I am amazed how the students of Dartmouth never notice the little things that go on here on this sleepy, snowy campus. Sure, they are the masters of the obvious. When something is sticking right out in their faces, taunting them, they are ready to fight and protest and I think that's great. There was that whole Bear Bones fiasco and who could ever forget the big Proposition 209 rally. But what really gets me is how my fellow Dartmouthians allow the small things, the things that aren't so in their face, to pass them by. I mean everybody here is extremely intelligent, but a couple a weeks ago the student body allowed something to fly right past them, and they answered without even a peep. As a result we lost a friend to the "Powers That Be" in Parkhurst.
Now let me indulge you with this story. The student involved could be anyone of us-- a 'shmen, a jock, or even an undergraduate advisor. Imagine this scenario: the school term is quickly coming to a completion and you've put off your work as long as you could. In fact, your final paper is due tomorrow and its already nightfall. You run to the library, grab a couple of books on your topic, skim through them and start your paper. However you don't only write this paper; it simply flows out of you like it was meant for you to write. You finish this magnificent piece of literature and collapse in your bed. No word count, no spell check, no proofread. You hand it in to your prof and the weight is now lifted from your chest. There is reason to smile again. You go home, enjoy break and come back to school to find a message on your answering machine . Its from your professor and he wants to see you. He says your paper, your baby, your masterpiece is plagiarized. You meet with the man and he is fuming red in the face and you half expect smoke to be coming from his ears. He tells you your entire introduction is not yours. You finally get to read your essay for the first time since you fell asleep that fateful night. You notice words are misspelled, but more importantly you notice you forgot to cite your source in your opening paragraph. You tell him it was a honest mistake. He calls you liar and you go in front of the Committee on Standards. They too say you are a liar. And for this bout of forgetfulness/laziness you receive a four-term suspension. Quickly your dreams are crashing in front of your very eyes. You are hoping this is some sort of late-night EBA's pepperoni pizza induced nightmare. But it's not, it's your reality.
This little story was a reality for a freshman last term. Was her punishment too harsh? I most definitely say "YES." There are so many things inherently wrong with the procedures that took place, I have no idea where to exactly begin.
How about with the professor? I don't believe that any teacher can think or act rationally when they suspect plagiarism. What is going through their heads is not "How dare this student break the Honor Code!" but "How dare this intellectual pion think that I am that stupid that I wouldn't know that he/she cheated!" The very idea of plagiarism is a kick below the intellectual belt of any purveyor of higher education. Perhaps allowing some distance to grow between realization of plagiarism and a letter to the COS would allow the professor to thoroughly think the situation through.
Now my beef with COS: Their rules are absolutely ridiculous! Regardless of the case, this organization basically has their decision made beforehand. That decision is that "An example must be made of this student." It didn't matter that the student in question admitted that she made a mistake. It didn't make a difference that she was deeply apologetic. They gave her the mandatory minimum, when actuality the punishment necessary should have been much less severe. Now I'm not condoning the act of plagiarism and neither was the young lady. In fact she admits that she deserved some sort of discipline -- two terms would have been sufficient and would have fit the crime. But logic seems to fly over the heads of most administrators.
After the "decision" was passed down, the student confronted a dean and asked why do rapist and sexual assaulters receive a mitigated sentence as compared to plagiarizers. She was given the answer that Dartmouth is an intellectual institution and that all it has to grasp onto is its academic integrity. However, I counter that argument with my own. Dartmouth was first founded as a religious institution and religion teaches us forgiveness and mercy. Perhaps, the people at Parkhurst should learn this. Besides, where's Eleazar Wheelock's citation for the bible passage "Vox clamantis in deserto?"
As a result of this farce, the freshman class has shrunk to 1094, and nobody seems to really care. Well, this was my "peep."
See you next year, Karen.
