2008 Woodie Awards
OU student expelled for plagiarizing Wikipedia
By: U- WIRE
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: Campus
An Ohio University student was left to find her own way home from Greece after being found guilty of plagiarism on a study abroad program at sea.
Allison Routman, an Ohio University senior from Minnesota, along with a student from California Baptist University, were expelled from Semester at Sea, a program sponsored by the University of Virginia, for plagiarizing from Wikipedia.
"When we first arrived at the ship, they explained the honor code to everyone," Routman said. "But it is a very complex system, especially for those who don't go to U. Va. and are unfamiliar with how it works."
In Routman's Global Studies class, the first essay asked students to compare a film to lectures in class and port experiences. Routman wrote about the film Europa Europa. After watching the film, she used the Web site Wikipedia to verify historical terminology and an overview of the plot.
Routman's professor suspect-ed widespread plagiarism in the class and offered the entire class the opportunity to make a "conscientious retraction," an admission of plagiarism that results in a zero on the assignment.
"Having not thought that I had done anything wrong, it naturally did not occur to me to make a statement admitting to something I didn't believe I had done," Routman said.
Routman was notified shortly afterward that she was suspected of violating the honor code. According to Routman, the three phrases she had taken verbatim were "when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa"; "German speaking minority outside of Germany"; and "who had just been released from a concentration camp."
Virginia's student-run honor code has been in effect for over 200 years. The honor code requires that students pledge not to lie, cheat or steal, knowing that being found guilty once will lead to expulsion.
At Virginia, the process is administered entirely by students, but a panel of professors gave Routman her guilty verdict."I did not have a jury of my peers," Routman said. "I did not have an adviser or lawyer to help me through this process."
A student member of the honor committee who was participating in the program helped Routman put together an appeal that "precisely addressed the issue of an unfair trial because due process was not followed properly," Routman said.
Routman's appeal was denied, and she was dismissed.
Allison Routman, an Ohio University senior from Minnesota, along with a student from California Baptist University, were expelled from Semester at Sea, a program sponsored by the University of Virginia, for plagiarizing from Wikipedia.
"When we first arrived at the ship, they explained the honor code to everyone," Routman said. "But it is a very complex system, especially for those who don't go to U. Va. and are unfamiliar with how it works."
In Routman's Global Studies class, the first essay asked students to compare a film to lectures in class and port experiences. Routman wrote about the film Europa Europa. After watching the film, she used the Web site Wikipedia to verify historical terminology and an overview of the plot.
Routman's professor suspect-ed widespread plagiarism in the class and offered the entire class the opportunity to make a "conscientious retraction," an admission of plagiarism that results in a zero on the assignment.
"Having not thought that I had done anything wrong, it naturally did not occur to me to make a statement admitting to something I didn't believe I had done," Routman said.
Routman was notified shortly afterward that she was suspected of violating the honor code. According to Routman, the three phrases she had taken verbatim were "when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa"; "German speaking minority outside of Germany"; and "who had just been released from a concentration camp."
Virginia's student-run honor code has been in effect for over 200 years. The honor code requires that students pledge not to lie, cheat or steal, knowing that being found guilty once will lead to expulsion.
At Virginia, the process is administered entirely by students, but a panel of professors gave Routman her guilty verdict."I did not have a jury of my peers," Routman said. "I did not have an adviser or lawyer to help me through this process."
A student member of the honor committee who was participating in the program helped Routman put together an appeal that "precisely addressed the issue of an unfair trial because due process was not followed properly," Routman said.
Routman's appeal was denied, and she was dismissed.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 5
Nick
posted 8/25/08 @ 4:22 PM EST
This is absurd. Has anyone heard of fair use? Three phrases from a website do not constitute either plagiarism or copyright violation. I suggest someone checks out the books of the professors who made this kangaroo court judgment and see how many six word phrases they use without attribution. (Continued…)
Richard Kania
posted 9/05/08 @ 9:39 AM EST
Fair use; maybe? Two key questions are not answered in this story:
#1, did she cite the Wikepedia article as a source?
#2, did she put those phrases in quotations?
If the answer to either or both is "no" then it is plagarism. (Continued…)
Romie F. Littrell
posted 9/06/08 @ 2:32 AM EST
As a reliable and useful source of information, news media articles rarely qualify. And this one doesn't.
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