Updated: Wed Aug. 12 2009 19:01:13

ctvbc.ca

It used to be that the worst grade you could receive in school was an F, and that was bad enough.

But B.C.'s Simon Fraser University is taking punishment to a whole new level, introducing a grade of FD -- meaning failure with dishonesty -- the worst possible grade a student can receive.

Dr. Rob Gordon, director of criminology at SFU and acting chair of the senate committee on academic integrity, says the new grading is intended to curtail cheating using the internet.

"What used to be a lot of cheating in libraries has changed quite significantly," he told ctvbc.ca.

"We now have to be concerned about cheating during exams with high-tech devices and the inappropriate use of internet sources and downloading, including online companies offering services to students that promote academic dishonesty."

University department chairs can impose the FD grade if they feel the incident warrants a severe penalty, or if the student has landed themselves in academic hot water in the past.

"They only use this grade in particularly egregious cases of dishonestly or in cases when they've committed acts of dishonesty several times and haven't learned from their lesson," Gordon said.

The mark, which has yet to be used in its introductory semester, will stay on the student's transcripts for two years after graduation.

"It's more than a fail, it's a failure with a particular reason that is publicly announced that may well be seen by potential employers."

Some students say it's unfair to carry that stigma into the working world.

"Two years loss of your life that is a bit too far," Olid Amid said.

But although some consider the new grading heavy handed, others say the punishment is just in a time where internet cheating is increasing at Canadian post-secondary institutions.

"A student would seriously need to re-evaluate their intentions at university and what they are hoping to get out of it," University of Alberta student Patrice Strate said.

"It makes it a lot easier for those of us who don't cheat to get good grades and to not worry about the people who are cheating," student John Aubrey said.

The University of Alberta uses a similar system where cheaters are given an F8 or F9 grade, which is reduced to an F after three years.

"In our case we give the students a chance to redeem themselves," Dean of Students Frank Robinson said.

"[In] three years they can graduate and have a clean record and get on with life."

Comments are now closed for this story

Vancouver Islander
About time -- long overdue!!

Trent
I think this is fantastic. Every loser who cheats and succeeds decreases the credibility of my (expensive) education. So many times I observed students blatantly cheating during exams (UBC, BCIT) where I had sacrificed hours to study and pass.

All I can say to they people think this is too harsh: It's simple, don't cheat and you won't have the stigma follow you around.

kevin in vancouver
Sure and maybe Bernie Madoff should be allowed to redeem himself as well. I for one believe if a student is caught cheating they should be expelled. They are clearly demonstrating a morel and ethical flaw that inevitably will resurface in their work. A close examination of all the major scandals over the past 20 years, Savings and Loan collapses, Enron and the Accounting Company fraud as well as the recent Financial Sector collapse have all been visited upon the general public by those lofty graduates of the university system. The universities as always have their heads in the clouds. They will never be able to prevent plagiarism or students getting others to do the work for them unless the teachers themselves want to work harder. Written essays and home assignments need to be replaced with oral examinations that's what works.

Jim-Surrey
Sounds more like the professors have now become grading cops instead of intellectuals that get paid big bucks from the high tuition's the kids are raped with every year. Kids are in debt up to their eyeballs with student loans because of greed from the college's and universities before they even graduate. Cheating is not right but this is a harsh judgment that lasts too long from a professor who thinks a kid has cheated and who would know better than the professor/s when they probably did it themselves.
Just teach the kids and stop trying to be cops!!!!!!!!!!

William
About Time. It should be on their record forever. As an employer, I want a person that did the work in the correct manner using their own ideas and resolve. Not someone who took the easy way out and cheated. I bet if you go and look back at the records of most of these ponzi schemers, coporate losers and other failed business leaders you will find that they did have a questionable educational ethic. Maybe even our political leaders also. That maybe a good thing for everyone of them to disclose for the public prior to the next election. A novel concept; HONESTY!

Alli
Well I can't say I'm against it, something needs to be done. But lets hope a student isn't TOO smart lest they be wrongfully accused of cheating.
Professors with bigger than life egos.

