By Zinie Chen Sampson
RICHMOND
Two students accused of plagiarism and violating the University of Virginia's honor code were expelled from a global studies program. They left their ship in Greece while their counterparts continued on the summer voyage.
One of the students, Ohio University senior Allison Routman, said she was shocked when a professor accused her of plagiarizing from an online synopsis of a movie.
"Had I thought I had done anything wrong, I, of course, would come forward," Routman said in a telephone interview Friday from her home outside Minneapolis. "I knew the consequences would not be good."
The University of Virginia has a single-sanction honor code, meaning students face expulsion after one violation. Students who participate in off-grounds programs that award academic credit from the school are also subject to the code.
Routman was part of Semester at Sea, a global studies program that offers shipboard coursework. The students are scheduled to disembark in Norfolk on Aug. 22, according to the program's Web site.
Routman said her class assignment was to watch a movie, then write a paper relating the film to shipboard or port experiences. She watched "Europa Europa" and consulted Wikipedia for the proper historic terminology. The professor alleged that she used three phrases identical to those on the online entry about the movie: "when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa," ''German speaking minority outside of Germany" and "who had been released from a concentration camp."
"In my opinion, that was historical details, they weren't full sentences," said Routman, who added that there are only so many ways to say the same thing.
University officials disagreed, and the case went before a panel. Routman was found guilty of plagiarism, and her appeal was denied. Another student was convicted of plagiarism in a separate proceeding, and both had to disembark at a port outside Athens.
Routman noted that a day before the professor returned students' papers to the class, he told them that he suspected several of them committed plagiarism. If they came forward to make a "conscientious retraction," they wouldn't face honor-code punishment.
About five students did so, and received zeros on their papers, but Routman didn't come forward because she didn't think she did anything wrong.
"No one had ever defined paraphrasing for me," said Routman, who said she probably will have to extend her college career by a quarter because she won't get credit for Semester at Sea. "It was one of those things I'd kind of heard; I didn't think of what it was."
U.Va. officials said all Semester at Sea participants get detailed training sessions and handouts on honor requirements at the beginning of the voyage. University librarians also are aboard the ship to help answer questions about documentation, according to David Gies, who served as academic dean on last summer's voyage.
Gies doesn't know how many students have been ejected from Semester at Sea, but said there were no honor cases last summer. He said the "conscientious retraction" provision is standard to the honor process.
U.Va.'s honor code originated in 1842, and requires students to pledge not to cheat, lie or steal, or tolerate those who do. A student committee operates the adjudication process, including defending those accused. Students who are found guilty of violating the code are expelled from the university. Those who opt to leave school without requesting a trial are deemed to have admitted guilt.
Routman's father, Brent Routman, contacted university officials while his daughter was still on the ship to complain about the lack of due process for shipboard students, and raised concerns about a lack of a "neutral, nonvoting person to answer questions."
"If you're going to have a death-penalty sanction, then you've got to build in safeguards for kids that are lost in the shuffle," he said. "Theoretically speaking, give her an F, a zero. But to exclude her on the voyage, and expel her, that will be on her record."
He also said that his daughter's case should have fallen under the honor code's "triviality exception" — "if it's trivial, it's not supposed to be actionable. We're talking about a synopsis of a movie."
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
She made three mistakes
First was using wikipedia as a reference. All three colleges I attended specifically banned using wikipedia as an authoritative reference due to the nature of the site (That said, it contains links to many good references). Second was not using one of the thousands of programs for scanning a paper for possible plagarism. These are provided for free by many universities (I am sure that is how the professor found the "plagarism"). The third was not learning how to reference material. I am sure almost all colleges require a library skills class within the first 10 semester hours that explains plagarism and referencing/citation skills. Six quotation marks would have saved her from her fate. Hopefully the lesson learned will not be too painful for her.
A better rule
Jake's rule of plagiarism is not to filch anything you can't improve. I would have returned the students' work with an "F" for derivative and unoriginal thinking and given them an option to try again (though with the "A" out of cards at this point).
Honor codes have their place, but to send someone packing for phrases like "when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa," "German speaking minority outside of Germany" and "who had been released from a concentration camp"--amounts to training the intellect to avoid cracks in a sidewalk. One attends UVA, travels the world, reads several hundred great books, and thinks a lot about cracks.
Besides, it occurs to me we discuss this issue because once upon a time Bill Gates plagiarized DOS. An argument could be made that great literature advances by a similar process of "reverse engineering."
Up to the Professor
It is up to the professor or fellow students to bring honor charges against a student. The professor decided to persue the charges in this case because 7 students were caught cheating. If she was the only cheater, then the prof would likely have just given her a zero. In fact, as the article states, the 5 who confessed got away with only zeros. But she was made an example of and rightly so. The wikipedia entry is only a couple paragraphs long, yet she parroted sizable phrases from it. All she had to do was toss those lines in quotations and add a citation. Instead she chose to use the lines, whether deliberately or because she just read the entry 5 minutes ago, as part of her argument. Like another poster said, "when in doubt, cite it out." Hm, I read the comments 10 minutes ago and yet still remembered that someone else made that quoted comment. The plagerizer should stop complaining and take responsibility for her actions. As a Wahoo, I am proud of our honor code because it works.
