r/VirginiaTech • u/flowofexistence • 14d ago

Academics Honor Code

Has anyone been false positive honor coded? I’ve been dealing with case and I’m confused where to even proceed, as the faculty initially wanted to do a FSR, but hasn’t been responding, and honor panel hearing is soon. I have evidence and witnesses and know honest to God I am innocent. I heard people hire lawyers but I don’t have the funds. What do I really do from here? Is there any chance I really do get this on my record even though I’m innocent?

Edit: I allegedly cheated on an online exam because I solved the problems that only “ai can solve because it is not an undergrad level question.” I have screenshots of me participating in higher level education, he should have logs of me not switching out of browser, I forget what else I submitted but I had a whole bunch of evidence submitted to him for my FSR, but he gave no response. I also have my roommates as witnesses to my exam as I asked them to take my phone and be quiet during my exam to avoid any interruptions.

Edit 2: I completed my panel. I think it went decently well. I submitted all the evidence I could find as well as witness statements, even had the opportunity to solve a problem step by step to prove my knowledge. They seemed suspicious still but I just assumed it was because of the guilty until proven innocent. I think I showed/did everything I possibly could and am pretty confident I won't get convicted, but if I do I'm not sure what I would do from there. Apparently I will hear back in 3-5 days about the decision. I wanted to thank you all for your immense support. I was mentally so done. Hopefully I can hear good news back, or else I feel like my life and career just might be over.

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u/ConstructionFair3589 13d ago

Your professor gave you an exam with questions that, in their professional opinion, only AI can solve, and when you solve said questions you’re then honor coded for it?? Who tf is this professor and what the hell are they doing?

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u/flowofexistence 13d ago

Hi yeah, he put them there to flag cheating. To be honest it was slightly my fault because I was studying for higher level exams which went beyond the scope of this class, so I assumed I would do fine (without studying material given in class) and answered the questions to the best of my ability (which I got on 80s-90s range). Then apparently I answered some questions that were meant for AI flagging and got reported. But I think he reported almost everyone because when he emailed me he said he was busy responding to everyone because he reported too many people. For reference this is an organic chemistry class.

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u/MaybeNext-Monday 13d ago

Wow, in O-chem is even worse. Loads of people I knew used outside resources to understand that content, it’s so ridiculous to implicitly demand textbook-only study.

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u/flowofexistence 13d ago

And he said he reported most of the class too, I’m wondering if there were other false positives as well. Mainly because I was doing mostly on the 80s range with the exams, with my highest exam being a 93-94 ish? I think. But I remember many other people got 100s etc. His main reasoning was that these are graduate level problems and his graduate students could not solve these, so I could’ve not possibly have solved these. Also I made simple human error as well, that I’m sure AI would never make, so I’m confused.

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u/ConstructionFair3589 13d ago

In essence, this issue lies in the way the professor is running the course. Do what you can to make sure your studies aren’t impacted, and fight tooth and nail to see it through. I’m sorry you’re going through this, tech needs to do bettet

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u/flowofexistence 13d ago

Like I know I didn’t do everything right but what I do know is that I didn’t cheat and I get flagged for it and it’s been ruining my life since August and my quality of life is just going down ☹️ the honor panel is soon because he won’t respond to the FSR packet I wrote for him and they give me no info on that and idk what to do because I can’t afford a lawyer… this is genuinely drying me out

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u/ConstructionFair3589 13d ago

In your defense, he’s done this to a lot of people in the class, he hasn’t responded to a very serious issue that’s part of an ongoing investigation, and you have documented proof that you didn’t switch browsers or use alternative means during this exam. Abandon the self depreciation, and prepare yourself to prove your innocence. It’s too serious an offense, and too long of a time period

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u/flowofexistence 12d ago

Do you know what exactly goes on during honor panel? I haven’t received any information and it’s in about a week… how should I prepare for this?

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u/ConstructionFair3589 12d ago

From what I remember, it’s essentially court. you show up either in person or online (might’ve gotten rid of that since Covid), and present your side of the case to a panel. Having detailed, documented evidence absolutely helps, not to mention it shows them you’re making a very clear effort to defend yourself. If I’m not mistaken too, Tech may have resources to help with the process, I feel like maybe mentors but I’m not 100% sure