Students Found Guilty in Honor Court Cheating Case

Senior Mike Trinh and junior Brianne Roth were found guilty of academic cheating by unauthorized collaboration in connection to a programming assignment in James Coggins' Computer Science 120 course last semester.

Trinh received academic probation through the spring and an "F" in the course. Roth received suspension through the fall semester and an "F" in the course.

The two students' hearing started on Thursday and was completed last night.

"I'm disappointed," said Trinh, who was visibly shaken by the decision, which he plans to appeal.

Student Attorney General Taylor Lea said students can appeal on three grounds: unfair severity of sanctions, violation of basic rights or insufficient evidence.

After the spring semester ended, Coggins turned in 24 students for working in groups on a homework assignment. The Honor Court hearings for these students, who are being tried in groups, started Sept. 18.

Coggins said he encouraged groupwork for study purposes in the class but said he explicitly prohibited collaborative efforts on assigned work. "Here some study groups started for wonderful reasons, but they went over to the dark side because of passivity and indifference," Coggins said. "It's a very slippery slope."

But Ruwani Opatha, Trinh's defense counsel, said in closing arguments that Coggins promoted groupwork in the class. "The question is whether or not students thought they were using unauthorized aid," Opatha said. "Groupwork was no secret in the course and was actually encouraged."

After two hours of defense testimony, the Honor Court panel went into deliberations for more than an hour and a half.

During the break, the defendants and the audience, which was mainly composed of students from the course, remained optimistic. "I'm in good spirits," Trinh said. "I'm just waiting for the verdict, but I feel confident."

And some of the accused students who have already been tried said they hope last night's hearing might be a basis to overturn previous convictions.

"I hope it might pave the road for the rest of us," said Dharmesh Patel, a senior computer science major. "They need to go back and review the evidence. But I'm here for support."

Students argued the cases should have never made it to the Honor Court because classes in the Department of Computer Science operate under different circumstances. "Collaboration did take place, but it didn't damage academic growth -- it nourished it," said Clate Stansbury, a junior computer science major.

He said the Honor Court is not designed to be flexible and to understand that computer programming works through collaboration.

When the verdict was delivered, Trinh's jaw dropped while Roth remained straight-faced. The audience responded with mutterings of shock.

"I can't even believe it," said Bill Safcik, a senior mathematics major. "The issue here is they're taking things out of context."

But Coggins said the cheating charges applied. "It creates an unfair playing field for the class."

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