences simply because they remained members of the GroupMe and failed to report the misconduct.

I hope I was able to address everything you asked. Please let me know if you have anymore questions, thank you so much.
 
I am curious about advice your student conduct officer will give you about your statement about this incident. Which path did you choose? I would want to see if 100 people pursued a hearing, student conduct would ask for a different solution. The last thing that office wants is a docket of 100+ cases of the same challenge. Was the GroupMe set up by the professor, TA's, or students on their own?

I'm also curious what your prehealth advisor says about this incident.

Clearly you can't blame your professor, but the fact the dragnet caught completely innocent people is very problematic. It's not material to "hire a lawyer" but to bring it up with your college of science dean, VP of student affairs, or provost/VP of academic affairs through a school paper or a student government resolution might be more effective to close this prosecution. But is it worth the effort to remove an IA??? I'll leave that to all 100+ of you; we are in an environment where we're afraid student protests on campus will resemble what's going on in France. Remember the reaction to the October 7 Israel/Gaza attacks. I'm guessing that because dozens of you didn't report the chatter, you all are subject to an honor code violation.

To your initial question, IMO, if you document exactly what the IA is, how you reflect on your role in that community to uphold student integrity, and what you would do differently, which isn't a trivial issue if you are in private chats in medical school that turn malicious (Mayo Clinic guy, Montreal med students chat group), I'm hopeful that the IA will be considered inconsequential to your performance in medical school.

As usual, I would ask the schools or any students attending them about how applicants with prior IA's are treated. But those of us who have reviewed applications know that not all IA's are the same, and especially since COVID, some IA's are irrelevant.
 
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IAmNotJackieChan said:
Hey everyone! This is my first time posting here since I haven't had enough karma to post on Reddit .

About a year ago, I received an institutional action (IA) after being part of a GroupMe with roughly 300 students. According to my school's academic honesty policy, students are required to report any academic misconduct they witness, and failing to do so can result in sanctions.

Essentially, some students in the GroupMe were discussing an exam that had a three-day testing window. Students who had taken the exam on the first day were sharing information with those who had yet to take it. Although I never participated in the conversation or sent a single message, I was still held responsible for failing to report it, resulting in an IA on my record.

The IA itself isn't necessarily what scares me. I'm prepared to explain the situation, take accountability for my failure to report it, and demonstrate how I've grown from the experience.

My biggest concern is whether Texas medical schools automatically screen out applicants with an IA, regardless of the circumstances. I'm planning to apply primarily through TMDSAS, and the thought of being automatically rejected before anyone even reviews my application is terrifying.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or know how Texas medical schools approach IAs involving academic dishonesty?

Am I cooked?
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Can you get one of your letter writers or your advisor to discuss this in the letter they write on your behalf?
 
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