Adjunct Loye Young at Texas A&M International University in Laredo had named and shamed students he said he had caught submitting essays not their own. The university “is paraphrased as stating that the professor ‘was terminated for violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law that prohibits the release of students’ educational records without consent.'” (Eugene Volokh, Nov. 18; Paul Caron, TaxProf, Nov. 18).
6 Comments
Change from last time I taught University in mid-80s and today (teaching law students) – the student (consumer) is always right & must be treated with kid gloves. No more Kingsfield, that’s for sure!
I attended the University of Virginia. The honor code prohibited cheating in any form. There was a single sanction–expulsion. No need to worry about hushing up your lack of honesty because you were gone and everyone knew why. Too bad A&M worries more about secrecy and self-esteem than it does about teaching students what behaviour will not be tolorated.
“The six students received F’s and were reported to the school, but their grades may not stand because of Young’s blog post.” Does it mean that the school is not going to investigate the cheating b/c of the teacher’s blog post?
Charges of academic dishonesty are very serious, and for this reason must universities have very specific procedures that must be followed to make and substantiate such allegations. This Professor decided he didn’t have to follow the rules. Surprise, he does.
Texas A&M has a very strict honor code, thank you very much (Aggie don’t lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do). TAMU International (the school here) may also, but there is a federal law in play here.
I’m with Vickie. I used to teach an evening class in CAD at a local community college. I had several students turn in a final drawing that was a copy of someone else’s work. Not only did all of the drawings have the same errors, they had the same file information. When I brought it up to the Dean of Students I was told to let it go and to give them all Bs for the assignment. Since I was a part-time instructor with no chance of tenure I just went along, because at the time I needed the paycheck.
I taught those classes for two years, until I got a well paying full time position with a local company. I thought keeping that job for goof off money, but in the long run it wasn’t worth it. When you add up the student complaints, the angry parents wanting to know why their pride and joy didn’t get an “A” and the survey forms handed out at the end of each term, it just wasn’t worth the hassle. Vickie’s right. The customer is always right……even when they are wrong.