Investigation Abstract of the Honor Council
Case #17, Spring 2005
April 18, 2005

Members Present:
John Horstman (presiding), Andrew Koller (investigator), Mariam Chugthai, Loyola Gressot

Ombuds:
Jeff Wheelhouse

Letter of Accusation:
The Honor Council received a letter of accusation for an upper level management course indicating that three students had collaborated on a take home quiz in a way inconsistent with the Honor Code policy for the assignment.

Evidence Submitted:

• Letter of accusation
• Student A’s quiz
• Student B’s quiz
• Student C’s quiz

Investigation:
The three students in question argued that the reason for the similarities in their exam was a result of starting from the same template.  They stated that one of the three members had been given permission by the professor to use a template for the.   The Council members thus felt that they needed confirmation that the use of templates had been approved.

Additional Evidence:

• Deposition of professor
• Deposition of accuser
• Deposition of team member of the accused

Second Investigation:

After receiving confirmation from the professor in her deposition that she had given permission to a student in the class to use a template for the quiz, the Council members proceeded to look at the other similarities in the quizzes.  The Council members could not find evidence of collaboration besides the similar formatting, which was attributed to the use of the same starting template.  There were also many instances where the accused students had not collaborated and there had been some change in formatting between the quizzes.  Council members could thus find no evidence of collaboration that would have compromised the academic integrity of these assignments and thus decided to drop the case with a vote of 3-0.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Horstman
Chair
Rice Honor Council