1. The second member of the hearing panel who voted to acquit Zane was not convinced the available evidence demonstrated "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Zane was guilty of the charge filed against him. Was that an appropriate justification for voting to acquit Zane? Defend your answer

2. Describe how an allegation of academic misconduct similar to the charge filed against Zane Corbin would be dealt with at your institution. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the system in place at your institution to address such manners.

Zane Corbin, Accounting Major 12:55 P.M., Friday, April 30 "The final undergraduate award today is the William J. Upchurch Medal, which is given annually to the outstanding senior in the Hopkins College of Business, * Nominations are made by Hopkins faculty members and the criteria considered in choosing the winner include overall GPA. GPA in business courses, and involvement in student organizations." Dean Rodney Brown paused to build suspense among the nearly 500 faculty members, students, parents, and donors present at the annual spring awards luncheon being held in the Student Union Ballroom of the large state university. "I know that every year the Undergraduate Awards Committee struggles to choose the winner of the Upchurch Medal because there are so many deserving recipients. Professor John Goggans of the Finance Department chaired that committee this year. Let's give him a round of applause," Brown said as he motioned for Goggans to stand. A few moments later, Brown continued. "Drum roll, please. This year's winner of the William J. Upchurch Medal-which is accompanied by a $1,000 check-is. Michael Zane Corbin, an accounting major." As Zane Corbin wound his way through the maze of tables set up in the ballroom to receive his award and check, Dean Brown read Zane's credentials for the award, including the five student organizations of which he was a member. The final organization listed by Dean Brown was Beta Alpha Psi, the College of Business's honors organization for accounting majors. Ann Herrick, an accounting professor, immediately stopped clapping. Why? Because Professor Herrick served as the faculty advisor of the college's Beta Alpha Psi chapter and she knew that Zane Corbin was not a member of that organization 1:20 P.M., Friday, April 30 Ann Herrick went to John Goggans' office following the awards luncheon to discuss Zane Corbin's alleged membership in Beta Alpha Psi. "There it is, Ann, 'Beta Alpha Psi, the final line under the heading "Memberships," Goggans said as he pointed to Zane's vita-students nominated for the Upchurch Medal were asked to submit a vita to the Undergraduate Awards Committee. "John, I can assure you Zane Corbin is not and has never been a member of Beta Alpha Psi." "How could this happen? Goggans asked. "Well, it isn't too difficult to figure out what happened, at least for me. The kid was obviously trying to increase his chances of winning the Upchurch Medal." Goggans, the former chairman of the Finance Department, was mildly offended by Herrick's condescending tone. "By the way, I made several phone calls this afternoon." Herrick continued "Everything else appears to check out on Zane's vita." "So, we are only dealing with this one minor item?" "One minor item?" Herrick mimicked Goggans' matter-of-fact tone. "To me, it's not minor. In the accounting profession, we have a code of ethics that has as its core something known as integrity." "Ann, I can assure you that the accounting profession doesn't have a patent on ethics or morality within the business world," Goggans snapped. "Are you suggesting we just ignore this?" Herrick responded in kind. Goggans took off his reading glasses and tossed them on his cluttered desktop. He was upset with himself for allowing his emotions to get the better of him. After taking a deep breath he responded calmly. "No, I am not... suggesting that at all. I probably used the term minor because it's the final item on his vita and the shortest entry." "Well, what are we going to do about it?" Unlike Goggans, Herrick had not yet regained control of her emotions. "I suggest that we first cool off. And then we can talk our way through this." Goggans conciliatory tone had a soothing effect on Herrick as she visibly relaxed. "Ann, it has been four weeks since my committee met and made the decisions on the student awards, including the Upchurch Medal. I will do my best to recall exactly how we settled on Zane as the winner of that award. Is that a reasonable starting point?" "Yes," Herrick replied cordially and then added, "I believe there are two issues here. The first is whether his reported Beta Alpha Psi membership influenced your committee's decision. The second is addressing the issue of his dishonesty." "I agree. Totally:" Goggans leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling of his office for several moments. "Let's see. Ten of the twelve students who were nominated for the Upchurch Medal submitted a vita for my committee to consider. I gave everyone on the committee a copy of those vitas and asked that they review them before we met as a group Then, during our meeting, I think we ... uh...we ... uh... decided first to pare down the nominees to a set of five finalists." Goggans scratched his forehead as he struggled to recall the Upchurch Medal deliberations. "Yes, I remember now. That's exactly what we did. And then, we discussed each of the five finalists before we voted." "Seems like a reasonable process." Herrick interjected. 