text:
Is it cheating if the proctor gives a student the answer key by mistake and the student doesn't report it?
I gave a test in person this week. For the students that require accommodations, I submitted it online. The staff that provides the accommodations at their facility printed the test and gave it to student "A". When the next student went to take it, she realized the test had all the correct answers marked. By mistake I had submitted the key instead of the regular test. This student immediately mentioned it to the staff that then gave her a fresh test, they did the same for the first student. But student A had the exam in their possession for about an hour and never reported the issue.
Was student A in the wrong by not reporting the fact she had the key in her hands? She first said she didn't realized the answers were bolded, she then said that she thought the bolded answers weren't the correct answers, but then she marked the exact same answers on the scantrons. Is this an academic integrity infraction/cheating? Should this be reported to the academic integrity committee?

Various opinions / advice / discussion has been moved to chat. The discussion can continue in chat, but please see this FAQ before posting a comment below this one. We can only move comments to chat once.

No. There is no evidence of intent and you cant prove a negative.
The fault is on the person that handed it to her.
Lets reimagine the scenario. Teacher hands a student a test. The teacher then audibly speaks and tells the student the correct answer to the first question.
What is the student to do in that situation? There is no fault on the students side. She didnt ask. She had no reason to believe the answer was correct. Why would student have any reason to believe anything was amiss?

The fault is on the person who sent an answer key and not the exam.

Exactly. Just an opportunity to improve.

The person who sent it, and the persons who printed and handed them to the students without checking them. Both are at fault.

I disagree that the student doesn't have any reason to believe anything was amiss, but I agree with your conclusion that the student shouldn't be held responsible. Even if the student did notice that they had been handed the answer, how were they to decide what to do? Taking exams is stressful, being accused of cheating is stressful, and no matter what they did, the student knew they could be accused of cheating. So they did nothing. And still they get accused of cheating!!

@stef the teacher -whos paid job it is to notice- didnt notice. And now the test taker - who does not get paid to notice and no one made clear to her this is her responsibility- is responsible for not noticing? Dont we all have better things to worry about?

@user156207 No, I'm specifically saying that the student shouldn't be held responsible, and that it shouldn't even matter whether they noticed or not.

Student A was in the wrong to not report this. However, there was obviously no premeditation. As the matter was discovered after 1h, it is still plausible that the student would have done the right thing eventually. The root fault was yours, for submitting the solutions rather than the proper exam file. Thus, I would deem it inappropriate to punish Student A for cheating.
That said, I agree with Scott Seidman that their score must not stand. The exam result for Student A is obviously tainted. Usually, one would need to balance "global" fairness (to the entire student cohort) with individual fairness (resitting the exam is stressful and potentially detrimental to the student) here. But, as Student A's error in not raising the issue earlier was an essential contribution to the issue, I really don't see Student A being unfairly disadvantaged by having to resit the exam.

While you might claim it isn't fair to the rest of the students it also isn't fair to make a student sit for a long test twice due to mistakes on the part of the teacher and test proctor. Both of them should have done a basic review of the test being given out to make sure that it was correct and didn't have any answers. It seems like a quick review of the material before it was handed out would have spotted the issue. In the end does the grade one student gets on a test really impact the rest of the students?

@JoeW Your final question is strange - the purpose of an exam is to test a students knowledge. Giving an answer to a student defeats this purpose.
Yes, a mistake was made and the student should probably be somehow compensated for sitting out the test twice - but giving them a certificate of knowledge (a grade) they did not prove is not a way to it and defeats the purpose of having examinations.

@Mavrik You are right that tests are designed to test knowledge but this case of giving the key to a single student doesn't impact the rest of the students. And the student shouldn't be punished for the mistakes of multiple instructors who gave out a test with the answers highlighted. I would find it very strange if this single test was to make or break a students academic career and this should be a learning opportunity for the all the staff that are involved. In fact they could even use to to help change the rules in the future to address this in case it happens again.

@JoeW well if you don't want to resit a test, just don't keep the answer sheet.

The typical criterion is not "premeditation", but rather "intent" (or "mens rea" to use the latin term). If I'm taking an exam and another student whispers to me "hey, I have an answer sheet, here, take it" and I take it and use it - I haven't committed premeditated cheating - I had not planned or prepared to cheat - but I have cheated with intent.

@einpoklum it is different when the teacher gives it to you.

@JoeW: Indeed, but it's still not something you planned in advance.

@einpoklum I'm not arguing that lack of premeditation alone is sufficient reason to not go for punishment.

