A little East of Paris: Consequences

On his way out the door after his last class, Gwain swung by the department office and asked if Dr. von Tersch was available.

“Nope, honey. He is up in Lawton today. Why, whatchya need?” the Department head’s secretary asked.

Glancing down at the desk go make sure he had her name correct “Well, Violet, I wanted to give him a heads-up about some disciplinary action I was going to take. I don’t want to catch him flat-footed.”

“I am sure that any decision you make, Professor McCambbell, will be fine with Dr von Tersch” Violet assured him.

Gwain sincerely doubted that, but he also knew that long-time secretaries had an intimate understanding of their boss’s personality and values. Well, he was a tenured professor back at Asphodel. He was comfortable making those kinds of decisions but thought it was a matter of courtesy to let people know when those decisions were likely to cause blow-back.

“Thank-you, Violet. I will proceed with confidence” Gwain assured her.

***

As Gwain was paying Diane the $75 he owed her, he asked “Can you recommend somebody to do some yard-work? Everything is so overgrown, and I don’t have any tools. I just need somebody to chop it all back and to keep the grass mowed.”

“My son is always looking for work” Diane told him. “That is something he can do.”

“What will he charge?” Gwain asked.

“I can’t say for sure. You will have to ask him. Do you want me to send him on over?” Diane asked.

“Yes. Please do” Gwain said. He wondered if he would be liable if the boy cut himself with power equipment while working on Gwain's yard. That was something he never had to worry about before.

Going into the bungalow, Gwain asked Jana how her day went. She informed him that it had gone swimmingly.

Then Jana asked how Gwain’s day had gone and she learned about his dilemma.

***

The next day Gwain’s classes were nearly full and most of the students were hostile.

Gwain put the University policy on plagiarism on the overhead with the pertinent sections highlighted.

“Those of you who received a “D” earned it by turning in material that you copied from sources that you did not properly attribute it to the source. The school policy on copying without attribution is crystal clear and I am being lenient by not giving you an “F” and turning you in for Departmental discipline.

“In accordance with school policy” Gwain said as he changed the overhead projection “I will allow you to re-write the paper and the two grades will be averaged and that is what will be used when I compute your final grade.”

“Those of you who received an “F” earned that grade because the entire paper was copied-and-pasted and then turned in as your own work. You will NOT be allowed to submit a second paper unless you meet with me during my office hours.”

Several students wanted to argue with him, but most of the students slammed shut their books, stuffed them in their backpacks and angrily departed the classroom. If they hurried, there was still a few days in which to transfer out of his class.

By the end of the class session, the room was only twenty-percent full. Benevolently looking over the students, Gwain said “Open your books to the story of Sisyphus…”

After his second class, Gwain swung by his “office” where three angry men and a woman were waiting for him.

“Come in” Gwain said.

“One at a time or together?” the tallest man challenged.

“Your choice” Gwain said, projecting a calm he did not feel.

 

As the four crowded into Gwain's office, Gwain directed them "Leave the door open."

 

"Why should we leave the door open. We have a right to privacy!" the tallest student said.

 

"With four of you showing up together, you have no expectation of privacy and I expect it will be easier for you to remain courteous with the door open.

“You can’t give us “F”s because you don’t have any proof” the tallest student said.

“Pre-law?” Gwain asked.

“What?” the tall student asked, taken by surprise.

“Are you majoring in pre-law?” Gwain asked.

“Maybe” the student admitted.

“This isn’t a criminal matter. I have no obligation to give you proof. You did it and you know you did it” Gwain said.

“I will let you submit another paper but it has to be 100% your own effort and no more than 10% of the text can be quote-attributable material-unquote and it must all be attributed in the style defined in the class syllabus” Gwain said. 

Studying their faces, Gwain could sense the power dynamics. The woman was clearly the tall-student's girl-friend. The two shorter men were “followers”. The tall student was the crafty one.

 

There was little doubt in Gwain's mind that the taller student would have no qualms in using the minions to "test" Gwain's resolve, kind of like the Soviets using POWs to clear mine fields.

“Since all four of you showed up together I assume you were all working together. If I detect any plagiarism or cheating in ANY ONE of your four papers, I will turn over ALL FOUR of your original papers along with my recommendations that the University policies be followed to the letter over to the Dr von Tersch” Gwain concluded.

 

The Large Language Model AI indicated that the same four exams had been turned in, verbatim, at several different colleges across the country and that most of the students had been affiliated with the Gamma-Gamma-Psi fraternity.

 

Gwain had not been surprised. Gamma-Gamma-Psi had a reputation for being a "party" frat and was jokingly nicknamed Gotta-Grab-Thigh by the more academically-minded fraternities.

***

On his way out of the building, Gwain swung by the office once again.

Violet, looking up from her keyboard gave him a wink. “I see you have been makin’ some waves.”

“Does von Tercsh need to talk with me?” Gwain asked.

“Nope. He figures you are doin’ what he hired you to do” Violet told him.

“I have the names of four students that I am curious about. I was wondering if you could give me a little bit of background on them?” Gwain said.

“Be happy to, if I know them” Violet said.