Doug in BC
I'm all with the schools on this one.Schools are to expensive to operate to have their chairs filled with cheats.
And also,if cheating is allowed to go on unabated,the diplomas that the rest of the students earn are worthless because the schools lack credibility.
While I agree with a couple of things "Jim in Surrey" said in his psot,the notion that tuitions are to high because universities are "greedy",is laughable at best.Even as expensive as tuition is,the taxpayers still pay the lions share of the real cost of a university education for a Canadian student.If you want to whine about the cost,check out hhow much foreigh students have to cough up because they pay the full,and real cost of providing that education.Yet still,their parents think the value is high enough that they send them here.
I fully favour helping our students with the cost of educations that can be a benefit to our country.But I do not favour a "free ride" that is paid for by some poor guys tax dollars.Dollars that he needs to feed his family.Nor do I favour focring taxpayers to support cheaters,or people who make a life long career out of studying ancient philisophy,or about the love life of the tse-tse fly.
In the same way that those who cheat on our immigration system should be removed,and replaced with honest immigrants,students who cheat should also foreit their places in the school to honest students who just want to learn.People who pay taxes are less resentful about financing programs when they get good value for their tax dollars.They are right to be furious with those who abuse those dollars.

Heather
"Jim-Surrey
Sounds more like the professors have now become grading cops instead of intellectuals that get paid big bucks from the high tuition's the kids are raped with every year."

How dare you equate paying tuition to attend a school that you choose yourself (nobody forces you to go) to being raped !!!!!

It is true we have become grading cops because more than a few students today never attend class and then when the essay is due , simply download an essay from the internet , some so badly "covered" that they still have the imbedded links attached to them so we can easily found them in a few seconds by Googling . Another way is to use books but simplly write down everything directly from the book and thinking that by footnoting , this means it is not plagiarism . Students today care more about the mark not how they got the mark

Concerned Canadian
@Kevin and Jim

As a retired university prof., I can tell you that requiring oral exams for each student would be unworkable and educationally unsound.

It's true that students can demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways, and there is room for a mark based on oral participation in seminars. But when you are faced with 400 students in a first-year English course, giving each of them a 20 minute oral exam would be unmanageable. 8000 minutes is approximately 130 hours of oral exams.

Furthermore, we are often interested in students' ability to organize their thoughts on paper under pressure during exams, an educational goal worth fighting for, even if it means having to be a "cop" on occasion.

I agree that the financial fiascos of Enron and other collapses have been perpetrated by university trained grads- but look to the legislators who passed laws which deregulated the fiancial sector in the first place. And for that, thank Republican free-market ideology.

As for universities being "greedy," the fact is that student tuition payments only cover part of the costs of a university education. I don't want to see students burdened with debt either - consider that in Finland, university education is free for students whose grades are sufficient.

Perhaps we ought to consider increasing post-secondary transfer payments before either raising univeristy fees or cutting back on services. In any case, universities are not making profits from students. And professors certainly aren't getting rich.

Joe
I agree with this. Why work hard and educate yourself when you can go online and steal the answers somewhere? That's not educating yourself. It's a sad world when someone calls this heavyhanded and wrong. Where are the morals and work ethics. Just do a half ass job. Nobody cares. Nobody will notice. This is wrong. Cheating is wrong and should be punished.

Redman
This is not new nor is it strange. We have used various designations for cheating at McGill University for more than six years: A grade of "E" was used from what I recall. Getting an E on your transcript would exclude you from competition in law school admissions as it is, in a sense, a record of having been convicted of the highest academic crime with due process.

josh
its like saying they are f'd.

CC
I like it. Dishonesty is worse than failure.
Well done.

Randy
Having just finished earning my degree as an adult student (45 years old with a bunch of "20 somethings") I feel it's about time something like this was brought in. Those that play by the rules have nothing to fear however those students who cheat and try to get things the easy way deserve the stigma of an F-D. As far as I am concerned, two years is not nearly far enough. While most are great kids, too many young people (and really, people in general) figure that it's OK to cheat to get what they want and they need to be held accountable.