As Arno laid out, there is a difference between "There is cheating" and "The exam result is illegitimate".
We should assume that there is a necessity of Mens Rea to judge something to constitute cheating. Clearly, the student had no will to cheat when handed the answer cheat. So, the question is, did the student engage in deceptive behavior when the student handed back the scantron answer cheat without saying something. No reasonable person can seriously argue that being handed the answer key instead of the exam  constitutes a permission to use the answer key for the exam, since no reasonable person would be willing to give an exam together with the solutions under these circumstances. If the student received the answer key, copied it to the Scantron sheet, and then did not point out that there was an error, at that point deception happened and the student would be guilty of cheating. In an exam, there is a positive duty to point out any clear, unfair advantage. Thus, the important question is whether the student not saying anything, when there was a duty of saying something, constitutes cheating. This will depend on the reasonable expectation of the student. If the student for example wrote the student's name on the answer sheet with the key, and it is obvious that this was the answer cheat, then the student could have assumed that it is obvious what had happened, in which case there was no need to say something. From what you told us, it appears to me quite clearly a case of academic dishonesty.
There are some question of fact here as well as a question of law. The latter refers to the definition of academic infraction, which differs between institutions. These questions should not be handled by the instructor, but by the committee set up to deal with academic dishonesty.
There is also the question of sanctions. Clearly, a student who inadvertently was put into this situation had no premeditation. Furthermore, the student can rightly worry about the impact of your mistake on the student's success in the exam. These would at least be strong mitigating factors that would obviate the need for sanctions.
Another aspect would be the notion of entrapment, where a criminal act only happens because of actions by law enforcement. It seems to me that your negligence (however excusable it is), constitutes entrapment and as a legal principle, entrapment is a complete defense to a criminal charge. We are of course arguing by analogy here, as you are not law enforcement and we are not talking about guilt. Note also that different jurisdictions come to different conclusions, e.g. German law does not deal with entrapment the same way that US law does. Thus, according to US legal doctrine, the student can provide defense based on entrapment because the student had no predisposition to cheat and because many students, when put into this situation would not have said anything.
In summary: The student had a positive duty to tell the proctor that something was wrong with the exam sheet. The student's action therefore constitutes cheating. However, the level of guilt is minimal and one can argue that you accidentally entrapped the student, which would be a complete defense against accusations of wrong-doing. However, you should not have to decide this, this is what the competent committee is supposed to judge.

It's also possible that the student received the answer sheet, saw it had the answers, decided not to use it, but also was too shy to report it (and maybe was afraid of being accused of cheating if they admitted that they had been in possession of the answer sheet), and then took the test and got the correct answers without cheating, because, after all, getting the correct answers is not that improbable if you studied.

Cheating itself requires at least two elements: knowledge that it is cheating and intent to cheat. In this case it is possible that there is just a misunderstanding exacerbated by the stress of an exam. There was certainly no prior intent to cheat.
To make a charge of cheating, requires evidence, not a "gut feeling" or a suspicion. More than "some likelihood". I think the evidence here is weak, since the situation you describe is (one hopes) very unusual.
I suggest that you let it go and be more careful in the future. Yes, some infractions occur and some can't be caught or punished, but in grey areas, the balance should be towards leniency rather than severity. That is to say that false positives are more harmful to the overall educational process than false negatives. An accusation of cheating can devastate an honest student.

Should this be reported to the academic integrity committee?

Yes. Report the facts, and let them figure out if it is cheating or not according to their standard of proof.
This is not the case here since it was an accident, but in general keeping dubious cases from the committee isn't good, as it prevents them to catch repeated offenders. It's best to have a single point of decision, also for uniformity.

But, report the facts without an accusation.

If any accusation is to be made, it should be to the instructors and the staff that provided the test to the students.

Very bad advice. In many institutions, reporting facts like these to an academic integrity committee will have strong consequences for the student, even if the student is innocent. In this case it's doubly wrong because the student is completely betrayed - the teacher made a mistake, then reported the student for it. Most likely this will cause the student to drop out of this awful university that punishes students for its own mistakes.

@Stef I didn't know there are institutions where this happens, but in my view it's the system there that needs to be changed: what use is even having an integrity committee if the sentence comes first?

@FedericoPoloni The committee might end up not "punishing" the student, but this can takes months of investigation during which the student will be put under scrutiny and every student and teacher in the university will believe they are a cheater. That's punishment in itself, and not light.

Is there no confidentiality at all during the investigation? That also seems something that needs to be changed in the integrity committee functioning.

Take this advice to the infinite limit. What is the committee to say after 100s of empty complaints against this student? Its hostile. This is an actual person youre talking about. Why is she punished for someone not doing their job?

If you all consider informing the integrity committee as a punishment in itself then there is something wrong with the way it works. Their job should be taking decisions in a fair and uniform way, in the best interest of everyone; something it cannot do if it never gets involved.

