Going to start this diatribe by saying I 100% DID NOT CHEAT. I DID NOT USE ANY AI.
So I was accused in November of cheating on a paper. My prof said my text seemed "AI-influenced." She made a report to COAM.
I reached out to COAM bc I was absolutely terrified (first semester freshman falsely accused). They said I'll get an I as a grade and sent me a link explaining the process, but said I'd get something from them officially soon and they were very backed up.
One month later in December I reached out again to COAM. I need a chance to prove my innocence before I forget the content or every detail starts to get fuzzy in my mind. But most of all, this stress is keeping me up at night. I have major anxiety over this.
I got a really snarky response saying they're backed up, but if I'm truly innocent then I have nothing to worry about. Well yes, I AM TRULY INNOCENT. But innocent people get accused of wrong doing all the time and are found guilty. And the university talks all about mental health - well this is ruining my mental health and no one seems to care.
So then final grades come out and I didn't get an I in the class. I got a B. The fact that I got an actual grade - does this mean COAM threw out the case?
Honestly I can see how someone who was falsely accused and maybe even found guilty wrongly could hurt themselves or worse. The stress is unbelievable. And I hate that it would ever come to that for universities to make a change. Yes, cheating is an issue that needs to be solved. But accusing someone with no proof and then making them wait in purgatory without any chance to defend themselves or clear their name, it's just awful. To be clear, I would never. But I have the empathy and awareness to see how that could happen. Students do not deserve the stress of false accusations without a timely solution.
In my own case, I'm just hoping that because I actually received a grade and never heard anything official from COAM, this whole thing has just gone away. But on behalf of everyone else who has ever been or will be falsely accused, there has to be a better way that does not obliterate peace of mind.
COAM has always been a joke. It's always been particularly bad with CSE courses as well. With AI now, I can't imagine how much worse it's gotten, since it's easier to cheat, can be much harder to detect, etc.
I got COAMed and went to "trial" on zoom call for a CSE course, and there were ZERO CSE students/professors on the call other than the one who 'accused' me. None of them had any programming experience whatsoever except one guy who was a ChemE major 10 years ago and had done some Matlab.
Found guilty with zero recourse, I came away from the "trial" feeling as though I never had a chance even going into zoom call. I refuted every point that was brought up; no one gave a shit.
Completely performative department, and a full waste of time for all parties involved.
I’m a grad and never got COAMed. Seems like threatening to sue them is the only way to get them to do their jobs properly?
No, COAM didn’t throw out your case. They are backed up but they’ll get to it. Professors are instructed to grade as if you’re innocent. When COAM gets to your case, you’ll be given a chance to respond to the allegations. Then you will receive a decision. I hope by letting you know about the process, it gives you some peace of mind. You will have a chance to respond, and if the professor did not submit any credible proof, the case will be dismissed. Think of COAM as an outside, independent adjudicator. They’re not there to punish you. They’re there to be an extra set of eyes to look at your assignment.
But COAM told OP they’d get an I. And that wasn’t done. How’s that consistent with giving OP a grade?
Yes this is the big discrepancy that makes me hopeful that maybe it was dismissed or withdrawn or something.
Unfortunately not, I also got falsely accused my first semester freshman year, was told the same, and then got the grade. Also, my "hearing" wasn't until April, as a heads up that they take far too long.
When an incomplete is entered for a grade, the instructor has to provide what grade the student would receive if the student does not fulfill the requirements of the incomplete and/or the incomplete grade lapses. If the student has an open COAM case, the instructor is required to enter an incomplete along with the grade that the student would have received. If the COAM case is not resolved before the incomplete lapse deadline (which now is absolutely going to happen because yes COAM is truly that backed up because the number of students cheating and violating course policies has gone up exponentially), then the alternate grade entered will show on the students' transcript. If after the COAM case is resolved there are grade sanctions that would result in a change to the grade, the instructor will be required to change the grade via the Registrar.
This is not specific to your case and is how all COAM cases are handled.
ETA: If the "I" did not appear on the transcript, then this is because the instructor failed to enter the incomplete (for whatever reason) and has nothing to do with the status/veracity of the COAM case.
If you're concerned about forgetting information related to this incident, then you should write it all down and compile as much evidence as you can. This is what you'll need to do anyway if you opt to dispute the charges, so get ahead of it now.
Probably just the professor forgot to give the I. They can change the grade later anyway. With the way COAM has been backed up, it’s not unusual to get a response 4-5 months later.
The professor can enter either the official final grade or an I it will be adjusted once the review her case
This is off topic, but how about if you were reported nearly a year and a half ago would it be safe to assume it could have been thrown out since you haven’t heard anything since?
