Friend accused of plagarism - what can I do to help?
 

My friend recently has been accused of plagiarism by her professor, and I'm very upset (as is she obv.) considering I helped acquire text sources and proofread it many times.

All I've heard from her so far is that her professor has had it in for her and her friends the past few weeks, picking on them in class, making them go first, etc. and that he accused one paragraph of being plagiarized by saying the author's citation was wrong. She used ALA for citations, and for all but maybe 4-5 sentences of the 5-page paper, cited at the end of every sentence - for example - "Roosevelt introduction of the New Deal helped end the Great Depression (Huckaby 32). The only thing I can think of is that the professor is confused by editor being cited (the book is full of articles by different authors, but I was always told in my law classes that you list/cite the editor, not the specific authors of articles in the compilation).

I'm 99.9% sure no plagiarism went on, but I can't say I've ever heard of a case of a student beating these charges, but rather negotiating a zero on paper/zero in class/re-take, which is total BS if the student didn't cheat. I guess my question is, even with an Omsbud rep or drastic measures a lawyer, is it even possible to win over a professor's word here? I'll get more details as they come, but would like to hear anyone's experience, innocent or not, with the matter, since this is the first time I've known anyone personally in trouble with the matter.

Re: Friend accused of plagarism - what can I do to help?
 

If this is the case, you both really have nothing to worry about. I mean, if all she did was mistakenly cite one paragraph of the whole paper, what can they do? It won't be the biased teacher (if he does have it out for her) making the decision. It will be decided upon by some sort of ethics committee comprised of rational students. That is, even if it gets that far, which I don't think it would.

Re: Friend accused of plagarism - what can I do to help?
 

There is a big difference between citing sources wrong and plagiarizing. If she's innocent, then she needs to take action to protect herself, and dealing directly with the professor in this case is pointless.

My advice, as always, would be for her to immediately approach the Dept Head/Chair and file a grievance against her professor. This should include the false accusation and any other information about how the professor "had it in for her and her friends the past few weeks, picking on them in class, making them go first, etc." If he was really doing this, then this is entirely unethical.

If she decides to go this course and wants legal help, then she should approach the student legal services at your university. While this *sounds* extreme, it is actually the appropriate action for an innocent student. In fact, in most universities, the professor in question is REQUIRED to tell her about these options as soon as the accusation is made.