Wednesday 27 June 2012

Self-Censorship (Part 2)

Part 1 is over there. It may make this post less confusing if you haven't read it yet.

Anyways, there is a reason why I gave the story of me backing up into someone's car. We can acknowledge that it's a bad situation but in the end, everything is good. No one is hurt, my parents aren't sticking my head on a pole, and my Dad even managed to repair the rear bumper to the point where it's barely noticeable.

And look how worried and stressed Theresa got. Imagine how she'd react to something really bad.

Which leads us to the story how I was accused of plagiarism. And why I waited so long to make a post about it.

Suspicious...

This event took place back in April, slightly after all my papers were due. Anyone else remember what fun I had during that month? The sleepless nights, the constant work, the threat of final exams looming after the papers were handed in.

Anyways, one of those papers apparently resembled the paper of another student. We both helped each other a great deal because there was one section where I had great difficulty in, but she found easy and vice versa. We helped one another out, she finished before I did and so I helped out a bit more by editing her paper.

But our papers resembled each other too much. And thus our prof had an appointment with us to discuss this strange occurance. This happened in around mid-May.

And before I continue, I want to mention, no, I did not plagiarize.


Nope.

Plagiarism is not to be taken lightly. Anything from getting zero on the assignment, to failing to course, to being suspending from the University or even being expelled from the University is possible. None of these options were acceptable to me because I was convinced I was innocent.

And I made sure to share these thoughts with my professor and I thought I did a fairly good job of it.

And then a few weeks later, I get an email from the Associate Dean. He wanted to have an appointment with me as well.

Guess I didn't do a good enough job convincing my Prof.

Finally, my appointment arrives, early June. I had made a mental checklist of everything I had said, and tried to make it more compelling. The Dean would get the final say in whether I was found guilty or not and I needed to prove my innocence.

However, during the meeting, it felt as if the Dean thought I was already guilty of plagiarism. You guys know what I'm talking about, that feeling you get when you're trying to argue with someone but you can tell that their mind is already set. The Dean also showed me a letter that my prof. had sent. Apparently she felt I deserved a zero on the essay.

Yeah, I guess I did a really crappy job of convincing her of my innocence. And the way things were looking, I failed to convince the Dean as well.

Pretty accurate as to how I felt.

As I left his office, I was told that I would be informed of his decision in another few weeks. And if I was found guilty, my last hope would be to file for an appeal. This was not looking good for me. And so I did the last thing I thought I could possibly do.

I wrote.

Well, more accurately, I typed up an email with all my old arguments, additional arguments, rebuttals to his arguments and sent it to him a few days after the appointment. We're talking over 700 words in less than an hour in one sitting. It's another one of the few talents that I possess, being able to write immense and articulate amounts in a short period of time.

Years of training (I thank my English and History teachers) have taught me how to write a lot with little time and prompt. To be honest, that's how most of blog posts get done. An idea pops into my head and boom, I have it all mentally written. All that needs to be done is to type it.

Within less than 24 hours, the dean replies to my email. I had been acquitted of all charges. This happened last week.

WHOO.

And now you can see why I didn't share this Theresa back in April or discuss it on my blog. 2 months of panicking and anxiety attacks. She would have been worrying during her exams, during her Pharmacy rotation, during her trip to China and everything in-between. I'm not saying I didn't worry but I hide my concerns well enough that no one caught on. Calm while under fire.

Some of you like Fang wondered why I'm sharing this now. It's simple, the issue was resolved, everything is good now, Theresa has no reason to panic and if she does, it's going to be greatly reduced.

And on that note, that means any major problem I encounter is not going to be shared until I've personally resolved it or it kills me. This can range medical to academic to personal problems. I simply can't afford to have Theresa going through any more anxiety attacks caused by me. I've caused enough over the time we've dated.

Oh and on that note, Darling, remember how you were concerned about me getting ticketed for parking in that spot? I did get a parking ticket, but I successfully talked my way out of it. Everything is good now. :)

(And yes this post is late. My internet died and I had to resort to stealing my neighbor's...)

32 comments:

  1. You've got a lot of problems in the past month. Well, good that everything is okay now.

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  2. I'm glad your dad was able to rapare the rear bumper.

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  3. Sounds rough, I've never been falsely accused of plagiarism luckily.

