DATE:
July 6, 2015
PARTIES:
University of Toronto v P.T.
Hearing Date(s):
May 19, 2015
Panel Members:
John A. Keefe, Chair
Graeme Hirst, Faculty Member
Jeffery Couse, Student Member
Appearances:
Lily Harmer, Assistant Discipline Counsel
Julia Wilkes, Counsel for the Student
In Attendance:
Ms. P.T., the Student
Lucy Gaspini, Manager, Academic Integrity and Affairs, University of Toronto Mississauga
Christopher Lang, Director, Appeals, Discipline and Faculty Grievances
Ms. R.T., the Student’s sister
Student charged with one offence under s. B.i.1(b), two offences under s. B.i.1(d), two offences under s. B.ii.1(a) and, in the alternative, two offences under s. B.i.3(b) of the Code. The charges related to two separate allegations, first that the Student aided and abetted her sister in committing plagiarism and in using an unauthorized aid or obtaining unauthorized assistance from the Student in one course, and second that the Student knowingly represented the ideas of another as her own work in a written assignment in another course.
Student was found guilty with respect to the charges of aiding and abetting her sister in committing plagiarism and in using unauthorized assistance. The Student and her sister each submitted identical assignments that contained a few identical errors. There was an Agreed Statement of Facts, and the Student pleaded guilty to the charges under the first allegation. The Tribunal accepted the plea and found the Student guilty of plagiarism, unauthorized aid, and being a party to an offence. The University then withdrew the alternative charge of academic dishonesty not otherwise described.
Student was found guilty with respect to the charge of plagiarism. Student submitted an assignment that contained numerous words and expressions of idea that were verbatim or nearly verbatim from a text of an unattributed source. There was an Agreed Statement of Facts, and the Student pleaded guilty to the charge of plagiarism. The Tribunal accepted the plea and found the Student guilty. The University then withdrew the alternative charge of academic dishonesty not otherwise described.
There was a Joint Submission on Penalty and an Agreed Statement of Additional Facts for Sanction, which indicated that the Student had been disciplined on a prior occasion in respect of a charge of plagiarism. That the Student had been warned that a repeat offence would lead to more serious consequences was an aggravating factor. The Agreed Statement of Additional Facts also included evidence of mitigating factors, namely that at the time of the offences, the Student’s parents were unemployed, and therefore the Student was required to work a fulltime job while also enrolled as a fulltime student.
Even taking into account the aggravating and mitigating factors, the Panel decided that the sanctions proposed in the Joint Submission on Penalty were reasonable and there was no basis to reject them. It is clearly established that the Tribunal should only reject a Joint Submission on Penalty where it is truly unreasonable or unconscionable. The Panel imposed a grade assignment of zero in both courses affected by the charges; a 3-year suspension; the earlier of either a 4-year notation on the Student’s academic record and transcript, or a notation until the Student’s graduation from the University; and that the case be reported to the Provost for publication.