Hopefully you’ve saved the paper, and your revision history is your friend. They’ll want to see if suddenly giant chunks of text appears with each revision You’ll want to be able to walk them through your writing process as well. How do you prep your writing process? Look through your paper occasionally so you remember the content as well, and be able to speak at least somewhat intelligently about what you wrote.
Even if you’re found in violation, if it’s your first offense, the sanctions are really not as bad as you think they might be. Other universities are far worse.
AI use has really placed a burden on the system, unfortunately, and they do catch so much.
I wish you luck with this. I know it takes such a toll.
Professors need to do a better job at using proper discretion when it comes to reporting people to COAM. I'm not sure how many of them realize the mental health toll that it has on students, especially when innocent.
They do not have discretion; they are required to report upon first suspicion.
Anyone who can write a grammatically correct sentence could be a suspect. The penalty of a false accusation is too harsh for simple suspicion with zero proof.
I'm not arguing one point or the other, I'm stating a fact.
There is no penalty for an accusation. There is an uncomfortable waiting period, true. But that is not a penalty. Dealing with discomfort is an important life skill.
Similar thing happened to me except I had no idea it was coming. Turned in my final essay for one of those boring asynchronous GE classes without a thought, saw my final class grades on the OSU app, never even bothered to look at canvas.
Flash forward like EIGHT months I get a COAM notice and was so confused. Hardly even remembered taking that class. I didn’t cheat so ofc I went to trial thinking they’d be reasonable if I could explain the work. Professor admitted in the hearing that my essay seemed “less” AI generated than most he reported, but “wanted to err on the side of caution.” Explained the essay I wrote nearly a year ago the best I could but the committee didn’t care. Asked me insanely specific questions that I couldn’t answer given the amount of time that passed. Wanted revision history but I wrote it using Word and saved it locally so there was no cloud backup of revisions. Hearing felt more like flaming session than a fair investigation
Found guilty. Whatever. Retook the class and purposely wrote sloppily, grammatically incorrect essays that raised no objections. The only lesson I learned was to put hardly any effort into those kind of classes, they give everyone an A unless they think you wrote too “formal” apparently lol
So much unnecessary stress, time, and effort. Glad to be done with OSU
Do you happen to remember if you got a letter grade that was later changed to an I?
Sorry that happened to you. I’m scared I won’t remember all the details in this paper from this random GE class the more time that passes.
And all the COAM posts I’ve read say the punishment is less if you say you’re guilty, but I’m actually not guilty and I know myself well enough to know I’ll be too nervous during a hearing to even think straight and properly defend myself. I’m screwed no matter what.
I searched online “what to do if falsely accused of cheating at osu” and there’s a bunch of lawyers in Columbus who say they’ll represent you during your hearing. As if I could ever afford that, it’s insane to even think that a college student could afford to hire a lawyer or would even need one
Yeah I got a normal letter grade put in. After the hearing they retroactively changed it to an E.
Since you know you’ve been reported I’d recommend taking detailed notes of your thought process on every little thing you can. But quite honestly I’ve heard (and seen the data, available somewhere on the OSU website) it’s extremely rare for them to issue not guilty verdicts.
I think the whole plead guilty for a lesser punishment thing is for lower level assignments. If it’s a large paper (in my case it was the “final”), I think they’ll give you a zero regardless of if you plead guilty or not.
If you’re easily nervous/intimidated it’ll definitely be jarring. It felt like being interrogated by police or something the way they seem to lead you to bait “gotcha” answers. I was expecting and prepared for a more professional/productive conversation. Maybe the ppl talking to you would be nicer tho.
I have no idea if the lawyer thing is even allowed or does anything since this isn’t a legal trial and you don’t have rights. Probably a last resort for really desperate students
Having a lawyer is allowed. You do have rights. But it's probably not necessary in this case.
Write down everything you remember now. Do you have a version history?
Try to remember that this is not life-changing. You're not going to jail. Absolute worst case, you retake the class. That would suck, but is it as bad as you're worried about right now? I say this because if you can right-size your stress about this, it will be easier to manage and easier to defend when the time comes.
Wow, that’s actually terrifying. So you really had no idea you were reported? Like, no warning it was coming at all? I thought they usually tell you at least, now this is making me paranoid even though I didn’t do anything.