Those who go to UVA know what they are getting into
You sign the Honor Code, and you agree to the Honor Code. It is embraced and enforced by the student body, and as another poster stated, the "single sanction" policy has survived multiple student-run elections. It is an excellent policy, and should be enforced more often...If you can't sign (and live by) the Honor Code, you have no place at UVA.
Go on Ira...
...you're right on the mark on this issue. Captured it perfectly.
Behavior
I would not presume to debate the pros and cons of UVA's policy, but in general, remember, you never justify bad behavior by pointing to other bad behavior.
Sorry Charlie...
"whoever is smarter wins"
You lost. You also just admitted to a large group of people you not only have no problem w/ cheating, but you have in fact cheated your way through part of your life.
Wear it like a badge. Cherish it. One thing I noticed about cheaters in college is they were cheaters afterward as well.
Charles!
Hey, friend, whatever blows your hair back, as long as you're not under the illusion you will make a living as a writer someday with those cut and paste/thesaurus skills. Smile. Cheers, MGM
As an alumnus of UVA I am
As an alumnus of UVA I am glad that these students were removed from the program. They signed the honor code; they have to be held accountable for their actions, no matter how insignificant it may appear to the readers of the pilot. This is a growing problem in this country, blaming someone else for your own actions.
Stunning hondamom
"With all the crime and plagiarism that goes on in corporate America, expelling these students for such a misdemeanor is an act of blind arrogance. "
A mother defending children's right to cheat. She is even shameless enough to say that if others have done it the kids should be able to as well. Then insults the person who disciplined the student. You all did notice there was obviously a problem w/ plagiarism in this class when you read the article? So here we are, "little Sally, don't worry about cheating in life. Everyone does it. If you get caught we will kick and scream. If that doesn't work we will get an attorney."
Barf.
Ever heard of a "Thesaurus"?
I've written/copied, whatever you want to call it, many a college papers in my time. It's nothing to copy and paste whatever and then re-highlight it and utilize the "thesaurus" function. Works very well and I've never been asked about anything. Professors now-a-days have the available technology to run reports through online that will search or "fish" for literally references to the exact wording you have in your submission. It's all a big game in the end and whoever is smarter wins. Sometimes it's the instructors, sometimes it's the students.....Looks like the students lost this go around. They'll be more next quarter to try it...
Chilling effect
Lodging a charge of plagiarism based on such trivial, insubstantial coincidences is very unfair to the student. It will actually have the effect of stunting intellectual and creative endeavor as students waste valuable time phishing their work for the sake of the peculiar sensitivities of one professor. Moreover, I doubt the professor lodging the charge has published any scholarly articles taking on the very substantive plagiarism of Martin Luther King, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Ambrose, Alex Haley, and many others. So let the truth go forth from this time and place to friend and professor alike--he knows better.
UVA is a little uptight
With all the crime and plagiarism that goes on in corporate America, expelling these students for such a misdemeanor is an act of blind arrogance. Many of our founding fathers would be with her on the flight back home if their works were held to the same standard.( "A house divided..." "life, liberty and the pusuit..." etc.) Besides that, school is a place for LEARNING HOW TO DO IT RIGHT!! So teach these kids to a higher standard, but don't kick them out. This wasn't some contest where there was a great prize at the end that would encourage cheating; it just was a mistake in referencing. It wasn't a test that was copied. Geesh! Give me a break!!
As a college student myself
As a college student myself, ODU nearly beats it into our heads what plagiarism is. The general rule of thumb is when it doubt, cite it! Even by ODU's standards, Wikipedia isn't really considered a reliable source and use of it is often discouraged.
A different world . . .
U Va belongs to an era when honor still mattered. There are many universities people can attend if they don't want to sign/abide by an honor code.
It's kind of like the military and our rules that others regard as archaic, at the Academy and elsewhere. You choose the lifestyle, you get the accoutrements. For some of us, that is good news, but others want to come into the military only to try to change its traditions. Cheers, MGM
Wow!
That professor sounds like a complete idiot. Either that or there has to be more to the story. I find it hard to believe that they were expelled simply because of those three phrases. Don't most kids study abroad basically to see the world and have a vacation? The professor must take himself much too seriously. I mean movies, come on teach give me a break. Dude or dudette lighten up.......
Get a grip
Some people posting here don't seem to understand a few things. Plagiarism is very serious. It is against the law, aside from being an honor code violations.
No student makes it out of high school without being aware of what plagiarism is, and how to properly quote a source. This young lady could have used those phrases, had she cited the source.
Finally, what is her father doing interceding here? She's an adult now, not a high school student. Universities are legally not permitted to deal with the parents of a student unless that student is under the age of 18. She needs to grow up and take responsibility.
???
This is newsworthy? Kid cheats?
Trivial
This does seem extremely trivial and the punishment does not fit the crime. Having gone to UVA, I do know that they obsess over plagiarism and they obsess over their Honor System, where the students are supposed to police their own actions. I'm sure with this program the school equally obsessed over plagiarism/paraphrasing because it's all they seem to be concerned with, but I do think the punishment is unfair.
Ridiculous... those three
Ridiculous...
those three quotes could be written by anyone on the subject.