The Honor Committee of the College has just resolved an Honor Code matter. As part of the resolution of that matter, a notice of the matter must be publicized to the College community.
This report has been posted by the Student-Faculty Honor Committee pursuant to section 1.100(4) of the Honor Code.
On September 13, 2012, the Committee approved a settlement agreement negotiated by two accused graduates and the Prosecutor pursuant to section 1.060(2) of the Code. The charges against the graduates involved a paper requirement in a course they took while they were students at the College of Law. They were each required to write two papers. Instead of writing their own two papers, they each wrote one. They then exchanged the papers they each wrote, modified each other’s paper, and submitted the modified papers as their own. They initially did not admit what they had done when the professor asked them about the similarities in their papers.
As approved by the Committee, the settlement agreement provided, among other things, that the graduates would each receive a written reprimand that would become part of their permanent files at the College of Law and that the graduates would take five hours of continuing legal education course work in legal ethics. The Committee found that the sanction was appropriate under the circumstances of this particular case because of the graduates’ acceptance of responsibility and the adverse effect that the charges have had on their applications for admission to the bar.
In addition to specifying the sanction imposed on the graduates, the agreement also specified the circumstances under which the College may disclose information regarding the violation and settlement to third parties. In particular, if the College receives a request for character, fitness, discipline, or other such information regarding the graduates, the College may make such disclosures regarding the matter (including documents) as are consistent with the terms of the release.
The Committee ordered this public posting to keep the Law College Community informed of the matters that come before the Committee and of the decisions that the Committee makes.