I think it depends on the professor. In my case, the professor left a comment on the document saying he was going to report me. I didn’t check for comments on the doc bc I already saw my final grade was an A on the OSU app. So I was technically told, just not in a very visible way imo. Didn’t see the comment till after I got the coam notice
Most professors will send you an email. Not sure why mine didn’t
Don’t let my bad experience keep you perpetually worried, I hope it was a rare circumstance
Nope they'll still get to it. Idk why you got a final grade that's not standard procedure. HOWEVER, COAM does have the ability to change final grades. From insider experience I know they need a separate vote to be taken to change your final grade to a D or below. So you shouldn't have to worry about that. Teachers report student all the time for AI bulkshit and they're good at defending themselves. Most of the AI cases are voted not in violation because the student came with receipts. You got this, good luck
This is false. The committee can and often does assign grades below a D; no separate vote is required, and the passing threshold is a simple majority.
The committee first votes to determine if a violation of the code did in fact occur, and then will vote for the appropriate sanctions (disciplinary and grade) if the student is found in violation.
A first offense usually recieves disciplinary probation for 1 year, a zero on the assignment, and a further lowering of the final grade by a third of a letter grade. For a second offense committed in the probationary period, the committee will consider (and usually issues) a suspension from the university for 1-2 semesters, and a grade of "E by action of university committee" in the course.
I'm an older student doing their undergrad and the amount of students I see using chatgpt in class and the amount of peer reviewing I've done of clearly AI papers is truly horrifying.
I can't imagine how bad it is as a professor. Last semester I did a rough draft peer review and I tried to joke with the girl about how she needed to peer review chatgpt herself before it was actually due and she acted like she had no idea and then asked me in the hallway afterclass how I could tell it was chatgpt
Y'all have way too much faith in that shit and it's obvious to anyone who can actually articulate themselves through writing. It's unfortunate that some students end up being caught up in the just paranoia
Got Coamed my freshmen year for some bs in an introductory course during covid. They had an online lab assignment in which you watch a video and collect data from the video with your group. While we were watching the video one of our team members made an excel graph for the data in our data collection document. Later we all wrote separate reports but used that graph and got wrote up for "plagiarizing" each other. It's one fucking excel graph that takes five minutes to make that resulted in all of us getting zeroes.
The stress of COAM hanging over my head for months, freshman STEM courses, and covid dorm life gave me the absolute worst depression of my life. Now that I'm graduated and have a decent job, I just laugh at how stupid the entire thing was.
Whole point being that I wouldn't really worry about it because you might get a zero without a permanent mark on your record (regardless of whether you're "guilty" or "innocent"). It had absolutely zero impact on my career or future academic success. The whole coam department and process are ridiculous bs and they should be completely ashamed of themselves.
Pretty much all ai detectors nowadays have false positives, if they used their own discretion that’s even worse.
I put in an essay I wrote in 4th grade and it came back as containing AI content. Yep, 12 years ago, I was definitely using AI to write a 2 page essay about snakes
I put my entire text into one AI detector (after the accusation) and it came back as 100% human. Then I put it into a different AI detector and it came back 90% AI generated. Wtf
Mine always does as well. I'm old, but I dug some of my freshman English papers out of Google docs from 2007 and 3/4 came back as 80-100% AI. It's bullshit.
I put my own human written paper into an ai checker one time and it said that it was 100% ai generated
Not only do they have a lot of false positives, it's inherently trivial to take the output of an LLM and feed it into the "ai detector" and keep re-prompting the LLM until it doesn't trip any detector.
One of my professors was a COAM board member and she accused me of cheating on a paper and her only backing was it was "too academic of writing to not be AI" you know how disheartening it is to hear a professor to say that since your writing is too good or MUST be AI, and to all the profs reading this, COAM is not something you throw around willy nilly, it can SERIOUSLY ruin someones life and their future job, don't accuse people of cheating with nothing but a "hunch"
Profs are literally required to report any suspicion. It's not a choice.
One false COAM accusation doesn't ruin anyone's life or affect their careers. Saying overblown crap like that only serves to make people more stressed than they need to be.
Your professor is a horrible awful person that sucks at their job. I'm sorry you have to deal with their ignorance and the ignorance of this university. Nothing will ever get better and those of us that are innocent will always get dragged down by the monkeys that use AI and make all students look bad. I hope all turns out well for you.
It's interesting that you acknowledged that cheating students that cause this problem, but then blame the prof for literally doing their job.
