While a student is in school, they are faced with the stress of studying, maintaining a social life, keeping up with homework, staying healthy, and the dreaded exams. These can be stressful situations for students to be engaged in. When it comes time for exams, some students may be accused of cheating. While there certainly some extent of academic dishonesty does occur on a college campus, not all accusations of cheating will hold true. Accusations of cheating, however, carry extreme repercussions against a student. Many schools take their academic honesty policies very seriously and will work diligently to oust students suspected of cheating.
Common Examples Of Cheating
There are a number of ways a student can be accused of academic misconduct. Universities will often have specific examples outlined in their code as well. Some common examples of cheating can include:
- Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the deliberate copying of a published or established work and claiming it as one's own. Many universities will make use of special software to detect plagiarism in a student's work.
- Sharing Work: When students turn in a long term project or another assignment, many times unless it is otherwise stated, they are expected to have done all the work by themselves. Evidence of students having shared their work with one another can give a professor cause to report the student for academic misconduct.
- Bringing Forbidden Resources Into An Exam: When a student brings with them unauthorized material into an exam room, if they are caught, they may be accused of violating the school's code of academic conduct.
- Copying Answers: When a person copies answers from another person, it is considered cheating. This is a common tactic used during exam time and can carry serious consequences for students.
- Obtaining Exams Prior To Their Administration: If a student somehow obtains a copy of an exam prior to its administration, using it to gain an edge on a test may be considered cheating.
Is Cheating A Crime?
While cheating is not necessarily a criminal act, accusations of cheating can carry serious consequences for students. Many times, universities and colleges will have specific academic misconduct rules within their student codes. Cheating seldom entails a person receiving criminal charges, unless a criminal act was done to obtain the cheating device, such as a person stealing an exam.
How Can Cheating Affect My Standing With The University?
When a person is accused of cheating by their university their academic career may be jeopardized. Many universities and colleges have quick measures in place to remove students who are accused of cheating. In many cases, the best case scenario is accepting a failing grade for a person's results on their tests. In other cases, however, the student may be expelled or suspended from the school for their actions.
National Student Defense Attorney
When a student is accused of cheating, they may be faced with a complex process. University officials will often assume the worst of a student, and simply want to remove them without hearing the student's side of the story. Universities will have their own specific hearing process for academic misconduct. An attorney can help a student through this hearing process by offering sound advice, and sometimes even accompaniment into hearings themselves.
If you or your student has been accused of cheating, contact attorney Joseph D. Lento today.
