Character and Fitness- Do I Disclose?

[laurennr2000]

Beginning of the pandemic when colleges first began remote learning, I was accused of cheating on an exam. I had never taken online classes before and was fine in class and doing homework on my computer but spending all day on zoom/ all of my assignments suddenly being online took a toll on my eyesight. I've always had poor eyesight but had been able to function normally in class in person. As a result, there were multiple times I looked away from the screen to "reset" my eyes and unblur them.

I was told that I was to retake the exam and would get to keep my score if I got a higher grade than the first exam. I did, and no academic penalties were made. I did not receive an email from my school's honor council and do not have anything on my transcript reflecting honor code violations.

My professor at the time told me that it would not be visible on my transcript, but that someone searching for honor code violations could find it on my profile. He mentioned I could take it up with the honor council if I wanted but he highly recommended against it. I was unbelievably terrified; I hadn't experienced anything like this and did not make any contact with the honor council.

Is it in my best interest/ correct procedure to disclose this in my character and fitness report? I was not contacted by the honor council, no academic penalties were made, and no disciplinary action other than my professor's call was taken. I want to do what is right, but don't want to disclose something I don't have to.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Lauren,

Sorry to hear about that very unfortunate situation.

What follows is just my personal opinion (and certainly not legal advice), so please take my answer in that context.

First, you should definitely disclose.

Based on what you've written, you've done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.

By not disclosing, it could really cause you a problem later, especially if you technically answered a question incorrectly. For example, if a question asked, "Have you ever been accused of cheating or any other form of academic dishonesty?" the factual answer is "Yes." Even though you may have a perfectly valid explanation, that is for the law schools to decide. By withholding that information, you could potentially make the problem much worse.

Also, and this again is just my personal opinion, but you may even want to consider talking to an attorney if you haven't been completely cleared of any wrongdoing. Being accused of cheating in college is a serious matter and is something that you should try to get fully resolved if possible.

Finally, the fact that the professor highly recommended against you taking it up with the honor council sounds very sketchy, almost as if the professor was trying to intimidate you. There should never be any penalty or punishment for you to state your case and assert your rights if you were falsely accused of cheating.