They will get back to you later with an email that includes a link explaining everything. This will cover the assignment in question, the weight of the assignment, the possible consequences, and whether you choose to plead guilty or deny the allegations. You will also receive a text notifying you that you have an important email from COAM. You will be given about a month to either accept or deny the allegations. If you plead guilty and this is your first offense, the consequences are usually a slap on the wrist. This typically includes disciplinary probation for one calendar year, a zero on the assignment, and a decrease of 10 percent of a letter grade. The penalty could be worse depending on how heavily weighted the assignment is. In your case, since you finished with a B, it would likely drop to a B- if you accept responsibility. If you deny the charges, you will appear before a committee where you will plead your case, and they will decide whether or not you are guilty. If you are found guilty after denying the allegation, the punishment will be more severe since it may be viewed as dishonesty. Since this is your first offense, if you did cheat, it may be best to take it on the chin, accept responsibility, and deal with the grade deduction. If you did not cheat, then fight it and try reaching out to the professor involved to present your case. If you have notes, drafts, or timestamps from Google Docs or Word, submit them. This type of documentation is hard evidence and can strongly support your defense.
Wishing you the best of luck.
I think it's a real issue when I'm seriously innocent that students are basically encouraged to lie and say they cheated bc they fear a harsher penalty. It's so hypocrytical to the entire purpose of COAM and academic integrity. I don't trust that my anxiety won't make me sound like a total idiot in that kind of stressful setting, and I don't trust that I will remember the details of the paper as time continues to pass. I don't trust the process or the people when harsher penalties are given if you don't plead guilty to false accusations. Obviously there is no solid evidence or proof, because there was no cheating. But only I know that and it's now my job to convince strangers who hold my future in their hands.
Does anyone on that committee acknowledge how seriously messed up and unethical that is? I'm not in law school, I didn't sign up for a mock trial. I'm not equipped with the knowledge, experience, or ability to defend myself. I'm just a freshman with anxiety who wrote a gramatically correct paper. I didn't even get an A on it.
I am a member of the Committee. You will not like my response. The process is far from perfect, but it is fair for students. At other universities the professor can just give you a zero or give you a failing grade if they think you cheated. They cannot do so here.
As much as students think that professors "throw around COAM willy nilly", they take it very seriously. Many professors do not report incidents to the committee despite them being required to, simply because of how difficult the process is for them.
If you did not do what you were accused of, be prepared to elaborate your thought and writing process to the panel. Be prepared to show your document's version history. Submit this with your hearing statement if you can. Do not complain about the system as you have done here. Do not say it's not fair for you to have to prove you didn't violate the code. This sentiment may be true, but it will not help you in a hearing. It is understandable to be frustrated. But any system designed to protect integrity is going to catch some false positives. The alternative to this is far, far worse.
This is very appreciated and I will follow your advice. I was preparing to make my case around how unfair this process and how inadequate I feel defending myself, but I’ll only focus on my work. But I won’t say I’m guilty for a lighter penalty bc I did not cheat. And I guess if you/they don’t believe me I’ll appeal. I’m scared.
I do not know the details of your case, but I'll reckon a guess that it is AI related, since that is 90% of what we see with written assignments. Contrary to popular belief, using things like Grammarly and translation software are not permitted and constitute a violation of the code.
It can be very daunting to go in front of the panel, but you can reach out to the COAM Coordinator and arrange a meeting to learn more about the process and ask questions if you choose. You are permitted to have a support person with you during the hearing (such as a parent/trusted individual), but they are not permitted to address the panel or speak on your behalf. You can, however, ask to meet privately with them during the hearing. It can become a problem if they are just telling you how to answer all the panel's questions; however, since the panel expects you to be able to explain your work.
I did not mention this earlier, but just because a panel finds a student in violation does not mean their sanction will be worse than the AD sanction. It can be worse if the panel uncovers information showing that the violation was more egregious than we anticipated, or if it is obvious that the student is being dishonest. For example, if the panel asks to see your document, you better show it. Sometimes students will "lose" the document or be conveniently "unable to access the version history." Or they show the version history and the entire thing was copied/pasted, yet they still claim they are not in violation of the code. It is these sorts of things that will prompt the sanction to be harsher, not just because the student did not take an AD.
It is also possible that you violated the code unknowingly. Ignorance is not a defense, so if this is the case, you should take responsibility. If you have received your notification of charges email, review the parts of the code you were charged under to see this.
Overall, it shouldn't come down to the panel "believing" you or not. If you did not violate the code, the evidence will show that. If you did not use AI/plagiarize, then your version history will be very helpful. You also should be able to explain why you used certain words/phrases and be able to define less-often used words (if you used them). If the only thing you can do is say "I didn't do it" and have nothing to show for it, the panel will almost certainly find you in violation of the code.
I know it is really stressful. In the long term, it will be ok, I promise. Have you reached out to student advocacy? They might be able to help you get some peace of mind while you wait.