Professor accused me of cheating and was proven wrong!

I (M58) am enrolled at an amazing school that I was thrilled to be accepted into two years ago as its difficult program to enter. I have been doing very well with the majority of my subjects averaging an A grade.

I have been working for nearly 40 years and I would go back to study every 6-7 years to stay fresh, apprised of new technology etc. At 58, I knew this was my last big study hurrah, and I was excited.

In fall semester 2023, I was sitting on an A for all my subjects and was approaching my finals. Less than two weeks prior to my final exams, the entire class for one of my subjects received an email declaring the evidence of plagiarism and cheating had come to light.

It was a horrible accusatory email and after 3-4 days, the class was none-the-wiser about who exactly was being accused. I contacted my lecturer and to my absolute shock - he told me that I was one of the accused! I nearly died. I was instantly humiliated, ashamed, embarrassed, in complete disbelief as I know I did not cheat on any subject - anytime.

I cannot describe the effect the accusation had on me. I was officially accused of plagiarism and cheating. It was literally the worst experience of my long educational history. I went into a spin; what happens now? Will I be booted out of my program? Who knows about this?!? How mortifying!

For this subject, every assignment, every tutorial, exam etc was of an “A” Grade quality. NOTHING BELOW AN A. I was so sick to my stomach, I couldn’t sleep and was advised that I had to prepare for a formal investigation by the school. It was a nightmare.

Less than a week later, I sat my final exam for that subject, and it was the only coursework that I did not receive an A for. In fact, I got an F. My confidence disappeared; the wind was blown out of my sails. My high “A” / GPA 4.00 immediately fell to a B- or GPA 3.00. My other subjects all dropped from an A or A+ and plummeted dramatically.

I was devastated and furious. The process involved an intensive highly formal investigation. Unfortunately, this all happened days before the festive season. I spent the entire Christmas/New Year period alone, stressed, depressed, not believing where I found myself.

The professor who threw the charges against me wrote a detailed accusation report that blew my mind in terms of its length. I was accused of cheating and plagiarizing on a specific assignment handed in a month or two prior. The report indicated not a suspicion of cheating but a clear ACCUSATION of cheating.

The amount of work I had to pull together to prepare for my day “in court” was immense. I spent DAYS UPON DAYS preparing the most detailed, fact-based, and well written presentation, that addressed every accusation head on, with proof. I knew I had pulled together an impressive presentation and report.

In the second week of January 2024, I was pulled into the absolutely nerve-wracking defense of my reputation, and I meticulously presented my information and refused to shorten its length as I knew I needed to present all my facts.

I was terrified but presented well. Then I had to wait a week for their official response. Let’s be clear- if found guilty, I was liable to be kicked out of my school. In the 3rd week of January, the Dean and his investigators contacted me. I was sweating profusely. Their response was in: “not guilty on all accounts.” I literally fell to the floor. I was thrilled.

So I immediately turned around to the accusing professor and requested that i be given an opportunity to sit a fresh exam, or similar, to remedy my shocking performance and lock in the A that I was averaging for my entire course except that final exam.

My argument was that the stress of this awful accusation; the humiliation; and the inability to focus during that final week of semester, led me to bomb dramatically in my finals.

A side note: the accusing professor actually LIED on four points on her report that I reported to several school staff. Not a single staff member would follow through with this even though I had proof.

I had student support school staff that were supportive and offered to try and get this professor to enter into dialogue with me. However, she rudely snapped by email at myself and her peers and refused to take any accountability nor interest in what I had gone through.

Fast forward to today - 4 months later - culminating in a conference call with another professor and student support staff member and was told “why don’t you drop this” and “you know you pushing this won’t make a difference “….”just drop it.”

I hated the “feedback and guidance”. It was lame and preplanned.

I believe I have a solid case - legally - against the school. All I want is to be allowed to defend my straight A performance and not be told “oh well, unfortunately this affected your finals. You still got an B-.”

This is edited down believe it or not, but I’m keen to hear your opinions and obviously can answer any questions. I look forward to hearing your opinions reddit folk.

Thank you all.

Submitted May 30, 2024 at 12:34AM by PadamPadamMyHeart https://ift.tt/2OzARCV