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  4. LOL at the parking ticket. Yeah, I hate when people already make up their minds, great job convincing them otherwise though, writing like that is a nice skill to have, the cat knows haha

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  5. Losing marks for writing something similar to so someone without actually plagiarising them would be horrible, glad to hear you were acquitted in the end.

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  6. congrats
    you got acquitted

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  7. Oh my goodness, being accused for plagiarising must have been the scariest thing ever.

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  8. Wow, close call there. Goes to show how much a well-written email can accomplish. Good for you!
    And the point wasn't so much that it's all done now so that she needn't worry anymore, but rather that she now knows you occasionally keep things from her, which may get her worried. But hey, you know her better than me, so I'll leave that up to you. ;D

    (Also the second picture is just wrong. The text is on top of the sign, instead of the other way around. Details, details...)

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  9. Plagarism is one of the scariest moments a person can go through in college- trust me I have been there. I too was accused of it- why do you ask- because apparently the word choice and the voice didnt sound enough like me. She had no paper that she was comparing it to nor any suggestion as to where I may have plagarized from just a hint that it didnt sound like me so she failed me on that paper...awesome.

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  10. I'm really glad everything worked out. I can't imagine how stressful that must have been. I've been in a similar situation before but it was resolved before it ever got as far as yours did.

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  11. Kudos to your writing prowess! Glad to hear that everything was dropped.

    I tend to resemble your gf more when stressed. When waiting on exam results & the interview, was a definite wreck. =P

    Btw, definitely hate when arguing with people who've already made up their mind.

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  12. Ugh! I'm so sorry you went through all that. You were under a ton of pressure then already, and then to have this lumped in on top of everything??? SO glad everything turned out ok in the end!

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  13. I'm glad they cleared you of plagiarism! That must have been a huge relief to say the least.

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  14. I believe it's pretty badass how you walked away from it. I also understand why you're posting it now, but.. don't you fear she'll wonder if you're hiding something like this from her again in the future? Causing a worry over whether or not there's a need to worry?

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  15. Thank goodness everything was resolved! And I love you the last bit about talking your way out of the parking ticket lol... sounds like you're one of those people who have a way with words ;-)

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  16. You didn't tell your professor that you and her were going to work together?

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  17. I guess if you were guilty you wouldn't of gone to so much trouble to prove your innocence or you are that clever and sneaky.

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  18. Is it plagiarism if, when you copy something, you leave out all the verbs?

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  19. I know the feeling. Not the plagiarism thing but the other thing, I mean, when you are given the chance to explain your side but unfortunately, you've been judge already even before you enter the room..

    why explain side to someone who already made up their mind.

    hmp!

    but anyway, guess you've proven your part already? :)

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  20. Glad to hear you got out of it, but its kind of spooky that your teacher and dean where unable to understand something told to them but understood it when it was writen down. That kind of mindset is terrible! I don't think they should be allowed to have there jobs. Only being able to accuretly proccess information through reading and not hearing is very mentally hampering!

    Plagiarism bothers me most cause with thousands of people writing about the same stuff, it is likely that some peoples stuff will turn out the same!

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  21. In my mind people take plagiarism so seriously and it seems like people who have done nothing wrong get blamed quite often and it isn't fair.

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  22. hang in there dawg, worrying doesnt help in any way, you just have to figure things out one by one and it'll be fine

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  23. interesting blog
    +followed


    have a great day! ^_^

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  24. So... all's well that ends well?

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  25. ah, that was very dramatic, glad everything ended good!

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  26. "I'm not saying I didn't worry but I hide my concerns well enough that no one caught on. Calm while under fire. "

    Oh yeah, that's me, too.
    Probably contributes to all kinds of wacky... but it's what I do.

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  27. Whew. I'm glad your letter to the dean helped convince him of the truth...not everyone could have done that even if innocent. You did well. I think your plan is very thoughtful, too :) When are you going to China?

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  28. Did you ever think of writing to be published? You have a great power - - I mean the ability to write down what you think.
    Regarding Theresa - - I hope that she overcomes her anxiety, at least to some degree just in case, God forbid she gets into a situation like the ones you get into.

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  29. Big congratulations on your exoneration! I know how relieved you must be.

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  30. Well its good it all worked out

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  31. My goodness! Mate, you are my new hero!!
    I wish i possessed the ability to write so much in a short space of time! Thank God you managed to convince them of your innocence. and good job o talking yourself out of a ticket! I'd be too scared too :/

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