Online Plagiarist Sues University

raistphrk writes "The Reg reports that an English student at the University of Kent has sued the university after the university caught him ripping his papers off the Internet and kicked him out of the English program. I guess the stakes are now being raised for universities that use services to check for plagiarized papers."

Comments

Wow next thing you know...

[Coolmoe]

Burgulars will start suing homeowners for unsafe conditions. Oh wait ... nevermind

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Coolmoe]

Totally agreed most people think it's ok as long as I don't get busted. This guy deserves to lose the money as he already got his warnings during orientation and im sure that there is a clear outline in thier student handbook. So in my opinion he was already adequately warned.

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[Spudley]

It's a shame that there are so many in the world who refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

In that single sentence, you've summed up the root cause of almost everything wrong in today's society.

Re:Wow next thing you know...

[orangesquid]

But, if alcoholic seduction is rape, a girl is equally capable. It's true that rape by force is usually committed by males, and that rape by threat is often committed by males, but so-called date rape (which extends anywhere between knocking someone out and just taking a tipsy pal home with you) can fairly swing either way.

Believe me, if every male out there were impervious to alcohol (as most of them would like to believe), I would agree with you wholeheartedly, but, they're not. Perpetuating gender myths is holding society back... in terms of pound-for-pound strength, for example, guys and girls are about equally strong after the age of 25 or so (guys are lucky to have a short period in their young adult lives where their strength-to-weight ratio has a bit of a boost); guys are not mentally superior than girls (and can make mistakes and be misled just as easily); girls are not any less horny than guys (ever read The Sexual Life of Catherine M.?); girls can have ulterior motives and malicious intents in relationships just as often as guys; girls cheat just about as often as guys do; etc.

I mean, anybody who's smart won't spend time drinking around people they don't trust unless they are prepared to handle situations where they might be taken advantage of. In other words, don't go out drinking alone, go with friends; carry mace or pepper spray; keep a cell phone for emergency dialing; don't hang around bad parts of town late at night; don't take rides or candy from strangers; etc.

One of the problems with grey borders is that what people want to do, on a conscious level (and dealing with responsibility and physical and emotional health), is not the same as what they often want to do, on a subconscious level (=raw physical desire); this disparity grows with intoxication. In the USA, also, consent is implied unless explicitly denied. It is very, very easy for people to get out of hand with their passion and regret it later. I see it happen all too often. Fortunately, most of my friends are sane enough to take fairly good care of themselves, learn from their mistakes, and not be taken advantage of too much or too often, rather than filing rape charges against every other guy they date (like some girls are wont to do).

This person is a complete retard

[hattig]

I saw this a couple of days ago (at a site with more details).

How any person can get to university without realising that plaigarism is wrong is beyond me. How an *English* student can try to argue that he didn't know what the word meant (as per the student handbook that explained this) ...

This person is so stupid that he doesn't deserve a degree. I think how he got his A Levels (pre-university exams in England) is also rather doubtful as well.

Re:Gah. Stupid university.

[arthurs_sidekick]

Right, because as everybody knows, (a) the first time you cheat, it's immediately known (b) it's always a good idea to accuse somebody of something unethical on the merest suspicion, and finally, (c) all public universities make money off of their students through tuition, that undergraduate tuition is every university's biggest cash cow. Especially in the UK. Yeah, providing the infrastructure for an undergraduate, paying all of his instructors, etc., yeah, that's sure covered by (roughly) 1800 dollars. Why, I bet Mr. Nightingale probably sleeps naked on the pile of money he's sucked out of Michael Gunn.

OTOH, nice troll.

That isn't his complaint.

[khasim]

He admits he plagiarised. From the article:

"But they have taken all my money for three years and pulled me up the day before I finished. If they had pulled me up with my first essay at the beginning and warned me of the problems and consequences, it would be fair enough."

He's complaining that he spent 3 years and lots of money submitting stolen papers and that the University should have made him understand EARLIER that submitting stolen papers would REALLY get him kicked out of the program.

His case is that no one at the university REALLY explained to him that stealing papers was not acceptable and what the ACTUAL consequences would be. Or at least that they didn't do it early enough to satisfy him.

Whether he wins or loses that case, you have to ask yourself, would you want to HIRE him to work for you?

Re:Plagerism is business

[SatanicPuppy]

Writing a good term paper actually IS about taking constucted pieces and putting them together.

BUT YOU HAVE TO CITE YOUR SOURCES.

Any moron can take someone elses hard work and put their name on it, it involves no creativity, no intelligence, and no skill.

The only thing this guy has going for him is that he feels the world owes him a living for no work of his own. Frankly if you're too fucking lame to get an english degree, there is no place for you in college. (Before all the English Majors start whining, I should mention that I have an English BA, which I picked up accidentally while working on my CS BS, so I know what the hell I'm talking about.)