'Each member of the committee voted for his or her first second, and third choice. After that first round of voting, we wound up with a tie between Zane Corbin and a young lady by the name of "Goggans scratched his forehead again as he struggled to recall the given student's name. "Oh yes, her name is Alisha Buchanan. She is a marketing major." Goggans hesitated as he realized what he was about to tell Herrick would make her even more convinced Zane Corbin's apparent dishonesty was a serious matter. "So, we narrowed our choice down to those two students. The six of us voted again and we wound up with a three to three tie. To break the tie, as chairman, I excused myself and asked the five committee members to vote one final time. In fact, I had voted for Alisha. Anyway, the final vote was three to two in Zane's favor." Goggans wearily shook his head. "So, in looking back, it is possible that one line item on Zane's vita, namely, the bogus Beta Alpha Psi membership, may have swayed the committee's decision "Hmm... I see." Herrick resisted the temptation to verbally congratulate herself for exposing what now appeared to be a potential scandal for the Hopkins College of Business "In my opinion, we should meet with Marilyn to discuss this matter and decide how to proceed." Associate Dean Marilyn McGrew chaired the Academic Misconduct Council of the Hopkins College of Business Goggans nodded his head in agreement as he resisted the urge to make some sarcastic remark to his thoroughly self-righteous colleague. "Well, we only have two weeks left in the semester, including finals week, which means we have to move rapidly on this. I will call Marilyn's secretary and try to arrange a meeting with her before she leaves today. Will you be available later this afternoon?" "Sure. Just text me when you have the meeting set up." "Ann," Goggans said as Herrick got up to leave his office. "Do you know Zane Corbin? Have you had him in class or interacted with him in any way?" Goggans suspected that Herrick was waging a personal vendetta against Zane given the zeal with which she was pursuing the matter at hand. "No When I saw him earlier today, he looked familiar. But I have never had him in any of my courses and certainly never met him." After Herrick stepped to the door of Goggans' office. she turned back toward him. "Why do you ask? "Oh, I was just wondering." Goggans replied nervously. Given the tone of Herrick's voice, there was no doubt in Goggans' mind that she realized what had prompted his question. 5:05 P.M., Friday, April 30 "Is there no other possible explanation for this? Could it just be some type of misun- derstanding?" Dean McGrew asked John Goggans and Ann Herrick as she stared at the copy of Zane Corbin's vita that Goggans had given her. McGrew had agreed to meet with the two faculty members at 5p.m. on Friday afternoon, but for no more than ten minutes because she had travel plans that evening. "Marilyn, I don't know how you could characterize it as a misunderstanding." Herrick responded emphatically. "We send an email to potential Beta Alpha Psi members at the beginning of each fall semester. Attached to that email is a list of the requirements for becoming a member, including classification as a junior and a 3.0 GPA. Pledges also have to attend the pledge class orientation meeting, five professional meetings, and participate in one community service event Students who satisfy those requirements and pay their dues are initiated into Beta Alpha Psi during the final meeting of the spring semester." "Well, this is troubling, but let's remember," McGrew said as she purposefully foxed her gaze on Ann Herrick, "Zane is innocent until proven guilty" Herrick didn't finch as the two women briefly stared at each other. "After I return on Sunday evening. I will notify him by email that he is going to be charged with academic misconduct. Since we have very little time to deal with this matter, I will arrange a meeting early next week with him. I would like each of you to attend that meeting. If he will admit to the misconduct allegation, we may be able to resolve this matter quickly "And if he doesn't?" Herrick asked. "In that case, I will be forced to arrange a hearing. As mandated by our bylaws, I will randomly select two faculty members and three students from the Academic Misconduct Council. * Then the matter, including the potential sanctions to impose on Zane, will be in the hands of those five individuals." As an afterthought, McGrew added, "Of course, the panel would not have the authority to rescind the Upchurch Medal. If necessary, John, you and I can deal with that issue at the appropriate time." 3:00 P.M., Tuesday, May 4 The ad hoc meeting involving Zane Corbin, Professor John Goggans, Professor Ann Herrick, and Associate Dean Marilyn McGrew was held on Tuesday afternoon, four days after Zane had been announced as the winner of the Upchurch Medal. After introducing everyone present and providing a brief summary of the purpose of the meeting, McGrew invited Zane to comment on the matter at hand. "Dean McGrew, this was just an honest mistake. I can't understand why you are making such a big deal of this." "Quite frankly, Zane, this doesn't have the trappings of an honest mistake. It appears to be an intentional effort on your part to embellish your vita to improve your chances of winning the Upchurch Medal." McGrew paused momentarily before adding, "And the $1.000 check accompanying the award." "Wait a minute, wait a minute. I attended the orientation session for pledges during the fall semester of my junior year, I went to two career fairs each of the past two years, and most importantly, I was on the email distribution list for Beta Alpha Psi the past two years. In fact, before every meeting, I received an email from the chapter