Students, Faculty Argue Fairness of Cheating Ruling

Senior Mike Trinh and junior Brianne Roth were found guilty of academic cheating in connection with unauthorized group work on a programming assignment for Professor James Coggins' Computer Science 120 class last semester.

Although many computer science faculty members feel the ruling was just, other faculty and students said they are outraged by the decision.

Senior computer science major Heather Morgan, who was in Coggins' class last semester but was not charged with cheating, said she thought the Honor Court could have interpreted the evidence differently.

"I don't agree with the way the Honor Court is handling everything," she said.

"I have a really hard time believing that many people cheated."

Coggins turned in 24 of his Computer Science 120 students to the Honor Court this summer. He said there were a few procedural errors in the open hearing but that the Honor Court worked hard with little recognition.

He also said it is his duty to report any suspected cheating and that the Court interpreted the Student Code of Conduct correctly.

"I am not winning anything from doing this," Coggins said. "This is my duty as I see it under the (code)."

Steven Matuszek, a graduate computer science student last year, spoke in Coggins' defense.

"It sounds to me like (the groupwork) was definitely not fair to students who worked unaided," Matuszek said. "I don't know if the situation was dealt with correctly, but Coggins did what the department Web page says."

The site advises professors to take any instances of suspected academic dishonesty directly to the Honor Court.

But Roth, who received an F in the course and was suspended for the fall semester, said the court proceedings and outcome were unjust.

"I felt the Honor Court would be fair," Roth said. "What happened made a travesty of the (UNC) honor system."

Roth cited her failure to receive an individual trial and Student Attorney General Taylor Lea's decision to testify against the defendants as examples of how the hearing was unfair.

Computer science Professor Sanjoy Baruah, who served as a character witness for Trinh, also said he was disappointed in the outcome of the court proceedings. "The Honor Court made a completely incorrect decision," he said.

Trinh, who also received an F and was put on academic probation, said he was "very disappointed" after the verdict was reached and will submit an appeal soon. While Trinh did not comment further on the case, other students involved in the cheating controversy openly discussed the proceedings.

Senior computer science major Evelyn Salazar, who was among the students charged by Coggins, participated in a closed hearing last week. She said the court proceedings could have been avoided if Coggins had communicated better with his students last semester.

"I never felt we were breaking the Honor Code," she said. "We thought we were doing the right thing because group work was encouraged."

Coggins said he had discussed group work in his class, but he said he was careful to let students know where he drew the line.

"I mentioned the importance of group work," Coggins said. "But I always followed it up with a caveat -- you can't work in groups to get a solution (to an assignment)."

Stephen Weiss, chairman of the computer science department, said that there is a fine line between cheating and effective group work but that he thought the open court hearing revealed signs of electronic replication of assignments.

"(Coggins') definition of appropriate group work seemed clear," Weiss said. "It's a touchy situation because working in a group may be the best way to learn computer programming."

Shelby Funk, a computer science graduate student and research assistant, said having an unclear groupwork policy could prove to be dangerous when students' academic futures are at stake.

"When there's room for interpretation," Funk said, "there should be lesser punishment."

Morgan said the consequences of Sunday's verdict could extend beyond the students involved. She said the precedent set could influence how computer science students interact with each other in future assignments.

"(The open hearing) has definitely changed the whole department," she said. "If you can't talk to peers (about projects), a lot of learning will be lost."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.