A college student called me last week to say that his "friend" had visited my web page, lifted something I wrote, and turned it in as his own work. Now his "friend's" professor is suspicious and plans on searching the web to find the material. If the professor finds that the paper was plagiarized, he will recommend expulsion.
The student begged me to take the paper off my site, fearing that his "friend's" academic career, and possibly his life, will be ruined. What should I do?
6 comments:
In this ethical dilemma, the college student doesn't necessarily have to do as his friend asks, which is to delete his paper from his own website. Although the college student would be deemed a "bad friend" for not helping him avoid expulsion, his "friend" shouldn't have lifted his paper in the first place, especially without telling him. Even if the college student were to delete his paper from his website, there are still several ways the professor could find it... which would most probably get both students in severe trouble. Overall, I don't believe that the college student should delete the paper from his website given that his friend evidently messed up, and unfortunately, it's not up to the college student to fix it. He put the essay on his website for others to read and enjoy, not to plagiarize.
Ashley Niranjan
In this situation above, the student should not take down the paper on the site. First of all, the student should have done his own work. When trying to cheat by taking someone paper off a site there is a risk that you will get caught. If that friend of a friend has been caught that is the risked assumed therefore should be held to the consequence. If you do the crime you got to do the time. Just like what Priya said it is not up to the student to fix someone else's mistake. Although it is selfish, he can end up in more trouble if someone finds out that he helped his friend by removing the paper from the site. Also everything online is never permanently deleted so there is still a chance someone can find it. Overall the student shouldn't take down the paper to fix another person mistake.
If I my college friend called me and told me his friend copied work off my website and was about to get expelled for it I wouldn’t take the paper down due to the consequences I could receive and his lack of communication with me beforehand. Like Priya and Ashley said, there are still ways the professor could find the essay from the website or the internet which could result in the “friend” and I getting expelled which is unfair to me. I also wouldn’t delete my work because I don’t know this person and it’s pretty rude of him to not come up to me first and ask me about it before copying it. If the “friend” came up to me before and asked, I would have let him copy my work if it was a urgent situation. Instead, he decides to go behind my back if the professor didn’t check the web he wouldn’t have even told me that he copied my paper. The “friend” also didn’t call me/contact me personally which shows that this isn’t even important to him so deleting my work for him wouldn’t make sense. There’s no point in trying to save someone’s college career if he doesn’t want to take initiative in fixing his mistake. Although I would feel bad for potentially ruining his life, he is the one that is at fault here due to his integrity academically and as a person.
In the situation that a friend of my friend plagiarized something I wrote, I would not feel obliged to remove it off my personal web page due to many reasons. First, the fact that the student that stole my work off my web page didn’t feel like it was necessary to contact me himself, shows how he isn’t taking the situation as seriously and important as he should. Even if he was nervous to talk to me about it since we haven’t met in the past, it's possible for him to come with my friend to try to find a way to settle the situation. Also, like my fellow classmates Priya, Ashley, and Matt have stated already, there's always a chance that the teacher finds my article somehow given that in this day and age, anything you make public on the internet, will always be available forever. Additionally, it doesn’t make sense for me to risk my own reputation or the chance of getting in trouble for someone that I never met before or even have a remotely close relationship with. In the end it would be unfortunate for the student got in severe trouble but everyone has to learn from their mistakes and if he got away with it, who knows whether or not he’ll continue to plagiarize if he’s able to get away with constantly.
The teacher should keep the paper up on the site. Plagiarism is a big deal all around and everyone knows the consequences. The fact that this student continued with his actions, just goes to show that he does not care about his work and deserves what is coming to him. Although there could have been many things that led the student to make this decision, they still should have been more responsible and wrote it on their own. If the professor finds it and they get expelled then the college will be able to get rid of another student that does not abide by the rules or take pride in their work. Not only is it against the rules, but it is also not fair to the rest of the students that put effort into their work. If this student is able to take the easy way out and not face the consequences then what is stopping every other student from doing the same thing.
This post is now closed! Excellent job scholars!
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