I just heard the president of Harvard resigned. It's about time. The headline said it was due to plagiarism claims and her congressional hearing performance. I agree her responses at the hearing were appalling (and interlocutor Stefanik's behavior was also appalling), but what outraged me is that she is a plagiarist with no shame -- and somehow landed a prestigious academic job.

Another story that didn't pass the sniff test for me. Initially when she didn't remember anything I was suspicious. Then when the sketch of Santa came out, I was sure.

Unrelated: caught another plagiarizer yesterday. Essay copied almost verbatim from a cheating site on the web.

I have had some troublesome students in a semester that has been good overall. I was thinking today that in the past, a plagiarism case would always trigger me to write here. Now it barely warrants mention. But -- I've found another, first time in two years. I also know another student was trying (unsuccessfully) to cheat. Yawn. Three weeks to go.

I am facing a task I dislike, grading essays. Many students procrastinated (they have four topics and two chances to submit an essay, either early or late in the semester) and so there are a lot more than half the class to do. Ughhhhh.

What's not helping is that a problem has cropped up re: last semester's plagiarism case. Nothing to do with the student hassling me, more of a process concern that is making me very alarmed about ethics. I'm almost, but not quite, mad enough to write about it here.

After discovering no plagiarism since Spring 2012 (and congratulating myself that the "academic integrity awareness quiz" I designed that summer after that dreadful hearing episode was working like a charm), yesterday I found a shocking, and disheartening case. Disappointing not so much due to the guilty party -- a fairly weak student -- but because the stolen essay was written by a favorite, outstanding student from the past who I never would have suspected of being ethically challenged.

But I forged ahead, and finished all the essays even though documenting and reporting cheating takes a lot of time I don't have, thank you very much.

I forgot: the batik and tie dye shirts for faith formation came out awesome! Must be divine inspiration. The kids will be so proud, we will put on the finishing touches on Monday (and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. I'll post pictures soon.

I missed this in the student newspaper (which doesn't have a great website and I never bother with the paper version), but here it is from the TU. What bad publicity!

I will have to pick up a paper copy on Tuesday so I can read the original story. I'm shocked they named one student involved, I thought that sort of information was confidential.

As I've written here many times before, I do everything I can, but I'm sure a few still slip through occasionally. I change assignments as much as possible every semester, keep past semester's assignments for comparison, stress the importance of ethical behavior to students, and if that's not enough, try to scare the daylights out of them with colorful tales of students I've caught in the past. But, it's not possible to police whether a friend is logging on to the class Blackboard webpage and doing the work.

I haven't discovered any instances since last spring, but this semester, if students in my classes are paying someone to do the work, they should demand a refund. (LOL.)

While we were waiting for the academic integrity hearing to start or continue, we shared some ideas for making students aware of the severity of cheating, in an effort to discourage it, and so that fewer students wind up in this offending student's predicament. It seems we all find 1-2 cases of academic dishonesty per year. So I designed a True/False  "test" that I plan to use in all of my classes in 2012-13, to see if it helps. It carries zero credit -- but it is mandatory. I will require students to drop the class if they do not complete it with correct answers to every question, and I will give them unlimited attempts to get each one right.

Basically, there are three questions:

1) I have read the following information:

Academic Dishonesty is...
Conduct including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, multiple submission, forgery, sabotage, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, bribery or use of purchased research service reports without appropriate notation; and theft, damage or misuse of library or computer resources. Attempts to commit such acts shall also constitute academic dishonesty. Students assume full responsibility for honesty in academic exercises.
http://www.albany.edu/studentconduct/prohibited_conduct.php

T: Excellent! Hopefully you will not be one of the 1-2 students I find violating academic integrity this year.
F: Go back, read it, and try again. Scores less than 100% correct are unacceptable.

Academic integrity hearing took just over an hour. It was quite an experience, one that I hope to never go through again. I have no idea why a student who is not innocent would want a hearing. The student did not deny the offenses, but argued 1) embarrassment and 2) ignorance of the rules. Her goal was not to change the outcome in either my class or the other professor's, but to avoid being expelled. I am not sure why she wants to stay and keep throwing money away, because her GPA is abysmal and I'm guessing she will be on probation this fall regardless, and kicked out in December anyway. But I suppose academic integrity violations would be a worse reason in terms of getting readmitted eventually. I don't know the outcome -- the decision is not made during the proceeding, but my suspicion is: she will be expelled. In her remarks, I didn't see even a glimmer that she has soul-searched and has now developed an appreciation for learning and the importance of education.

