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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kate,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Evaluations and plagiarism</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The evaluation issue is tricky: There's a tension
here between the right of the plagiarism suspect to give feedback about the
education process and the need for educators to hear that sort of feedback (on
the one hand), and the realistic expectation on the other hand that the suspect
probably won't use the mechanism that way and will only serve to muddy the
waters. There have been some conversations about trying to "delist" those
sanctioned by Student Conduct from being able to evaluate instructors, but I'd
be pretty happy with an evaluation report that (for instance) gave the number of
cases filed from the class, and the average rating of the instructor given by
those students. Not that this is likely ever to happen, but it would make
interpretation easier. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. As for the mom...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Actually, she might still be at it. I'll have
to be a bit vague here about some details, due to FERPA and the chance that this
might still go somewhere, but I'll try to illuminate a little. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've been hearing about The Mom off and on for an
entire quarter from people who have had to deal with her. Apparently, she makes
quite an impression. I haven't had the pleasure of talking to her yet,
myself, in part because everyone who has tangled with her -- department
staff, Student Conduct officials, the Dean of Students' office -- has been very
nice about shielding me. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From what they tell me, she's been talking from the
start about going to the press (and apparently about lawsuits, too), but so far
is grudgingly sticking with proper channels. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>On that path, she has so far taken the case up
several levels to the Dean of Students, who met with me a couple of weeks
ago to discuss the matter. (Note: The Dean was also <EM>very</EM>
supportive, and has CC'd me on her emails to the student and mother. I've been
delighted with those emails. If not for student confidentiality, I'd print them
out and post them on the walls of the office to give visiting students something
to consider.) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I feel sorry for The Kid, to be honest. S/he is
clearly a bewildered, meek passenger on this cruise, and if The Mom
makes good on her threats, will suffer for it. If The Mom goes public
successfully, all she really achieves is this: Whenever Kid applies for a
job that requires a background check (as they increasingly do), the inevitable
Lexis-Nexis search will uncover that there was a plagiarism case, and
subsequent family retaliation against the university that caught it. Who is
going to hire Kid, given those details? I keep waiting for Kid to grow up, cut
those apron strings, and tell The Mom to zip it. Kid has the age of an
Adult, and can suffer Adult-sized consequences. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And all of this is a reaction to a relatively minor
case for which Kid received a warning ... and a passing grade in the class. Go
figure. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- Gray</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=katecwatt@gmail.com href="mailto:katecwatt@gmail.com">Kate Watt</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=gray@scotts.net
href="mailto:gray@scotts.net">Gray Scott</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=englecturers@lists.ucr.edu
href="mailto:englecturers@lists.ucr.edu">Lecturer ListServe</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, June 09, 2009 3:17
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: UWP Lecturers plagiarism
reports</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>we should have the right to refuse to allow any extremely
disgruntled student to fill out an eval....<BR><BR>I want more details about
the mom threatening to go to the media!
yikes!<BR><BR><BR>Kate<BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>