You Know Who You Are

 

[Note:  Identifying information has been omitted/altered.  Much as you may deserve it, I do not now purpose to embarrass you any further.]

Not all learning is accomplished through the formal education process.

It is axiomatic that students are expected to read and understand the Syllabus document of the course, handed out on the first day of the semester.   Some of my colleagues do not go into the detail that I do when they prepare their course syllabi, but the fact that my Syllabus is in fact so detailed should be a very strong indication that I mean business.  You are expected to read -- and heed -- the information in the Syllabus (and in any other course handouts distributed by the professor).  For my part, I am expected to deliver on the representations I make in the Syllabus.

And it is no less axiomatic that you, as a student, are obligated to conform to the College Policy on Academic Integrity.  The Policy is printed at length in the College Bulletin; the fact that my course Syllabus gives the URL link to the Policy makes your failure to adhere to it all the less excusable.

In addition to the foregoing, my course Syllabus explicitly and plainly states (and I quote):

"Students who turn in a plagiarized Term Paper are subject to a failing grade of "F" for the semester."

That is why your final grade was "F."  You submitted a plagiarized Term Paper.  I have some very damning well nigh incontrovertible evidence that the Term Paper you submitted originated at one of those term paper mill websites.

So now, you come to me with all of your sob stories about how you had to deal with some pressures from various sources, how you had a family emergency that required you to go back to your country, and how you will now need to retake a course, even though you marched in your gown and mortarboard at the graduation ceremony a few days ago.

But you made a decision to submit a plagiarized work, and I caught you.  Understand that you have insulted my intelligence.  Understand that, notwithstanding the anonymity of the process, I now need to impose the promised sanction upon you or else I will be a smacked toochas with no credibility in future semesters.  And understand that you, and you alone, placed me into a situation where I am now compelled to take this action against you.

In addition to your failing grade, I can now pursue disciplinary charges against you.  I'll forgo that option, however, because it would only consume my time and yours and that of the College Judicial Officer; time that could be better spent by me in my scholarly research or my law practice, and better spent by you studying for the course you will need to retake.

I have made my decision.  You have the right to appeal it to the Assistant Department Chair in the first instance, and from thence to the Scholastic Standards Committee, but, as I have said, the documentary evidence against you is overwhelming.  [And if you elect to play the race card, I am prepared to demonstrate that the penalty I am now imposing upon you is identical to the penalty I imposed upon a student a year ago, in a similar incident where the student was of my own ethnic background.  I am quite evenhanded about these things.].

And so, you have nobody but yourself to blame for your current predicament.