Being on campus was a little strange, but I was happy to go back before classes start. The crush of students will be enough of a shock on Tuesday, after my isolated, quiet summer.  Today it was not busy, but it turns out that my building is still a construction site. Furniture is packed into the hallways, floor is stripped down to concrete in places. There was an electrical burning smell everywhere. I asked, and was told it was normal and the heating system was being tested. At least my PC wasn't crashed, something I have been greeted by at the beginning of the semester more than once!

One positive outcome of the hearing, what they call the "referral" side (us) got to vent, commiserate and share ideas before it started and during the break in the proceedings. Campus may be crowded next week, but faculty will continue to work in (relative) isolation, amidst the chaos. It would be nice to have a chance for more dialogue on issues such as this.

I had a great but tiring weekend. An abundance of tomatoes were waiting when I got home. This morning I awakened to Bob calling out to me from the kitchen. Little Shop of Horrors had done something horrible -- tipped over! I ran outside and we managed to get it right side up -- I wasn't sure that would be possible, so what a relief. It didn't take out any other plants, but it did snap a few of its own branches. So it is a little wilted here and there, but otherwise seems to be OK.

I am nervously anticipating tomorrow's academic dishonesty hearing (what to wear?), but the salve is being excited to be asked to teach combined Grades 4/5 catechism this upcoming academic year! Had our first prep meeting last night -- what amazing materials we will be using! Much more generous than the university in that respect.

Otherwise...working away on syllabi etc. I've volunteered to attend the department's graduate student orientation on Saturday.  Yikes! The semester looms.

Since I can't do Friday, the hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. This is a first; despite my (too) many occasions of discovering academic dishonesty, I have never had to appear at a hearing before. The reason for this is my policy -- if there was any doubt about the cheating, I wouldn't bother pursuing. So there was never an appeal.

I am not sure what to expect. Going with my friend to court a few weeks ago was a new experience. Any time I've had anything to do with the legal system, it has been eye-opening, disheartening, and all around unpleasant. This isn't exactly the same thing, of course. Still is going to be unpleasant, I suspect. What a lovely way to end the glorious summer (not) !

Later, unrelated: almost forgot! I dried some of the tomaccio tomatoes (AKA Little Shop of Horrors). That's their intended purpose. I've been growing them for three seasons, but this is the first time I've tried it. They seem to come out great! I washed them, put them on foil on a cookie sheet, salted them, and baked them for 3 hours at 200 degrees.

I'm past the bittersweet part of August and into the reality part -- which is writing syllabi and getting ready for the semester. Work email has spiked (because everyone else returns from whatever they have been doing wherever they have been). My building has been extensively renovated this summer, so after an absence of four (!) months, I am curious to see it. Yesterday a reminder of the more unpleasant aspects of college teaching hit me in the face. I received a meeting notice. I suspect it is mandatory, although I cannot be there. It is a hearing on Friday for one of the spring academic dishonesty cases.

Are you kidding me? Four days notice for a Friday (gasp!) meeting over the summer, no less? I have never had to attend a hearing before -- my evidence is always irrefutable so there is never any point. Even at that, I did not refer the case to the university level. I didn't even issue a penalty, since the student would have failed even without the dishonesty. But I did report the incident (as is required) and it turned out to be a second offense, so it was automatically referred (as is required).

I'm not sure whether the meeting is something new in the process (could be) or if the student has demanded it, as is her right. I ruminated about it -- too much, as usual tearing myself into pieces -- wondering why. This will be another planned three-day weekend in Samsonville, going down there on Thursday night. So a Friday morning meeting is out of the question. Friends of Bob are visiting (enough said, not my story or at least the part that is cannot be shared here).  Then, my mother recently learned she has two herniated discs in her back and she must rest if she wants to avoid back surgery (and of course she does). She was insistent that all the things she does (which is a lot; think couch potato, and now decide what is the opposite; look in the dictionary and there should be her picture) are not very strenuous and she is being careful. But we decided that is not so -- strenuous or not, caring for horses involves bending and twisting and reaching, even if the lifting is not super intense (though 50 pounds is not uncommon).

