FILE:
Case # 1344 (2022-2023)
DATE:
November 4, 2022
PARTIES:
University of Toronto v. M.R. (“the Student”)
HEARING DATE(S):
September 21, 2022, via Zoom
PANEL MEMBERS:
Christopher Wirth, Chair
Professor Alexander Koo, Faculty Panel Member
Jessica Johnson, Student Panel Member
APPEARANCES:
William Webb, Assistant Discipline Counsel, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Ryan Shah, Articling Student, Assistant Discipline Counsel, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Not in Attendance:
The Student
HEARING SECRETARY:
Nadia Bruno, Special Projects Officer, Office of Appeals, Discipline and Faculty Grievances
The Student was charged with two counts of knowingly using or possessing an unauthorized aid or obtaining unauthorized assistance in connection with a final exam in two different courses, contrary to section B.i.1(b) of the Code. For each course, they were also charged alternatively with one count of knowingly using or possessing an unauthorized aid or obtaining unauthorized assistance in connection with a final exam, contrary to section B.i.3(b) of the Code.
The Student did not attend the hearing, nor were they represented. The University submitted evidence showing the various attempts made to provide notice to the Student. The Panel was satisfied that the Student had been given reasonable notice of the hearing in compliance with the notice requirements of sections 6 and 7 of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act, rules 9, 16, and 17 of the University Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, as well as the University’s Policy on Official Correspondence with Students. The Panel decided to hear the case on its merits in the absence of the Student.
The Panel considered evidence that both exams had been administered online due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that the course instructors found that questions from and answers to the exams had been posted to Chegg.com during each exam period. An investigation revealed that the Student’s Quercus account had been accessed during the exams and that the Student’s IP address was the same IP address from which the Student’s email account viewed the Chegg questions and answers. According to the Panel, the evidence was clear that someone using the Student’s University of Toronto email address and IP address had accessed answers to questions from these exams posted on Chegg.com, during the time they were writing these exams. For each course, the Panel found the Student guilty under section B.i.1(b) of the Code for knowingly obtaining unauthorized assistance. The University withdrew the remaining charges.
In determining sanction, the Panel considered the University’s evidence that the Student had two prior offences relating to the use of unauthorized aids. The Panel observed that the Student had undermined the grades-based system of evaluation and broke the honour code that is essential to modern learning. In that regard, the pandemic and the resulting required online learning provides more opportunities for students to cheat, requiring the University to go to considerable lengths to detect and uncover students’ misconduct. It also commented that in today’s online world, it is easy for students to find new ways to access unauthorized assistance and so any sanction must denounce cheating on tests and deter others in order to protect the academic integrity of the University. Students must understand that this kind of misconduct will have serious repercussions, so that they will be dissuaded from the temptation to consider cheating. The Panel accepted the University’s submission that by using Chegg.com, a subscription-based website, the Student committed a serious form of academic misconduct, while considering the range of sanctions provided by prior decisions of this Tribunal in similar circumstances, and given the Student’s prior academic offences, a period of 3 years and 11 months suspension of the Student from the University rather than expulsion was appropriate.
The Panel imposed the following sanctions: a grade of zero in both courses; a suspension of almost four years; a notation on the Student's transcript of almost five years; and a report to the Provost for publication.