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professorthrowaway35 karma

As a tenured, full professor, I imagine that kids get away with this most of the time. But I'll tell you what will happen when I catch someone (usually twice per term). I will confront the student with my suspicions. There will be another professor in my office at the time (different gender, same rank, perhaps different department). I will ask to record the conversation. And yes, if a student is usually stupid, dull, uninventive, I will tell him or her that she was not smart enough or inventive enough or original enough or diligent enough to write a decent paper. I do not care if that is insulting and I do not care how that makes the student feel.

If the student wants to leave, fine. That's his or her right. But the discussion is over and we are going to have a hearing in the senate. No deal will be permitted. I will argue for permanent expulsion for cheating. But say the student does not follow your advice and sticks around for a while.

If the student confesses, I will fail the student for my course, and advise them to drop the rest of their classes for the term or go through a class by class, assignment by assignment investigation. If the student does not confess, drop his or her other courses, and sign the necessary paperwork (which will be kept on his or her transcript), then the matter will go before a committee of the faculty senate.

The academic standards people will then have a hearing which can result in the student's permanent expulsion from the university. It is the nuclear option and I have yet to see more than a handful of cases per year. Students are usually not that stupid. But if they are that stupid, and they lose their hearing (I have never seen a student win). A note will be added to the student's transcript indicating that the student was expelled for cheating.

In either case, the GPA is permanently tanked, and the student will never be able to attend any graduate program on planet earth. After it's all over, the faculty involved will have a drink.

Using your products can conceivably ruin someone's future.