So my sister took charge, convinced Ma (not easy! But she comes out to the barn and supervises at all times, and we promised to do the care to her standards) and drafted a schedule, and all of us -- siblings, siblings-in-law and one or two in the next generation are taking turns with the barn work. We are doing it twice a day on a month by month basis, since the doctors said she may heal in 6-8 weeks. It could be more, which is OK with us, although she has a goal besides taking her beloved barn work back over -- to go riding at the end of September (which she is not openly sharing with anyone except my sister and me, so hopefully no-one else is reading this -- if you are, leave her alone! It is a very motivational goal in terms of her taking it easy now).

Since I live 75 miles away, I volunteered for the weekends, including Fridays or Mondays when they are three-day weekends. So in addition to planning to be in Samsonville and having friends visit, Friday is a barn chores day for me.  Naturally one of my amazing family would step up if I had to face the accused, and under normal circumstances I might have to ask them, but in this case it would also involve Bob rescheduling his vacation day and the friends changing their plans. Plus, why should a dishonest student be more important than my mother and her horses? So it's not happening. I do wonder, though, at the timing. Are the parents coming along? Maybe rolling it into a Saratoga vacation? That's a product of my fevered imagination of course -- but it is not exactly a secret how I feel about such foolishness.

Ma and Cinderella, a rescued thoroughbred race horse. Cindy sez: "Screw you racing fans!" (She also sez "Just in case you had the wrong impression, all you helpers could never replace Flo.")

Later:  Now this is funny. Ma is tougher than these Giants!

See below -- the things one can find on craigslist! I am almost tempted to respond to this, just because I could then find out the information about the institution...then I could contact the "nice guy" and report the academic dishonesty. Oh yeah, I'm sure "open book" = paying someone to take the exams., not a problem at all! LOL. 

I did find another case of academic dishonesty, and I do have a cold. Both are the icing on the cake for the Spring 2012 semester. What timing too! This guilty student argued for a lesser penalty, and when I was not negotiable, wanted to take the course over again this summer. Good heavens, no! I have my limits, which have been reached.

It turns out the dishonesty case is a second offense, which means it must go to Judicial Affairs (which has a different name now. Something to do with conflict resolution. Why do new upper managers feel the need to change office names all the time?).

I feel as if I am coming down with something -- a cold? Ugh. Allergies can't be this bad. What timing. All the exotic spreadsheeting required for end of semester grades makes my head numb, no need to feel lousy otherwise.

It has been raining for two days straight - so can't escape into weed whacking! The grass is growing like crazy this year.

Added: I am reminded that I told this story to students in my toleration class this semester, when the class topic was ethics and academic dishonesty. One young man raised his hand and said, "you should be a cop!" and that was all the opening I needed. Who with an iota of sense would risk cheating in my class?

Also: Oh no! As if bamboo grass (knotweed) and garlic mustard don't keep me busy enough, this year Dame's Rocket seems to be everywhere.

Still later: I think I have found another case! AAAAAHHHHH!!!

It wound up that it took me a day and half to document and report the incident -- thanks a lot! The funniest (if academic dishonesty can ever be funny) part of this saga is that the student would have failed the class even without the dishonesty, or if it had gone undetected. Not even enough effort was put into cheating to pass.

One thing I have been meaning to write about is that I believe the toleration class showed the most growth over the semester in terms of learning of any semester since I started teaching it in 2005! Also the discomfort zone presentations as a whole were the strongest batch ever. The class had rough patches, caused primarily by immaturity (to be expected when the class has a lot of freshmen) and that there were at least two large-ish groups of friends enrolled. That doesn't happen when there are a lot of freshmen in the fall, as they don't know each other when they register during summer orientation. For a few years I didn't restrict the class to half+ freshmen in the Spring, only in the Fall. A few semesters ago, the restriction was placed on the Spring class as well, but this was the first time the freshmen friend groups issue surfaced. So the evidence of strong learning was even more of a surprise.

