Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean,

I hope this letter finds you well. I, Asha Kasthuri Ravishanker, am writing this letter to you as a call for action to appeal a finding made by Professors Amany Elbehairy and Ruaa Al-Qazazi on Tuesday, May 18th. In this finding, another classmate (Abhishek Shastry) and I were found guilty for failure to abide by University Regulations.
Abhishek and myself were first notified of the investigation on Wednesday, May 5th indicating suspicion of departure from academic integrity, where we were accused of allegedly sharing information during an online test (worth 10 total and written through OnQ). We were provided with supposedly all documents that were to be used as evidence in this investigation. The documents contained the IP addresses and time of test completion as well as the notice of investigation form. As I clearly knew there was no departure from Academic Integrity in this matter, I was ready to provide explanations regarding the same IP address and time of test completion. We met with the professors separately on Zoom. In my meeting, I explained that I had been living in that house with my peer in order to study for exams, since my brother had moved out earlier that month. Because of this, we both would have the same public IP address, given that we are connected to the same house wifi. However, this was being used as evidence to prove we had written both our tests on the same computer. I have also attached the lease below, indicating my brother's name (Athi Menan Ravishanker) and the name of my peer (Abhishek Shastry). As for similar timing, we both studied together and had then gone into our separate individual rooms to write the test. I explained the truth and all the circumstances that lead to their suspicions of departure from Academic Integrity, but they seemed to have already had their minds made up. They repeatedly said that both tests were written on the same computer, which could not have been possible considering the times of the test written. This meeting was also witnessed by my support person (Marilyn Johnson) who can also confirm these events.
After explaining the situation, the professors continued to allude to our similar test answers, but still had not shown us our answers. I explained that because we had been studying together for the entirety of the course, taking notes together and memorizing the lecture content together for the written tests, of course we answered questions similarly. As well, the tests were based on specific content from 11 lectures, which made it easy to memorize the information and then recall it exactly on the test. However, without the contents of our answers, I was not able to show that all of the information included was directly derived from the lecture content. The professors also stated during the meeting that they had suspected cheating because we had received the same test mark; however, we did not receive these marks or the marks of another assignment, before the course was closed. After a couple of weeks, we both received an email indicating that a sanction of 50 on both tests was applied, as well as a Level II finding because our explanations were not 'convincing enough'.
I do not believe that this finding is reasonable nor ethical, as we were not provided all of the documentation pertinent to the finding and the professors did not enter the meeting with impartiality. In the initial notice of investigation, there is a section provided for any relevant documentation pertaining to the investigation. The only document provided, as stated in the notice is A PDF file tracking IP addresses during exam's writing time. I would also like to note that while the tests were referred to as an exam in this notice, throughout the entire term, the item was referred to as a test, not a formal exam. No other evidence is provided in this serious accusation. This, in my opinion, does not follow procedural fairness. I have never been accused of or engaged in any sort of academic departure within my entire academic career, and I find it odd that a Level II finding was made with such little evidence provided, especially considering the serious consequences a Level II finding has on one's future. I would also like to include that at the time of writing the tests, I had calculated that regardless of the marks received, I would achieve a course mark that I was happy with; I had no reason or motive to even consider cheating. Even within our meeting, the professors stated that they did not expect academic dishonesty to have occurred because of my otherwise excellent performance in the course. I have also provided my course notes as supporting evidence, which contains the contents of the 11 lectures being tested in Tests 3A and 3B.
I implore you to reconsider this finding as there is very circumstantial evidence, and a finding this severe can have a devastating impact on our lives for the next 10 years. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Kasthuri Ravishanker
20126483