- The Honor Council found two students, one junior and one senior, guilty of plagiarism on a lower level science course paper in separate cases. Though both students referenced all of their sources, neither student used quotation marks around excerpts copied verbatim in their papers. Because the Honor Council saw that they had no malicious intent, both received an F on the paper, rather than in the course, and a one-year mark on their respective records.
- For a lab report in an upper level science course, a junior copied a paragraph from an online encyclopedia, added a few minor changes and cited a different source at the bottom of the text. Though the professor claimed the student used the false reference to hide the actual source, the student said the unrelated reference was a mistake and that she had lost track of tabs in her browser. While she claimed that the paragraph was not copied but summarized, the Honor Council found that the structure and vocabulary of the student's and the encyclopedia's paragraphs were almost exactly the same. As the rest of the assignment was free of plagiarism, the student received an F on the report and a one-year mark on her record.
- A professor in a lower level science course briefly lectured the class on the Honor Code in the middle of an exam after noticing a student frequently glancing at his neighbor's test. When grading the exams, the professor noted the similarities between the student's and his neighbor's tests. When accused of cheating, the student claimed he had dropped his phone during the test under the seat of the student next to him and was looking at his phone, not the other student's exam sheet. The Honor Council, finding his account unlikely, recommended an F in the course and a two-year mark on his record.
– Compiled by Senior Staff Writer Lydia O'Neal
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