Samsonville weekend, going with my mother and my sister to the Saugerties Historic House Tour tomorrow to celebrate Mother's Day. Bob took a vacation day today and totally cleared away the bamboo grass colony behind our fence in Castleton. It's an enormous job that he last did in 2003! I have done it twice since then, in 2004 and again in 2008 (that last time I didn't do a very good job). It is a losing battle in a way, as bamboo grass can't be truly eliminated. But at least this will tamp it down. He did a very good job, so it will be a while before it can really get a foothold again.

Tomorrow he is going to LI to visit his mother' grave. Very sad.

I found an incidence of academic dishonesty in my evening section of foundations. Took me all day to document, as if I have the time right now to waste on that. I am pissed! The last time I caught a student was a year ago. Anecdotally -- I usually do find about one case per year.

Back to the main abode late last night. I was worried about the plants, but they weathered it just fine - and greeted me this morning with an abundance when I went out to water and inspect! Tomatoes, three kinds of beans, zinnias. (The zinnias have replaced the petunias as my favorite annual this summer.) Cucumbers and eggplant are coming, but it will be a while longer. In Samsonville, we ate zucchini all weekend: raw with dip, grilled, parmesan (also on the grill!), and I brought back some for the week. There will surely be a shopping bag full when I return. Picked up local corn, peaches and cherries at Davenport's farm stand in Stone Ridge.

I got a new N router and hooked it up, in spite of the heat. It works great, although I am still not satisfied with the range. I also need to do something about the home phone connect - the (poor) signal can only be found in the yard. I feel like I am on Green Acres, when they had to climb the pole to talk on the phone.

I swam and sweated and got chewed on by bugs. I think I have never been so hot in my life! I could never live in a really hot climate. But that didn't keep us from the Rosendale Street Festival, which was great. Here's the story about the short flix fest. Twelve selections out of forty! Not too shabby.

Just now I heard a little thunder and we had a downpour! (This is why there are no zinnia pictures today, as planned.) The plants are celebrating. I am too, because certain parts of the lawn need weed whacking, but others are crispy - and without rain I don't want to cut it. So maybe this week, if there is a dry day.

Here's a subject that's dear to me. LOL! Not really, what I mean is that it is something I often write about here. I am amazed by this story. Not by the professor's discovery that a lot of students cheated in his computer science classes. What amazes me is that he was this naive. Or was he not paying attention?

Just two examples of why this is a "hello?," a Duke University study found that 75 percent of college students admit to cheating at some point. In 2005, the Stanford Center on Ethics found that two thirds of students in an introductory programming course at MIT were found to have cheated. Apparently, it is rampant in computer science, even more than in other disciplines. I understand that it is fairly common in schools of business, too. Unfortunately it is not completely absent in any field of study.

The conclusions he decided to implement, to change his methods so that it is much more difficult to cheat, are a big Duh. His evaluations went down? So overlooking cheating = good evaluations? The classroom dynamic became nasty? So overlooking cheating = engaged class? What's wrong with this picture?

I think there is something more going on here. I don't know if NYU frowns on professors going after academic dishonesty. I can only speak from my own experience, and trust me, administrators do not discourage it being rooted out. They do not glory in it, of course. Nor do I, but that doesn't mean I look the other way, and whine. These are teachable moments. I think maybe they frowned on how he presented it on the Internet. I am not sure what he wrote, since the post has been taken down. But if he only revealed what the Chronicle reports, I doubt there is a legal problem. Again, my instinct is that there is more to this story.

I think it is likely this guy has some other issues. Whenever someone spouts off and claims they now thought it was safe to do so because they have tenure, I get suspicious of their motives. I don't like people who cower in fear of reprisal. People of good judgment don't have these kinds of problems and don't need tenure to protect their speech. Don't get me wrong, I am not attacking tenure or suggesting it doesn't protect academic freedom. It's just that I am not tenured, and things like this don't worry me an iota. Maybe it is a set-up, so down the road he can sue and say his rights were violated.

Finally, something else amazing: This from Dear Abby. I am not sure whether the problem could be this extreme or if the writer is exaggerating or perhaps has a serious case of death denial? I completely agree that it is not acceptable to throw trash around or damage property, but to act as if a cemetery cannot be a place of joy is absurd! I am trustee for a cemetery - while purposeful vandalism can be a problem (thankfully, rarely), visitors are not. Visitors are encouraged! Go! Say "Hello in There, Hello." :-)

I also live in front of another cemetery and often walk my dogs there. A lot of other people do too. It is the absolutely favorite place on the planet for any dog I've ever had, including the current two. Better than the yard, better than the park, better than the street or sidewalk. I've never seen anyone blasting music or being rowdy there. Nor is it desolate or depressing; it's a beautiful, serene place, truly a selling point for the village.

