I've about had it with Penn State University. The only care about themselves. They are a bloated monster. The trustees and President Graham Spanier complain about a lack of state funding for operations. I say let them starve.
Through my personal dealing with Penn State as a board member on an Alumni council I've had my fill with them. But what they did to my sister takes the cake. I'm returning my alumni license plate.
A few weeks ago, my sister who is a junior at Penn State Harrisburg, was writing her term paper for a criminal justice class. She was encouraged to use many articles, including on-line articles. In citing an online journal article, she does what many of us bloggers do-she clipped a section of the article into her work, but in one particular case (amounting to about a half a page of a 9 page paper) she forgot to cite her source.
The professor, a Mr. Razor Jameson (name changed to protect the innocents), took it upon himself to submit her name for academic integrity. The possible outcome would be she would receive an F for the course. She fought it, asking for her case to go to academic review board. Her case went to the academic review board and they found in favor of her professor. She only submitted a letter to the board, and was not permitted to speak to the board, or even know who was on the board. Total lack of due process.
The F in her class took her GPA down from a 3.8 to a 3.3; hurting her chances for graduate school, as the minimum GPA for the school she was looking at is 3.5.
There have been many issues at Penn State regarding the school looking out for their own, most recently at Penn State Altoona. Same thing. A Kangaroo Court. No justice. And a woman taken to the woodshed.
I went to Penn State, as did my mother, and now my sister. I have had friends railroaded in a very similar manner. My mother ( who has a Ph. D.) even teaches at Penn State, and has in the past, let similar infractions by her students go. Chalking them up to just error of the overworked mind.
My mother has even had issue with Penn State's cover-ups of sexual harassment issues. Some involving her directly.
All three of us are totally disillusioned. It seems there is nothing we can do to correct the situations at this University, or even try to confront those responsible. Letters to the President come back in a canned "screw your opinion" mode.
Posted by psugrad98 at December 22, 2004 09:01 PMUgh. Failed for missing a cite on one source in one paper? That's absurd.
I don't know what options you have though.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 23, 2004 04:41 PMANd they brought HER up on an issue of academic integrity?! What a crock. Did the professor appear before the academic review board? Were minutes taken so you can find out what was said? Or, if he submitted his case in writing, can a copy of that be gotten?
I don't know what you can do about it save tell us all his name and email addy so's we can gangmail him.
Posted by: Tuning Spork at December 24, 2004 04:52 PMUgh...I once had a professor hold my grade and request that I come have a conference with him. I was concerned, obviously, as my grade should have been posted a week prior.
There seemed to have been an issue with my final paper, namely that he didn't think I wrote it. He straight-out asked if I'd had a graduate student write it for me because "We don't teach that in undergrad."
To make a long story short, he had to confront another professor in the department to ask her if she taught the ideas that I explicated in my paper.
A week later I got a damned "C" as a final grade.
The fact of the matter is, once a professor/teaching assistant/whathaveyou gets it into their head that there's corruption afoot, the best any student can do is hold their breath and wait it out, especially if the character they're fighting is a holier-than-thou "authority" on something.
The attention brought to the student, whether it be by academic review boards, or departmental whatevers is an embarrassment no one wants to put themselves through: especially if the school paper uses that as fodder for their University section.
The only suggestion I have at this point is for her to make that subject her next criminal justice thesis, if that's what she chooses to persue. Certainly a grad school admissions officer would be piqued to read of the lack of due process in the educational system. It'll certainly explain the GPA.
Posted by: Tiffany at December 25, 2004 04:02 PMThis is such a mountain out of a molehill, requiring, imho, a correction to the paper and nothing more. Was it evident from the format (indentation or similar) that the text she was quoting wasn't her's? I would think they have even less of a leg to stand on in such a case.
How did the uncited source come to the attention of the professor? What did he say to our sister? What was her response to him?
If they will not change the mark, I suggest that she retain a copy of ORIGINAL paper that she submitted, demand (in writing, certified, return reciept) of the administration AND her professor sign a statement as to why she recieved an F for the class, and write her own explantion up as to the situation. If she is unable to get a copy of her original paper, or if the professors refuse to release information regarding the hearings, she should log this (a copy of her FORMAL request in writing etc.) Keep all papers. If she can have witnesses to any discussion this would also pay. It also may pay to have other professors that she has learned from submit letters attesting to her character. She should request an interview at the school and a full explantion of why her grades are what they are.
I can't beleive that no sitting judge or lawyer does not occasionaly forget to properly cite their sources, and is caught, hopefully, before the paper is published, or who upon learning of the error does not quickly submit a correction.
What is the standard practice if a lawyer forgets to name their source properly? Is s/he immediately disbarred?
The other idea is to go public; I mean beyond this blog.
Hope it all works out soon in her favor.
Posted by: Rachel Ann at December 26, 2004 10:20 AM
