He plagiarized — but says dismissal was biased
March 14, 2010 by Taylor HanniganPosted in: From the Courts, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
A student admitted to plagiarism, but claimed he was expelled for other reasons. See how a court sorted out the mess.
Shawn Shelton didn’t deny that he plagiarized work while he was a student at Columbia University. But he claimed he was expelled because he complained about an administrator’s sexual advances or because he is African-American — or both.
The court rejected his claims. The school’s rules clearly said students could be expelled for plagiarism, it noted. Also, two disciplinary committees voted for expulsion, and committee members accused by Shelton of discrimination or retaliation either did not vote or voted for a lesser punishment.
There was no good reason to think the school’s stated reason for expelling Shelton was a pretext for discrimination, the court said.
Cite: Shelton v. Trustees of Columbia University.
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Tags: Columbia University, discrimination, plagiarism, student misconduct
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March 17th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
This is just another example of students saying, Yeah, I screwed up but it was someone else’s fault. or there are extenuating circumstances. It seems that our students are honest about their mistakes, but, there is always a reason that should diminish the consequences of their missteps. It seems there is a perpetual “the dog ate my homework” syndrome.
I’m not sure if this is generational, a reflection of today’s society where it always seems to be someone else’s fault or both . In the end, the problem is two fold: not recognizing that plagiarism is a serious offense and then blaming the “system” or someone else in an effort to have the consequences diminshed. Whatever happened to, “yes, I messed up and I will accept my punishment”?