While it is true that a few slobs don't clean up after their dog and (again, rarely) a beer bottle turns up, it is not a larger proportion than are rude in this respect anywhere - the park, along the sidewalk, etc. Regarding cleaning up after a dog: if I saw someone do, or rather not do this task I would not hesitate to call them out, but considering the number of dog walkers in the cemetery it is not a major problem; the vast majority of visitors are respectful.

I look at the wonderful stones in the older sections as Sophie sniffs around (her favorite graves are the Hills, who were born in England and have been dead long over 100 years; I imagine them to have liked hounds and to be pleased to see me and my Basset lingering nearby). It makes me smile and reflect - those people are not forgotten.

Added: Speaking of flix, we watched two DVDs late at night over the weekend. Too hot to sleep! Neither was awful, but they also were not great: The Adjustment Bureau and Unknown. I'd wanted to see the former in the theatre, now I am glad we waited for the small screen.

And: It's official!

It's no secret that I can't stand the political reporting at the TU or the (so called) political show on YNN, for lots of reasons, some that I have detailed here in the past. Both make my teeth hurt (again, hat tip to my old boss). Currently there are two things that are driving me crazy (aside from the usual - the in-general snarky tone, the total ignorance of far too many subjects including recent (to anyone over age 30) political history, blatant nepotism, and the hiring of someone who overlooks [ie, condones] plagiarism): 1) they have labeled the tax cap / rent control bill "the big ugly" (how completely lacking in charm and creativity) and 2) the level of impatience they display with getting the session over. What's the hurry? The legislature can work the entire summer as far as I'm concerned. In fact, why shouldn't they? Because it infringes on some smug newsie's vacation plans? You're supposed to be reporters, for goodness sake! Have some class and do your job with a smile...a real one, not a smirk.

I had my teeth cleaned yesterday and they are really bothering me today. (Tooth issues share the stage with reading glasses as one of the joys of aging - not!) Three guesses why this made them hurt worse. Here's a hint. It isn't the nausea-inducing smugness of the comedy routine. Oh, the irony.

Added: I have to give credit where it is due (even more so in this case). In another life, I worked for a man whose favorite line was "it makes my teeth hurt" whenever there was a problem.

Unrelated: I'm sifting out items in my office reorganization that I've had in here for a long time and don't want in the room any longer. It's a tiny room and some of this stuff has been stored in it for over 20 years. Some of it is good stuff, I just don't use it and also don't have any space for it. It's either me or the junk at this point. My mother has told me that sometimes she tells my father, one day she will walk into his garage workshop and find him tangled in a spider web, there are so many lurking among all his treasures. It's kind of the same thing in my office.

One thing that is taking up the area under my computer table is The Writer magazine. I loved that magazine. I subscribed for years and saved every copy. Then they sold (I think), moved from Boston and changed the format - result was that the new version sucked. I subscribed for a while to give it a chance, then dropped it. I also subscribed to Writer's Digest, although not for as long as The Writer.

Anyway, the old magazines take up a lot of space and I doubt I will ever look at them again. I can't stand having a yardsale, so I have been reviewing craigslist, ebay and freecycle to see if any of those would work for the type of stuff I have. Most of what I have to get rid of are books (publishers send me all sorts of review copies to consider assigning in my classes), magazines, and office supplies. I have tons of gently used notebooks, from when I assigned a paper journal to students.

I was surprised to see that the secondary market for The Writer might be more than I knew. I don't go to ebay as much as I once did (remember when that was the website everyone was always on, sort of like facebook now? We were in love with buying and selling stuff on our online yardsale). It seems The Writer and other magazines are items on ebay that are mainly sold in buy-it-now extended listings from used bookstores.There are very few auctions of bulk lots of the magazine, one I saw was $40 for 41 magazines.

The stores are using ebay sort of like a sales database. So it may take a while to sell the magazines, but they charge $7-$10 each. I'm not interested in selling individual magazines, don't care to become a long term ebay e-seller, but that they have more value than I figured is forcing me to carefully consider how to go about getting rid of them. Nothing is ever easy!

