Case #777

DATE: September 4, 2015

PARTIES: University of Toronto v F.Y.H.
 
Hearing Date(s): February 5, 2015
 
Panel Members:
William C. McDowell, Chair
Richard B. Day, Faculty Member
Lu Zhao, Student Member
 
Appearances:
Robert Centa, Assistant Discipline Counsel
Julia Wilkes, Counsel for the Student
 
In Attendance:
Christopher Lang, Director, Appeals, Discipline and Faculty Grievances
Ms. F.Y.H, the Student (via Skype)
 
Trial Division – s. B.i.1(d) and s. B.i.1(a) of the Code – plagiarism and forged documents – Student appropriated verbatim text from academic sources – Student altered Verification of Illness form to extend the projected illness end date – Agreed Statement of Facts – guilty plea – finding on Agreed Statement of Facts – finding on guilty plea – Joint Submission on Penalty – prior academic offence of plagiarism – Joint Submission on Penalty accepted – grade assignment of zero; 3-year suspension; notation on the Student’s academic record and transcript until her graduation; case reported to Provost for publication
 
Student charged under s. B.i.1(d) and s. B.i.1(a) of the Code. The charges related to allegations that the Student had knowingly represented the ideas of another as her own in a Course paper, and that the Student knowingly forged or altered a University of Toronto Verification of Illness or Injury form. 
 
The Student pleaded guilty to both charges. There was an Agreed Statement of Facts. The Student appropriated text verbatim or nearly verbatim from two academic sources without any appropriate citations, and she altered a genuine Verification of Illness form that had been signed by a doctor to extend the projected end date for an illness with the intention of obtaining an accommodation to be excused from a missed midterm. The Panel noted that the Student had a prior offence of plagiarism and that at the time of the hearing she was serving a one-year academic suspension for poor academic performance. The Panel also noted that the Student had suffered from severe anxiety and depression, and stated that there was no question that at the time the offences were committed the Student’s medical condition significantly affected her ability to succeed in academic study. There was a Joint Submission on Penalty. The Panel accepted the Joint Submission on Penalty and it imposed a grade assignment of zero in the Course; a 3-year suspension; a notation on the Student’s academic record and transcript until her graduation from the University; and that the case be reported to the Provost for publication.