Jim-Surrey
To Heather:

I could have used worse language but as this is a public setting that is the word I chose.
I have seen so many of my friends kids try to cope with the debt load after graduating it is criminal.
Now we have a recession with many job losses, these kids are going to be sunk and have bad credit because of it when they have to pay their own way as their parents struggle to keep a house over the families head and food on the table.

To Concerned Canadian:

My experience with school showed that my class mates froze during orals so I agree with you there.
I was one of the lucky ones that breezed through it all with high marks. No offense to you but some of my professors heads where always in the clouds and not the lecture room/classroom.
And being nosey grads we found out what some were paid back then. Pretty good I think!!

Jay-TO
I give Harper and his Conservatives a FD-

david sawkiw[saskatchewan farmer]
The world is full of cheats.

I remember a guy in grade school who used to cheat from my exams. He went on to become a lawyer, I doubt he ever reformed his cheating ways all through his education. Bottom line here is I would NEVER hire him to help me if I were in trouble.

I am positive he was not the only one who never got caught....

DV88 in BC
What's next? FD-UR? Failure with dishonesty un-redeemable? Students will always find one form or another to cheat. It's time these overpaid profs need to make learning fun again.

Pip
Like others, I say "about time".

Maybe the action taken by Simon Fraser University will spread across the country, not only to other universities, but to high schools as well. It also speaks highly of staff that do the marking of papers that the papers are checked for academic dishonesty, a hard thing to do when, as one poster noted, there are 400 students in the class, and marking time is limited.

Academic dishonesty is no different to dishonesty in the workplace: it is a form of theft. At a university or high school, the theft is obtaining a graduation through dishonesty. So why shouldn't academic institutions take action to ensure their degrees or diplomas actually mean something? Thieves in the workplace are fired and may also face criminal proceedings. Those who continue the practice end up in jail and/or unemployable. Those who cheat in academia deserve to be labelled.

So wake up, students of all ages: do your own work and succeed. If you choose to cheat and are caught out, there is no-one but yourself to blame. With luck, more and more cheats will be caught out every year from now on!

Adam, Montreal
Get em....wahahahaha

Redman
In response to those who are concerned that this is 'too harsh': No one who cheats has earned their degree. Consider it merciful that those convicted of cheating (which is equivalent to fraud) are even granted their degrees! If they are caught cheating once then it seems only reasonable to doubt the integrity of their other submissions. Graduates represent their schools and their conduct will always reflect their Alma Mater. I have absolutely no sympathy for someone who has decided to deface his or her own school by attempting to circumvent an evaluation system that applies to everyone else. Such people put themselves above the law, before their peers and they make it that much harder for honest students to succeed. I would like to know if you believe that anyone has a right to hurt others in order to promote their self-interest. If you support malicious and fraudulent self-promotion then you should be a shamed of yourself. If you agree with me and support the rule of law and equal opportunity then the necessity of this grading mechanism should be obvious.

At McGill I learned to respect my peers and I certainly would be unable to do so as a fraudster and a liar. Cheaters have no respect for their peers and maybe getting F'd by the school they've defaced will teach them humility or remove them from a community they have no right to be a part of.

MAL of TO
This is excellent. Now instead of simply throwing the bum out of the school we can keep them in class, embarrass them, cost them money for years in the job market and all the same time S-F gets to keep their tuition and more important the massive amount of their tuition paid by the governments. Because simply tossing the offender out would cost S-F big bucks.... and we wouldn't want to think THAT is the real reason for this grade.

msamour
I do agree with punishments that are well investigated. If a professor just throws an FD on a whim without proof or probable cause, you can bet your ass I would sue their pants off. At 40 thousand$ dollars + for a degree, They better have justification for putting that grade on a students' work, otherwise they open themselves up for defamation lawsuits. I know I would ruin the life of a professor the same way has he has ruined mine. I would scrutinize and review every bit of their work until they can be exposed for fraud in return. Think twice before putting such a grade, Sirs, and Mmes.

