Plagiarism - so upset

[CurlyQ284]

May DD, I'm not sure.

DH is going to school for his bachelors.  His program is really into group projects and group papers, each class has one or the other.  This one has a group paper.  It was divided into 5 sections (one for each person).  They got their paper back today and they got less than half the points.  DHs section got full points, not even a single correction. Two sections got zero points because they plagiarized.  One of the sections was listed directly from Wikipedia!  His professor said if they do it again they'll be reported to the ethics board.  

DH said he can't change groups, they're all full.  He posted on the class forum telling them to knock it off and write their own sections.  I'm so nervous these morons won't cut it out and they'll get reported.  DH said he can easily prove it wasn't him from emails and producing his section that was original work but I don't like that he is anywhere NEAR these allegations.   I freaking hate group projects.

[cleo29]

This is one reason I hate group projects.

[speckledfrog]

I can't believe they were given a second chance.

[CurlyQ284]

I told him that, he's out of town this week for work (so he'll miss class this week) but I'm hoping he can talk to someone and detach from this mess.

[CurlyQ284]

Sept 25, 2013 20:54:52 GMT -5 nicbreeful said:

Sept 25, 2013 20:54:12 GMT -5 CurlyQ284 said:

I told him that, he's out of town this week for work (so he'll miss class this week) but I'm hoping he can talk to someone and detach from this mess.

Dude, email.  Or call!

He might.  He told me and then his teammate called so he had to go.  He's in California with another coworker for this job.  I'm hoping I get a chance to talk to him more about it tomorrow.  

I'm not sure if he knows how serious plagiarism is.  I think he thinks if he chats with his group and he can cover his ass then he's ok.  I told him getting kicked out for plagiarism is like getting a dishonorable discharge (he's ex-Navy).  I'm hoping that sinks in and he realizes that he needs to contact everyone in the whole chain to get away from this thing.

[CurlyQ284]

I just texted him to ask if he emailed the professor at all.

Maybe he gave a second chance because it's a group project? Three out of five people are innocent in this. Ugh this is so gross.

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2013 20:52:54 GMT -5 @cse1960 said:

He should go see the professor and ask for his own project. And then he should go see the Dean, if he is not allowed to break off.

DH is a TA for a large undergrad class and had a similar situation come up. The student who didn't cheat talked to DH and the professor about her concerns and the professor made accommodations so that she could switch groups/have extra time to complete the project herself.

[margotmacomber]

Oh man, group projects.  I was the nerd that volunteered to do all of the work if someone wasn't interested.  LOL

[DotAndBuzz]

No way. This is every man for himself at this point, and he needs to distance himself from these idiots. Call/email/whatever the professor. I don't care if he's in New Zealand and the prof is in Siberia. An email will get there, and show the professor he's taking this very seriously and wants to earn the grade honestly.

[CurlyQ284]

Sept 25, 2013 21:09:11 GMT -5 margotmacomber said:

Oh man, group projects.  I was the nerd that volunteered to do all of the work if someone wasn't interested.  LOL

I always got stuck doing the whole thing.  I was burned out by Junior year.  I walked into biopsych on the first day, the professor was going over the syllubus said there was a group project worth 40% of our grade and I literally packed my backpack and walked out.   I dropped it and took cognitive psych instead.  

I guess from what I understand there are lots of programs that stress group/team work.  A few people have told me their programs were centered around group projects.

[CurlyQ284]

I haven't heard back. He's pretty bad about getting back to me when he's working. I told him if he emails the professor and he says there's nothing he can do at LEAST they know it's not him and that he's trying to do the right thing. DH quit being a sucky texterrrrrr.

[bugandbibs]

Your husband needs to get out in front of this fast. He should ask to have his and the non-cheating partners sections graded together and be separated from the other too. He needs to get it in writing from the school that he wasn't a part of the plagiarism. This is serious.

[CurlyQ284]

Yes it's a legit institution. He's going on the GI Bill so it's approved by the US government for tuition assistance.