As for the other stuff, Bob says it is OK to throw good things away. I say it isn't. Not a surprise really, he was always pretty anti-recycling in the days when it was being debated and was optional and at first he endlessly complained about having to "wash garbage." But I will find a home for them, not to worry. Last resort, people will take just about anything out of a "free" box on the sidewalk.

Plagiarism almost always results in some unpleasant email exchanges. Invariably, no matter what action has been taken, the student tries to get the penalty lessened by one degree. So if they received a failing grade on the assignment, they argue to have it count a little more. If the final course grade was lowered significantly, they try to persuade me to just drop it one letter grade. If they failed the class, they argue to get a low passing grade, even a D (last resort) in the class. If they are reported to Undergraduate Studies, they beg to just fail without being reported. And if they get the worst sanction of all - referral to Judicial Affairs - instead they argue to be reported to Undergraduate Studies only.

I'm completely non-negotiable on this topic, and to be honest, there are some students in my classes who have argued with me passionately when we cover academic dishonesty. A good number are offended over my objectivist views, really protest and probably think I am crazy. (Maybe that's why I'm "weird.") Then, the students who are caught red-handed refuse the label of unethical and don't like being called on it. They don't seem to believe it reflects a character flaw - after the initial denial (they stop when they know the evidence cannot be refuted), they say it's the first time and once that falls flat, that it's expedient or understandable or no biggie, not a symptom of a bigger (profound) problem. Quick! Go to RMP and write that I'm incompetent and cruel.

Usually the violator shuts up or dries their tears after a volley and goes away but occasionally there is one who continues to push it. Mostly this happens when I have chosen one of the lower level (in my class) sanctions, which generally means course failure with no referral. That's my usual path for borderline cases.

This approach comes in two varieties: schmoozers, the sales rep types, or self-righteous, the arrogant types. In the hope of what, I wonder? Hurting my feelings? Getting me to concede? I've one such student now, unfortunately not someone who is trying to win me with flattery. (That wouldn't work either, but it does make me feel a lot less pissed off.)

An odd feature of this incident is that it shares something with a long-ago case that caused consternation at that time, and then again, recently (as well as sparking a really nasty comment on a post). They are the only times in the 20 or so times when I've detected cheating where the student would have gotten the bad final course grade anyway, without having to be sanctioned for plagiarism, so technically they didn't fail due to academic dishonesty. That factored into my decision to not refer the case to the university for review and additional penalties. No need. Maybe I should have, in both cases?

The condescending missives I've received drip with outrage and finger pointing. Oh yeah, I'm the one who is out of line. I suppose it is easier to be mad at me, than to take responsibility. Unfortunately, this is one of those times when I can't elaborate with lots of details for a long time, if ever. I would dearly love to copy and paste the correspondence here to record it, but that would be unethical.

Suffice to say, when something like this happens, I ponder why the student is trying to push my buttons? It is possible they do not realize that they should go away and thank their lucky stars, because I always have an excellent "paper trail" and if ruffled, I may be forced to resort to a worse penalty than the one I imposed?

PS I hate to be writing this. I wanted to put the semester to bed, and move on. And honestly, complaining about awful students makes it seem as if I think poorly of a lot of students, which isn't true at all. One of my constant sources of frustration - and I know the same is true for other faculty - is how much time the tiny minority of bad students take up, and how little time there is to devote to the bright lights.

I don't necessarily mean "A" students when I describe them as bright lights, either. Oh sure, A students make up the largest proportion of wonderful students. (But, not all A students are wonderful.) What I mean is, most students are great, whether they are A students or C students. I like them a lot; they have much to offer. The students who are working with me on my research are shining examples of young people who make me proud. Cases such as the one I am describing here are rare, thankfully. Unfortunately, though, they are not completely absent; I catch about one per year. I can't just look the other way, as I know some do. That would be shirking my responsibility.

Also, in my experience, the A and B students outnumber the C and D students by a lot. That may not be true in all classes, not sure. Regardless, the A students who are so smart and a pleasure, as well as the B and C students who may need a bit of extra help but deserve it, do not get any where near the attention as the total slackers and the cheaters. Is that always true, at any level of education?