DATE:
April 18, 2024
PARTIES:
University of Toronto v. X.Z. ("the Student")
HEARING DATE:
December 1, 2024, via Zoom
PANEL MEMBERS:
Johanna Braden, Chair
Professor Kevin Wang, Faculty Panel Member
Alwin Xie, Student Panel Member
APPEARANCES:
William Webb, Assistant Discipline Counsel, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
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 and/or obtaining unauthorized assistance in connection with a final exam, contrary to sections B.i.1(b) and B.II.2. The Student was also charged with one count for knowingly attempting to represent as their own an idea or expression of an idea or work in connection with a final exam, under B.i.1(d). In the alternative, the Student was charged with knowingly engaging in a form of cheating, academic dishonesty or misconduct, fraud or misrepresentation not otherwise described in the Code in order to obtain academic credit or other academic advantage of any kind in connection with a final exam.
The Student signed a consent form in which they attested (among other things) that they had signed an Agreed Statement of Facts (“ASF”), an Agreed Statement of Facts on Penalty (“ASFP”), and a Joint Submission on Penalty (“JSP”), and that they did not wish to attend or participate further in the proceeding. On that basis, the Tribunal proceeded in the absence of the Student.
As part of a course, the Student was required to write a final exam worth 50%. Students were prohibited from using aids or obtaining assistance on the exam. During the exam, the chief presiding officer (“CPO”) noticed that the Student had a miniature, concealed camera poking through a hole in their sweater, and inferred that the Student had been recording their final exam with the camera. The CPO subsequently discovered that the Student was in possession of a miniature camera, headphones, phone (powered on), as well as a battery pack. The Student attended a Dean’s Designate meeting to discuss the allegations that the Student was in possession of an unauthorized aid during the exam, and the Student admitted that they had used a camera and an earpiece that allowed her to communicate with someone else during the final exam. The Student subsequently admitted to all of the charges in the ASF. On the basis of the ASF and the admissions of the Student contained therein, the Panel found the Student guilty of the first and second charges. The remaining two charges were withdrawn by the University.
In determining the appropriate sanction, the Panel considered the evidence supplied in the ASFP. In particular, the Panel reviewed evidence that the Student had committed a prior academic offence for possession of an unauthorized aid in connection with a midterm exam. The Panel also reviewed a medical note, provided by a hospital in the months following the commission of the current offences, indicating that the Student had been diagnosed with depression. The Panel noted that these facts presented a mix of aggravating and mitigating factors. The Panel considered the evidence in light of the facts and principles relevant to sanctions as set out in the decision of University of Toronto and Mr. C (Case No. 1976/77-3, November 5, 1976), as well as sanctions imposed in other recent decisions. The Panel found that the fact that the University and the Student were able to agree on a JSP was strong evidence that the appropriate balancing of the sanctioning factors had occurred. Ultimately, the Panel deferred to the parties’ joint submission on penalty having found that doing so would not bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
The Panel imposed the following sanction: a final grade of zero in the course; a suspension from the University for a period of 5 years; a six-year notation on the Student’s academic record and transcript; and a report to the Provost for publication.