Is it really that uncommon to give second chances? Once when I was waiting for the bus at my university my roommate pulled a paper out of the trash with a zero on it. She wrote "this section was plagiarized from X, this section was plagiarized from Y. I feel you deserve a zero. If you think that's unfair you can appeal to the ethics board". My roommate and I were like "awww shiiiit" all the way back to our dorm.

My school is one of the top three big schools in our state. I don't know of any other plagiarism accusations other than that trashed paper we found so I'm not familiar on what's normal for this.

[CurlyQ284]

Still no answer. DH is horrible at communicating. For example, he will get off the phone with MIL and I ask what's new and he says "nothing really", MIL says hi. Three weeks later he'll say some major thing (oh by the way, Grandma is in the hospital with a broken hip) and it'll turn out it was from that phone call but he "forgot" to tell me when I asked. I don't know if this is one of those where he's already taken the steps or what. I only got to talk to him for a few minutes before his coworker called. I think they're doing a dinner meeting, it's about that time in CA.

[lola]

CurlyQ284 - My H is the same way when it comes to talking to his mom. Even though I dread it, I try to call her every other week because I know he doesn't tell me anything she says and then it's like, "Oh, didn't I tell you so-and-so died last week?!" OMG.

As for the paper, I'm not shocked that they're getting a second chance particularly if it was a group project and the teacher knew that it was not all of the group members involved in the cheating. I do hope your H gets a hold of the professor soon, and like SueSue says - if he can't change groups he should go to the dean. This is a big deal, even if they're not "in trouble" right now. Ugh.

[W.T.Faulkner]

Fuck group projects.

[margotmacomber]

Sept 25, 2013 21:15:32 GMT -5 CurlyQ284 said:

Sept 25, 2013 21:09:11 GMT -5 margotmacomber said:

Oh man, group projects.  I was the nerd that volunteered to do all of the work if someone wasn't interested.  LOL

I always got stuck doing the whole thing.  I was burned out by Junior year.  I walked into biopsych on the first day, the professor was going over the syllubus said there was a group project worth 40% of our grade and I literally packed my backpack and walked out.   I dropped it and took cognitive psych instead.  

I guess from what I understand there are lots of programs that stress group/team work.  A few people have told me their programs were centered around group projects.

OMG COGNITIVE PSYCH WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CLASSES

You made a good switch!!

[CurlyQ284]

OK he wrote back. He's going to email the professor tonight when he gets back to his room to tell him that he wasn't one of the plagiarizers and he's going to attach his section so prof knows which part he did. He's going to ask what he can do to make up the points and whether he can change groups for the next group paper.

I'm relieved. I was thinking what if one of the guilty people emailed saying they were innocent and took DHs "spot" on the innocent list? Ugh. I'm glad he's emailing tonight.

[bonquiqui]

This is some bullshit

[koopa17]

I hate group projects b/c of this crap. If he DOES get stuck staying with the group he better check the shit out of all future submittals, unfortunately. I'd use the Write Check for students on turnitin.com or whatever. Sorry, so unfair!

[pixelpassion]

I'm also surprised those students got a second chance.

At my university, it would be an immediate referral to the ethics board and the student would be under judicial review...most likely followed by expulsion.

The only times I heard of students getting second chances were if they cited sources incorrectly or it looked like they genuinely forgot, not blatant rip offs of someone else's material.

[isabel]

Group projects make me want to tear my hair out. Then I always did way more work than necessary because other people suck. I hate group projects.

I hope he gets things worked out and his grades aren't affected. If the prof won't make accommodations, I would absolutely go to the dean.

[mansplain]

Group work sucks. I would suggest that he discuss this with the professor first. Then, if is not satisfied, he can appeal to the Chair or Undergraduate Director (depending on how it's structured at the school) and on up the "chain of command." More than likely, the professor will figure this out so it does not have to go any further.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

This is absolutely ridiculous and I am so sorry your H is saddled with this group. I hope he can get a satisfactory resolution.