DATE:
January 25, 2024
PARTIES:
University of Toronto v. H.S. ("the Student")
HEARING DATE:
October 24, 2023, via Zoom
PANEL MEMBERS:
F. Paul Morrison, Chair
Professor Michael Evans, Faculty Panel Member
Dylan Dingwell, Student Panel Member
APPEARANCES:
William Webb, 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 under section B.i.1(a) of the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, 2019 (“Code”) for knowingly altering or falsifying a document or evidence required by the University or making use of the falsified document, specifically a Verification of Student Illness or Injury Form (“VOI”) in support of the Student’s request or accommodation or relief for a final exam in GGR112H5F (the “Course”). In the alternative, the Student was charged with one count for knowingly engaging in a form of cheating, academic dishonesty or misconduct, fraud, or misrepresentation to obtain academic credit contrary to section B.i.3(b) of the Code.
Neither the Student nor a legal representative of the Student appeared at the hearing. At the commencement of the hearing, counsel for the University (“counsel”) requested an Order that the hearing proceed in the absence of the Student. The Panel noted that the Student had previously acknowledged, in an Agreed Statement of Facts (“ASF”), that they had received a copy of the charges, waived reading of the charges, and pled guilty to all of the charges. The Panel was satisfied that the Student had received reasonable notice of the hearing, and was aware of the date on which it was to proceed. Accordingly, the Panel ordered that the hearing proceed in the Student’s absence.
The hearing proceeded on the basis of the ASF in which the Student admitted to purchasing a purported Verification of Illness Form from a third-party and that the Student had not actually received any medical assessment or treatment on the day of the final exam or on any other date near the final exam in the Course. The Student further admitted to submitting the purported VOI in support of their request to defer the final exam in the Course. The Panel concluded that the evidence and the facts contained in the ASF supported a finding of guilt on the charge made under section B.i.1(a). The Panel accepted the guilty plea of the Student, and the University withdrew the alternative charge.
In determining the appropriate sanction, the Panel considered the Agreed Statement of Facts on Penalty (“ASFP”) and the JSP submitted by the University and the Student. The Panel reviewed the ASFP, which detailed that the Student had committed one prior academic offence in a different course. Based on the ASFP, JSP, and a review of similar cases presented by counsel, the Panel accepted the JSP.
The Panel imposed the following sanctions: a final grade of zero in the course; a three-year suspension; a four-year notation on the Student’s transcript; and a report to the Provost for publication.