Part III will open on Thursday of the week and close on Sunday of the week. In this part of the
case study, you are to summarize three key points in determining a decision in a grievance.
You are to make a clearly identified decision about this grievance.
Process
1. Review the instructions for the case study.
• Part III
o Opens on Thursday and closes on Sunday.
o The committee determines that Susie did breach the school policy on
plagiarism; however, the committee is not sure if it is intentional plagiarism or
ignorance of APA formatting. What do you do now? What is the committee's
final decision about this grievance?
Based on all the information received I still go back to the fact that for Susie, English is a second
language and that she has never had a previous issue on any work submitted, perhaps she had
more lenient professors prior that didn’t correct her leading her to believe what she was doing
was correct and this leads me to believe this was unintentional. But there also needs to be
some accountability on the student part, to proofread and review all submissions with the
resources provided by the schools to most students, and in today’s world there are many
resources available to students to help them help themselves. Yes, she did clearly breached
policy and based on the policy I reviewed for this case she falls into either a level two or three
violation category and these are based on the percentage of plagiarism found. But based on
either of these violation categories Susie would not be expelled. If the plagiarism was found to
be less than 25% of the entire academic exercise, she would receive a failing grade on the
assignment and a violations Report would be sent to the Vice President of Academic Affairs where it
would remain part of her record and looked at if future violations occur. If the plagiarism was found to
be 25% or more of the entire academic exercise, she would receive a failing grade in the course and be
placed probation or suspension for one semester with a disciplinary suspension notice placed in Susie’s
internal academic file, again along with a violations report sent to the VP of academic affairs to be made
accessible for review for future possible violations. Additionally, with either action taken this is an
opportunity for school to provide education to the student and clarify any misconceptions Susie may
have to prevent any further issues for Susie and also add this to her file and in the report.
Nicole