Gilles Lebrun
One worry : Has the "FD" mark been defined with clear parameters? Or is it left to the profs to decide? Is academic cheating or theft explained? If the student does not quote from the prof's over-priced "book" (that has to be purchased as part of the course), does it warrant "FD"?

The intentions are good but I suspect how "FD" will be applied!

brian
The first lesson that you must pass in life, is to be honest. And don't we need more honest people doing business in the world today? It's about time that honesty is addressed at the academic level.

student/teacher
A fabulous idea!! I hope that other schools will follow suit.

Bob
josh
its like saying they are f'd.

That may be true but if they bother to look in a mirror they will see who did it to them.

It is long overdue.

RPW
Sounds like the courts will be getting involved in grading at the invitation of SFU. Sounds Pandora Boxques. Bad move.
RPW

laurel
I don't think the new grade is 'heavy-handed.' Students in university are repeatedly warned about the consequences of cheating. Practically every course syllabus I got in university had a copy of the school policy on plagiarism attached. Students know the rules and if they decide to cheat anyway, they deserve severe consequences like an FD.

Mrs. Ogga
Where's Nelson Muntz when you need him?

Odd??
Just make sure you are 100% sure the student really did cheat. Perhaps reaching out and giving extra help to struggling students would be a better thing to come up with other than the idea of an FD. Educators have always liked the students better who learn easily as it makes their jobs easier. Not all teachers, but many of them. The students who struggle are often left behind and all they need is extra help; help from a teacher who understands some students just need more one-on-one time. Recognize students are unique in their own way and are capable of learning like any other. Perhaps this is why students turn to cheating. For those of you teachers who want it easy, and you know who you are, how about an FD for you?

schpid
Student debt? You mean paying for something? Why does everyone think you should get a free ride? We already have way too many professional students taking funds away from those who truly can use it. How many people have degrees out there and never wind up using them? Those assigned this grade should be then blacklisted from ANY public funds in the future. I don't want to pay taxes but that is a part of life. So is paying for higher education

Sask Jim
If they teach Law there, there will be FD's, and a lot of them.

bc grrl
my son is turning 8 this year.

i teach him that cheating (in any form) is wrong, either you try and you do or you try and you fail. take pride in the fact that you tried your hardest and learn from the mistakes made so that the next time he will not fail.
i teach him this in a world full of cheaters (so many parents let their kids cheat so that they have that "winning advantage") who win and prosper and it is so very tiring!

after reading this i have some faith that perhaps his post secondary education will have more value than it does today.
good work SFU.
you may have found a future student and a parent willing to pay!

Sam C
** Some students say it's unfair to carry that stigma into the working world.

"Two years loss of your life that is a bit too far," Olid Amid said. **

Gee, then DON'T CHEAT. Simple.

Lyne44
Great! I hope all educational institution follow suit. My child tells me often she notices fellow students cheat and it frustrates her. I tell her she has two choices, one to confront the cheater or two, ignore it completely. Either way, dishonesty will catch up to the cheaters eventually in other ways in life. Dishonesty NEVER wins. No pardon for cheating on exams.

Jeromy from Edmonton
The students who state that this practice is unfair due to the record remaining for up to two years need to evaluate why they are attending a post secondary institution to attain a degree.
Dishonest actions which are proved to be valid should be dealt immediately and harshly.

Kris
Fabulous, absolutely fabulous. There should be consequences.
"Some students say it's unfair to carry that stigma into the working world."
You don't like the idea of that "stigma", then don't do it. Simple, isn't it?

Michael
"It's time these overpaid profs need to make learning fun again"

So it's the instructors fault that students are dishonest? Obviously you got an "FD" in ethics class.

Dan
This punishment is weak in comparison to the past. Cheating/plagiarism are not acceptable professional actions. Such occurrences should result in immediate expulsion from a post secondary institution.