Honor Council Rice University  
 

Investigation Abstract of the Honor Council
Case #11, Spring 2004
March 23, 2004

Members Present:
John Pitcher (presiding), Rachel Hamilton (investigator), Travis Youngblood, Amy Tilley

Ombuds:
Michael Hardy

Letter of Accusation:
The Honor Council received a letter of accusation from the professors of a lower level engineering course. The letter stated that two students had highly similar exams and suspected either improper collaboration or Student A of copying off of Student B.

Evidence Submitted:

First Investigation:
After hearing the statements of both students and questioning them, Council members decided more information was needed to both clarify the original evidence and to place it in context.

Additional Evidence:
Second Investigation:
The witness statement supported the timestamp evidence proving that the exam times did not overlap. While the Council felt this was important, it was emphasized that this did not completely eliminate opportunities for copying. For each allegation, the accused students pointed out instances from other students’ exams where similar or identical methods of solving problems had been used. This contradicted accusations that stated they were the only ones to complete certain steps in unique ways. Further, Students A and B held that their approaches to individual problems were shaped by extensive studying, homeworks, and practice exams which they had worked on together. They also argued that many similarities were not wrong, just simpler methods that they fell back on due to similar limited experience in the material. Members felt that this was a reasonable explanation for similarities in work and voted unanimously not to recommend the case for hearing.

Respectfully Submitted,

John D. Pitcher
Honor Council Internal Vice Chair, Presiding

Last modified Monday, March 29, 2004 10:40 PM
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