I am the mother of a student who attends college in New York. She is undergoing disciplinary action for academic honesty violation for plagiarism. Basically she submitted a research proposal in APA style without including quotations when citing other sources. She did site sources, but did so incorrectly because she has a learning disability and misinterpreted conflicting information. She was told by a prior professor that quotation marks do not belong in APA papers. He probably told her no quotes in the body of the paper, but she did not understand that. At the same time as writing APA papers, she had been doing Communication classes which are ALL quotations, so she became confused. So, in this recent APA paper she did not have ONE SINGLE quote and she thought she was doing it right. School policy says, 'Plagiarism occurs when individuals attempt to present as their own what has come from another source.' It doesn't matter if this theft is accidental or deliberate. The handbook continues to include examples of plag like not acknowleding the source, attempting to rewrite material, failing to place quotes around the material, etc, etc. The procedure to be followed is if the instructor receives work he believes to be plagized, he is to meet with the student. 'If in the face of evidence presented by the instructor, the student admits to have engaged in academic dishonesty,' then sanctions are imposed. He met with her, she never did try to pass the material off as her own, but he did not care because she did not include quotation marks which is in the handbook as 'examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to.' My question is this: my daughter never 'attempted to present as her own what has come from another source.' She sited each and every source after the statement, but did so incorrectly, she did not use quotes. She tried to give credit where due. There was no attempt on her part to hide or change the info. The 1st sentence of her paper is from someone else. She was not trying to hide of steal any ideas. If so, she could have done a better job of it. It is out in the open, she cited, just without quotation marks. She did not know she was plagiarising. She has never cheated and has no prior offenses. This is devastating to her. Did she engage in academic dishonesty even tho she made no attempt to present as her own someone else's ideas. I feel the instructor is mistaken in his interpretation of the college policies. In the meeting he had with my daughter today, he found out she was not attempting to take credit for anyone else's ideas, but he is enacting sanctions anyway including giving her an 'F' on the paper and escalating the issue to a disciplinary Dean. I'm going to need to counter his interpretation of college policy with facts. His ignorance may very well effect her academic career. There is an appeal process but I need to know where we stand considering the facts.
03/31/2009 |
Category: Education ยป Student Rights |
State: Washington |
#15824
Students have been held by the courts to be citizens with a property right to their education. To deny that right requires, at the least, an informal hearing with notice, witnesses and the like. The courts have found that a school's code of conduct must have minimum due process protections. The authorized rules students must obey without a specific verbal command must be in writing. The rules need to be specific, and published, so that the student is aware of the nature of the conduct that is prohibited.
Expulsion proceedings are governed by state law and local school policies. Students have been held by the courts to be citizens with a property right to their education. To deny that right requires, at the least, an informal hearing with notice, witnesses and the like. Suspensions for longer than 5 days might require even more formal procedures. The courts have found that a school's code of conduct must have minimum due process protections. The authorized rules students must obey without a specific verbal command must be in writing. The rules need to be specific, and published, so that the student is aware of the nature of the conduct that is prohibited. NY requires that a student suspended for less than 5 days has the right to request an informal conference. A hearing is not required to be held unless the suspension is more than 5 days.
However, students attending private universities do not possess the same due process rights under the U.S. Constitution that are guaranteed to students attending public schools. Therefore, courts are reluctant to review the disciplinary decisions of private schools and tend to defer to private school decisionmaking, especially in internal disciplinary affairs. Courts generally have applied a very lenient standard of review and required that private school disciplinary procedures conform to a basic fairness standard. The procedures must have a rational basis, so as not to be arbitrary or capricious. Courts typically rule that a private school’s disciplinary decisions are fundamentally fair if they are aligned with the school's rules and procedures.
For further discussion, please see:
http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/techassist/disciplinedueprocess.ppt
Plagiarism can occur without an intent to deceive. Plagiarism may exist whenever one uses another's ideas or work product without including an appropriate citation. Please see the information at the following links:
http://mail.baylorschool.org/~jstover/plagiarism/intent.htm
http://www.a2z.org/acts/articles/plagiarism.htm