notifying me of the time, location, and the speaker. You can see why I thought I was a member because I was on that distribution list. I know it wasn't right to not attend the regular meetings, but, quite honestly, all I wanted to do was have the Beta Alpha Psi membership on my vita." Zane, whose face was flushed, stopped to catch his breath and muster sufficient courage to continue. So, yes, I realized I wasn't really participating in the organization, but, hey, look at my vita. I had four other organizations that were eating up a lot of my time. In two of those organizations, 1 - held leadership positions. So, I just decided to blow off Beta Alpha Psi after i thought that I had somehow become a member." "Ann, do you have- Before Dean McGrew could finish her question directed at Ann Herrick, Zane interrupted her. "I mean, you could charge me with being a lousy member of Beta Alpha Psi but that doesn't involve dishonesty." When it was apparent that Zane was finished, McGrew again addressed Ann Herrick. "Ann, do you have an attendance sheet for the orientation meeting Zane attended? "No. We don't take attendance at the orientation meetings," Herrick replied. "What about the career fairs? Do you take attendance at those ?" "No, because we don't consider them to be official events. All accounting majors are invited to the career fairs." "And what about the issue of Zane being on Beta Alpha Psi's email distribution list the past two years?" McGrew continued quizzing Herrick. "What we do is develop a roster of everyone who is eligible to apply for membership in Beta Alpha Psi at the beginning of each fall semester. That roster becomes the email distribution list for potential pledges." Herrick explained. "I did check that roster and Zane's name was on it the past two years. So, he is correct in that regard. He would have been notified in advance of every Beta Alpha Psi meeting since he became a junior." "See, like I said, I just assumed for the past two years I was a member because I received those regular emails." The stress in Zane's voice was becoming more elevated with each passing minute "But you received an email at the beginning of each fall semester that explained in detail the requirements for membership in Beta Alpha Psi."Herrick's accusatory tone made Zane even more stressed. "And if you attended the orientation meeting as a junior, you sat through a PowerPoint presentation that listed those requirements as well." When Zane failed to reply, McGrew prompted him. "Well, Zane. How do you respond to what Professor Herrick just said?" Zane lowered his head and stared at the floor for several moments. "don't know. I mean, I guess I'm one of those students who doesn't pay a lot of attention to administrative details." Zane finally raised his head and made eye contact with McGrew. I'm sure I received the emails Professor Herrick referred to, and I know I sat through the orientation session during the fall semester of my junior year. But I probably didn't read. I mean, I'm sure I didn't read the full text of the emails or pay attention during the orientation meeting. Given how busy I was over the past two years, I often took homework to work on during those types of meetings." Professor Goggans finally spoke for the first time. "Zane, you said a few moments ago that you decided to blow off Beta Alpha Psi after I thought that I had somehow become a member.' To me, that statement suggests you may have believed you were a member of Beta Alpha Psi but that you had been granted membership in the organization by mistake Is that the case? Did you believe you had been admitted to Beta Alpha Psi by mistake?" Zane's face betrayed that he was rattled by Goggans' questions. He coughed and twice cleared his throat, ostensibly to give himself additional time to respond. After an extended silence, he meekly replied, "No." Dean McGrew and the two professors glanced at each other after Zane's less than convincing response. McGrew then addressed Zane. "At this point, my only option is to move forward with filing an allegation of academic dishonesty against you. If you will send me your schedule for the next two weeks, I will try to find a time slot for a hearing before a panel of the Academic Misconduct Council that will be least disruptive for you." 2:30 P.M., Thursday, May 13 On Thursday afternoon of finals week, Zane Corbin appeared before the five-person academic misconduct panel. In addition to Zane, the panel heard from Professor Herrick and Professor Goggans. The panel spent 45 minutes listening to the testimony of those three individuals and questioning them. The panel then dissected and debated the case for more than one hour. Multiple votes were taken during that time, each ending with two votes in favor of finding Zane guilty of misconduct, two votes in favor of acquitting him, and one abstention. After the final vote, the chairperson dismissed the panel. He then called Dean McGrew and informed her that the five members had been hopelessly deadlocked. As a result of the panel's failure to reach a decision, McGrew dismissed the academic misconduct charge filed against Zane Corbin Because the semester was effectively over, McGrew decided it was not feasible to ask the Undergraduate Awards Committee to reconsider its decision to award the Upchurch Medal to Zane Corbin. Instead, she called John Goggans to discuss that issue. After a brief conversation, McGrew unilaterally decided no further action would be taken in the case, meaning that Zane would retain the Upchurch Medal and the accompanying $1,000 stipend. McGrew told Goggans she would personally inform Ann Herrick of her decision, which she did--two weeks later