Ryerson Student Won't Be Expelled Over Facebook Study Group

We reported on the case of Chris Avenir last week.

He's the student at Toronto's Ryerson University who faced expulsion over charges that a Facebook study group he administered facilitated cheating among the group's members.

Today, the decision of an appeal committee that heard Mr. Avenir's case last week was released.

Mr. Avenir will not be expelled. But while Ryerson declined to impose the most serious of academic misconduct penalties on Mr. Avener, it appears the 18 year-old engineering student wasn't entirely cleared, either.

The Engineering Faculty Appeals Committee's decision was reported by Ryerson's campus newspaper, The Eyeopener:

The Eyeopener) - A student who attracted international media attention when he was accused of academic misconduct on Facebook will not be expelled from Ryerson.
The school e-mailed its decision to first-year engineering student Chris Avenir Tuesday afternoon. He said he felt relieved when he read the decision. Avenir was targeted by Ryerson when he became the administrator for a Facebook group last semester, where members of the group could exchange class-related material.

But the student isn't off the hook. He will receive a zero for the assignment he is alleged to have cheated on, and he will have to attend an academic integrity tutorial before the end of the Fall 2008 term. As well, he will have a disciplinary notice placed on his record. The notice will be gone upon graduation, Avenir said.

But the door is still open for the school to become involved with the conduct of students when they're online.

"The argument that a student should be entitled to do whatever they want online is a false argument," said university spokesperson James Norrie, after learning of the school's decision through a reporter and not through the university. Avenir has not decided if he'll appeal the disciplinary notice.

The Toronto Star adds a bit of detail:

In a landmark ruling on Internet use, a disciplinary panel at Ryerson has ruled the first-year engineering student should not be drummed out for helping run a Facebook study group in chemistry last fall, and ordered his passing mark in the course restored.

In a seven-page ruling, the engineering faculty appeals committee found no proof the Facebook site actually led to cheating by any of its 147 users, even though it invited them to "post solutions" to homework that was worth 10 per cent of the final mark.

But the committee ruled that because the site provided "the potential for large-scale cheating," Avenir should get zero on that 10 per cent portion – which won't change his passing grade – and that he attend a workshop on academic integrity.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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Ryerson University Holds Facebook "Cheating" Hearing

In our post last Saturday, Facebook "Study Group" Leads to Ryerson "Cheating" Allegations, we reported on the case of Chris Avenir.

Mr. Avenir is an 18 year-old student at Toronto's Ryerson University who faces possible expulsion over charges of cheating that arose from his role as administrator of a chemistry "study group" on Facebook.

Yesterday, an academic misconduct hearing into the matter was conducted at Ryerson.

According to news reports, Mr. Avenir and his lawyer, John Adair, were in attendance at a ninety minute session before the University's Engineering Faculty Appeals Committee, in which he maintained his position that he, and the online study group, had done nothing wrong.

At issue is a request on the study group's page asking students to post their solutions to assigned chemistry problems. The group's main page stated, "If you request to join, please use the forms to discuss/post solutions to the chemistry assignments. Please input your solutions if they are not already posted.”

An instructor who had requested that students work independently filed the complaint, suspecting that students were indeed sharing their assignment solutions online.

As CityNews reports, many of Mr. Avenir's fellow students appear to be in his corner:

... Avenir's case is being watched extremely closely by other students and school administrators, as it promises to be precedent-setting. Those supporting the Ryerson student agree that talking about schoolwork on Facebook is no different from study groups that work on homework or cram for tests together outside class.

"It's the exact same thing. The only difference is it's online. You know, there isn't a massive bust-up of study groups in our library or anything like that," noted Ryerson's Student Union President Nora Loreto. "Actually in engineering, most engineering students will say that they really got through by being able to actually have help from their classmates, because it's a very collaborative program."

Avenir was quick to second those sentiments. "The only real reason that I think it's getting the attention that it is getting is because it is on Facebook," he insists. "It's a pretty new technology and that the school hasn't really adopted yet."

Other students were quick to support their peer.

"To be honest I'm kind of disappointed, "said Ryerson student Lyndsay Morrison. "Personally I don't see how it's any different from sitting around the library and having a discussion."

According to the Ryerson campus newspaper, The Eyeopener, however, some students disagree:

The president of the engineers' student group maintains Avenir committed academic misconduct for administrating a Facebook group in which students exchanged notes and answers.

"It seems unfair to everyone who would have worked on that assignment on their own," said Griffith d'Souza, president of the Ryerson Engineering Students' Society.

Commenting in the Toronto Star, Fred Stutzman, a "doctoral student of social networks," suggested the University's actions could have a chilling effect:

What Facebook has changed, said Fred Stutzman, a doctorate student of social networks at the University of North Carolina, is the open record it leaves, making it easier to gather evidence of academic dishonesty. “

Cheating is cheating and collaboration is collaboration. Because there’s a virtual environment, that doesn’t change the definition of any of these constructs that we’ve written into law or society,” Stutzman said from Chapel Hill, N.C.

“The problem here is that this is going to have a serious chilling effect on these very interesting opportunities for learning and collaboration that the virtual environment affords.”

A decision is required within five days. Mr. Avenir may appeal to the University's Senate if the outcome is unfavourable to him.

It is a fascinating debate. Let us hope that the answers ultimately achieved do not come at the expense of Mr. Avenir's academic career and future.

Mr. Avenir is right. His Facebook group's conduct was not demonstrably different in substance from the typical, accepted collaborations that have occurred in libraries and personal study groups since universities were invented.

Such collaborations now, quite naturally, also take place online. Because they can.

The "digital study hall" offers genuine benefit to all students; beyond that, it is likely to the specific advantage of students with certain disabilities and to those who are simply uncomfortable in group study environments.

The world changes.

Universities are supposed to be ahead of the curve.

Apparently, Ryerson is not.

It is no surprise that Mr. Avenir is shocked by these charges, and feels they came from left field.

They did.

Neither he, nor any of the other 146 students in the online chemisty study group have committed any offence other than modernity. They have no moral turpitude whatsoever.

Should Ryerson, in the future, wish to draft and adopt a specific policy in writing as to the do's and don'ts of online study collaboration, it of course may do so.

Absent such a policy, students should not be left guessing.

And they should not be singled out for breaking unwritten rules that have not previously been stated.

As the website says, Chris didn't cheat.

........

More reading:

• chrisdidntcheat.com
• Ryerson holds hearing on Facebook case - Toronto Star
• Ryerson Student Waits For Word - CityNews
• Ryerson student faces expulsion hearing over Facebook group - Canada.com
• Ryerson student cheered at expulsion hearing - Globe and Mail
• Student accused of cheating on Facebook appears before expulsion hearing - CBC

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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Facebook "Study Group" Leads to Ryerson "Cheating" Allegations

Yet another local Facebook controversy is attracting international attention.

Chris Avenir, an 18 year-old student at Toronto's Ryerson University faces possible expulsion for academic misconduct over his role as administrator of a chemistry "study group" on Facebook.

According to eCanadaNow, university officials allege the group contained "cheats, tips, and ways to get around the online testing methods that the University uses for its classes."

Ryerson spokesman James Norrie told CBC, "It is our job to protect academic integrity from any threat. And if that threat comes from new online tools, we have a responsibility as academics to understand the risks, to assess those risks and threats, and to educate people about how to avoid misconduct."

Students consider the administration's response to be "vast overkill."

A disciplinary hearing is scheduled for March 11, 2008.

....

UPDATE: March 12, 2007: Ryerson University Holds Facebook "Cheating" Hearing

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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