I've done nothing wrong, and it feels like I'm being punished
I'm not some nepo baby. I'm not related to any politicians. I hold no government office. I work awful hours at a dead end job to fund my own tuition here in law school because both my parents amounted to nothing in life and I am not wealthy or financially secure enough to just halt work and go to law school full time. I take the units I can afford per sem despite the massive tuition increase this semester, and I am finishing the program as means and time permit. I am not gifted academically. I know that. I will accept a prof calling me "bobo" any day of the week, because that's true enough. The law is new to me. My degree and work prior to law school are generally useless and divorced from the practice of law.
What cannot be said about me is that I'm lazy or dishonest. I have repeated a couple of classes three or four times in past, and I've also passed tough classes on my first try. I'm average at best, but I'm a grown up, and I toughen it out.
That was the deal. That's why I chose Beda Bang. I respected the fact that they didn't impose a QPI or retention policy because it gives students like me a chance to be a lawyer. Gives me the chance to put my head down, hit the books, and finish the program at my pace. I understand that is a privilege. I understand that the policy was merely suspended and it is within their power to reinstate it when the admin pleases, but the road to get here needs to be discussed.
By the administration's own admission, many of the cheaters would not have been caught if not for the concerted efforts of students reporting the cheaters in the first place. Majority of the student body does not condone cheating and are willing to cooperate in outing these individuals. Why is the entire student body being punished then?
As other redditors have posted, the cheaters follow the same mold. Privileged, wealthy, in positions of power or at the very least related to said people in power. Cheating should not be condoned in any academic institution. I understand due process, but why are repeat offenders still here? Why not expell them? Why is the imposition of a QPI and retention policy the appropriate response? This is a blanket imposition on the entirety of the student body, even those who have done nothing wrong, and even those who cooperated with the administration and reported these cheaters. Not only is this response not commensurate to the violation, it also does not target those individuals who are actually responsible for the academic dishonesty scandals.
If this is truly how the administration wants to handle this situation, then I respect that. I recognize that is their perogative, but a retroactive application of QPI and retention grades announced the same semester it is to be implemented AFTER MIDTERMS HAVE CONCLUDED is deeply unfair. Why could they not have announced it at the start of the semester? If not that, then why not defer application of the new policies until next semester so students can adequately prepare either by lessening their unit load, reworking their work schedules, or just withdrawing all together as some people have have already posted.
To all students who cheated, just give up. Do the right thing and withdraw if the school won't kick you out. We know who you are. The student body will not forget. Don't drag the rest of us down with you. x2 to the online students who are incredibly demanding. Grow up. This isn't high-school. This is a post-graduate degree. We are all grown ups here. Act like it.