Avenir dodges expulsion
A student who attracted international media attention when he was accused of academic misconduct on Facebook will not be expelled from Ryerson.
The school e-mailed its decision to first-year engineering student Chris Avenir Tuesday afternoon. He said he felt relieved when he read the decision. Avenir was targeted by Ryerson when he became the administrator for a Facebook group last semester, where members of the group could exchange class-related material.
But the student isn't off the hook. He will receive a zero for the assignment he is alleged to have cheated on, and he will have to attend an academic integrity tutorial before the end of the Fall 2008 term. As well, he will have a disciplinary notice placed on his record. The notice will be gone upon graduation, Avenir said.
But the door is still open for the school to become involved with the conduct of students when they're online.
"The argument that a student should be entitled to do whatever they want online is a false argument," said university spokesperson James Norrie, after learning of the school's decision through a reporter and not through the university. Avenir has not decided if he'll appeal the disciplinary notice.
Comments
Davin Carey, 8 months ago said:
Well congrats for not being expelled...
I understand the teacher didn\'t want kids doing homework assignments together, but I still think that is wrong in itself. Isn\'t the purpose of higher education to collaborate and learn? See what happens if you limit the interactivity of peers at a high-level research university...instantly it becomes not to research-oriented or as successful a place to learn as before.
Shouldn\'t the teacher be reprimanded for hindering the ability of fertile and free-thinking academic minds to collaborate and learn and progress the ways in which they best see fit?
Tell the world what you think...you know where I stand.
www.ChrisDidntCheat.com
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Sebastian Ip, 8 months ago said:
I don\'t get the Eyeopener\'s stance on the Avenir story. Everyone at this paper seems to think there\'s a injustice being done by the University.
If the assignment\'s suppose to be completed by yourself and you were stupid enough to show the world you were copying from a facebook group. I don\'t see why you shouldn\'t face somce sort of disciplinary action.
There is way too much naive righteousness in how this story is portrayed by this paper and numerous online publication. For all intend and purpose there is no difference between copying off your friends or copying off a facebook group, except one is a very stupid thing to do as we have found out. Those who infer Mr. Avenir is not guilty because others are committing cheating by traditional means, needs to reexamine their perception of right and wrong.
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