Approximately 15 students in the First-Year Program at the University of King’s College are accused of plagiarising essays on Dante’s *Divine Comedy*.
No student has been proven guilty, says FYP director Peggy Heller, and all students will be given the opportunity to defend themselves. The integrity officer, Stephen Kimber, is currently evaluating the situation along with Heller.
“There is no possibility of expulsion,” says Heller. “For first time offenders, [the punishments] range from marks being deducted to failing the paper.”
Because of the high standards that King’s students hold themselves to and the frequent reminder that plagiarism is not worth the punishment, the overall sentiment on campus is disappointment.
“I was kind of embarrassed,” says FYP student Taylor Saracuse. “You come to this program at least knowing that you are going to be with people who you believe care about education.” He adds, “I feel like my degree is being devalued by the punishment they are most likely going to be served.”
Second-year-student, Kate Howell agrees. “If they are taking full essays from online they deserve to be kicked out of the program.”
Heller, however, firmly believes that students deserve a second chance, “I’m appalled by the desire to punish. You have to allow people to make mistakes.”
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2010.
“I’m appalled by the desire to punish. You have to allow people to make mistakes.”
Yeah, you go to King’s alright…
how times have changed–when i was in college we signed a pledge on every exam that “we know of no cheating on this test.” No professor or invigilator was ever allowed to be in an exam. (this actually made exams kind of fun–scantily clad women(at that point it was an all male school)would walk thru the exam room, sometime enticing someone to leave(prepplanned–that person wasn’t taking the course))–people would pass around beer,etc.) But if anyone was caught cheating, they were expelled and any record of them having ever been enrolled at Princeton was erased–they became a nonentity. The automatic punishment for plagiarism was a year’s expulsion–you left for a year and returned to join the next year’s class–there were no exceptions. Those behaviors and their consequences were know by all from day one. There are honest mistakes and dishonest mistakes–there is such a thing as integrity,
‘“I’m appalled by the desire to punish. You have to allow people to make mistakes.”
Yeah, you go to King’s alright…’
Actually this is a quote of someone working at Kings, not a student. If you’re going to make a sarcastic remark, at least make it accurate.
Faced with this I think FYP might need to do some soul-searching more than the students involved. 15 students caught on the same paper speaks to me of a desire amongst them to risk a shared project – to chase a feeling of ‘being all in it together.’ If FYP is failing to produce that feeling in its campus and academic environment then it has fallen into the disheartening and disabling ranks of regular scattered and atomizing credit programs. FYP has been an extremely successful alternative to those regular programs which impose high demands (often more job-ready-discipline oriented than learning oriented – and still lower than FYPs high standards) without instilling the desire, academic pride, enjoyment and ability necessary to meeting those demands. Plagiarizing students are usually a symptom of a system that emphasizes competitive on-paper results rather than more meaningful learning for its own sake. I immensely enjoyed and was enriched by my experience in FYP. I hope that in more cash strapped times the quality of the teaching isn’t being sacrificed in order to process more undergraduates.
ha ha. It has been awhile since I noticed anything I’ve posted being deleted. Hey, it’s your show.
The take home message from this article: Peggy Heller is still the coolest operator in UKC-land.
“Heller, however, firmly believes that students deserve a second chance, “I’m appalled by the desire to punish. You have to allow people to make mistakes.””
How do we get her installed as the Minister of Justice before that swine Fantino gets the nod?