DATE:
February 14, 2025
PARTIES:
University of Toronto v. G.R.
Hearing Date:
September 12, 2024
Members of the Panel:
Karen Symes, Chair
Professor Mary Pugh, Faculty Panel Member
Zoë Reichert, Student Panel Member
Appearances:
Lily Harmer, Assistant Discipline Counsel, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Ryan Shah, Co-Counsel, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Ivan Yau, Representative for the Student
Hearing Secretary:
Karen Bellinger, Associate Director, Office of Appeals, Discipline and Faculty Grievances
In Attendance:
The Student
The Student was charged with two counts of knowingly forging or in any other way altering or falsifying a document or evidence required by the University, or uttering, circulating or making use of such a document, namely two Verification of Student Illness or Injury Forms (the “VOI Forms”) submitted in support of the Student’s request for the deferral of the final exams in CITC14H3 and CITC09H3 (collectively, the “Courses”), contrary to section B.i.1(a) of the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, 2019. In the alternative, the Student was charged with two counts of knowingly engaging in a form of cheating, academic dishonesty or misconduct, fraud or misrepresentation.
The hearing proceeded on the basis of an Agreed Statement of Facts (“ASF”) and Joint Submission on Penalty (“JSP”) submitted jointly by the Student and the University. The ASF detailed that the Student was enrolled in the Courses and was required to write in-person final exams. The Student was aware of a friend (the “Collaborator”) who had assisted other UTSC students in obtaining falsified VOI forms. The Student, who wanted to request that they be permitted to defer the final exams in the Courses, asked the Collaborator to provide two falsified VOIs representing that the Student had been seen by a physician on two occasions and had been diagnosed with illnesses that prevented the Student from writing the final exams. The Student did not write either of the regularly scheduled final examinations. The University’s Petitions Office initially granted the petition sought in CITC09. They denied the Student’s petition to defer the final exam in CITC14 and notified the Student that the matter had been referred to UTSC’s Academic Integrity Office. The Petitions Office subsequently advised the Student that it had decided to reverse its earlier decision to grant the Student a deferral of the final exam in CITC09. The Student admitted, in a meeting with the Dean’s Designate, that a friend had provided the VOI Forms, and that the Student was ill with the flu and suffering from depression during the final exam period. The Student further admitted in the ASF that they had never been a patient of the doctor that had purportedly signed the VOI Forms, and admitted to committing an academic offence, contrary to section B.i.1(a) of the Code. On the basis of the admissions made by the Student, the ASF and the supporting materials, the Panel found the Student guilty of the first two charges under section B.i.1(a) of the Code. The University withdrew the alternative charges.
In determining the appropriate sanction, the Panel considered the JSP submitted by the parties, as well as an allocution to the Panel made by the Student, expressing remorse for their behaviour. The Panel also considered relevant decisions of the Tribunal identified by the parties and noted that the penalties imposed in cases involving forged documentation range from a two-year suspension to expulsion. The Panel noted that while the Student committed several offences, they were committed during a period of particular difficulty for the Student, and noted that, in light of the Student’s guilty plea and expression of remorse, the risk of re-offending was low. The Panel concluded that the JSP was neither contrary to the public interest, nor would it bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
The Panel imposed the following sanction: a final grade of zero in the Courses; a two-year suspension; and a three-year notation on the Student’s academic record and transcript.