Written by: Michelle Cormier
Published: 11/20/2008

Texas Professor Fired For Vigilante Justice on Plagiarism

Loye Young, adjunct professor at Texas A&M International University, utilized unconventional measures to combat plagiarism in the classroom. Young warned students that he would publicly fail and humiliate anyone caught lying, cheating, or stealing. “If students don’t know that they will be prosecuted, this will not stop,” he said. “You need to have a deterrent, and it needs to be public.”

When he caught six students cheating in his management information systems course, Young published a story about the students on his online course blog – detailing the identification of each student, that he planned to report them to university officials and that each would receive a failing grade in the course.

In response to these actions, university administrators promptly fired Young for violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which bars the release of students’ educational records without their permission. The university also referred the plagiarism cases to an honor council for deliberation on the validity of his claims.

According to Inside Higher Ed, several faculty members at the university were dismayed by the administration’s stance viewing plagiarism as an issue that required more due process for students and less support for professors.

Others felt that Young crossed a line when he publicly announced the names of students. Robert Haynes, an associate professor of English and president of the Faculty Senate, stated that Young was “not adequately prepared to deal with the challenge of students he perceived as cheating.” Haynes argued that it is important that professors not “be subject to second guessing for ordinary decisions,” including grades, but that it is also important that students understand their rights to privacy and appeal.

Related Links:

Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/13/tamiu