I have to admit I am surprised at the other answers.  In my view this is cheating plain and simple.  The student is passing off someone's else's work as their own on an exam.  That is cheating.  How they got the answer key is irrelevant.
My first paragraph is a little strong.  There may be some doubt that the student actually used the answer key. But I think a strong case can be made—at least for further investigation—since all of her answers matched the answer key. If the student is a strong student, and has a history of getting high marks, that increases the amount of doubt. If this test score differs substantially from her previous exams (or differs substantially from the performance of the highest scores from other students on this particular exam), that decreases the amount of doubt. Was she the only person to ace this exam?
Her account of the situation doesn't seem credible to me.  First, there is her changing story (at first she said she didn't notice the bolded answers, then she she changed her story to say she thought they weren't correct). The idea that she thought "the bolded answers weren't the correct answers" defies logic.  Why would they be bolded?  Had any other exam in your course ever have some of the answers in bold?  Isn't it odd that only one answer per question was in bold?
Why would this student say she "didn't think the bold answers were correct" in spite of the fact that she marked those answers on her scantron?  Doesn't the fact that she marked those answers indicate that she did think they were correct?  Isn't she contradicting herself?
Either way, this situation is suspicious enough that it should be reported as a possible infraction to the academic integrity committee. Let them decide if further investigation or other action is warranted.  You don't need to be be both judge and jury.  But you do have a responsibility to the school and to the other students to at least report activity that is very suspicious.
Based on some of the comments, I think I should add: This is not a zero-sum game where either the student OR the OP is at fault.  They can both be at fault, but for different things. The OP is at fault for mistakenly releasing the answer key. But there is a very strong appearance the student attempted to capitalize on that mistake to get a grade higher than she would have earned on her own.  If the student didn't recognize that the correct answers were in bold, it's unlikely her scantron would match the answer key, even down to the mistake on the answer key itself.  If the student did recognize she had an answer key, then she is at fault for using it.  Merely getting or having the answer key is not her fault. Using it to try to inflate her grade is the problem.  If she knew she had the answer key, then she would have known that was a mistake, and she should have brought it to the attention of the proctor (as the other student did). Getting the answers by mistake does not lessen her obligation to take the test honestly, so that it reflects her mastery of the subject. (The previous sentence is what seems so self-evident to me, that I started the post stating that I was surprised at most of the other responses.)
Her only possible excuse is that she thought the test was supposed to be that way. Or that she recognized the bold options seemed to be the correct answers, but she tried to ignore those and answer the test on her own.  The first reason is not credible. It fails the laugh test. This is not her first rodeo. She knows how tests work.
The second reason is more believable and IMO a valid excuse. Except in this situation, it's not what she said.  And it strains credibility since her scantron matched the answer key, even down to the mistake on the answer key.
Nonetheless, she deserves the chance to explain herself. The Academic Integrity Committee (which at most schools has student representation) is the appropriate place to do that.

The student usually scores in the low 80's and this time her score was 96.7. The only question she missed was the question that had the incorrect answer in bold (I marked it incorrectly in the key). The scores for the rest of the class went down compared to previous tests, only a few students increased their grades, she was one of them

The student was in a bad situation to start with. They're handed the answer key. Even if they notice that it's the answer key, they'll get nervous about it. "What do I do? Do I report it? But what if I report it and then they accuse me of cheating? Maybe it's less risky for me if I don't report it?". So student doesn't report it, at first. Then an hour later, teacher asks student: "Hey, I think I gave you the wrong sheet by mistake". Student then think "Oof, I'm saved, the teacher noticed that they made a mistake." [...]

But then teacher asks "Did you notice you had the answer sheet? If you did and didn't report it, then that's cheating". Of course at this point the student gets nervous again and lies "No, no, I didn't notice". And now you accuse the student of cheating and use the fact that they lied as a supporting argument. Congratulations. If you intentionally wanted to frame them, you couldn't have done better.

The problem with "cheating plain and simple" is the lack of proof. The examination was terminated abnormally. The situation is, in effect, entrapment. Therefore the 'proof' of the examination answers can't be accepted by a procedurally fair investigation. The student could have modified their answers further, but the expected opportunity for them to do so was removed by the proctor. Also inadmissable is the interrogation -- directly by an instructor with a conflict of interest in the results. That's also likely outside of the academic misconduct procedures, a professional misconduct.

@vk5tu. I think you're right.  I also think the OP is vague about whether the student's scantron was taken from them or if the student turned in the scantron.  I missed that on my first read. If the student had not yet turned in the scantron of their own volition, then they never made the implicit assertion that the work they turned in was their own, and I agree there is no reasonable basis for a claim of cheating.

The teacher himself did not notice this was the answer key. Why do you immediately know for a fact the student noticed? The assumption is hostile to its core. Theres one person in this scenario responsible for misconduct.

This answer completely ignores the fault at the person who caused the whole havoc in the first place: OP. Just blame everything on the student, ignore that OP sent the wrong sheet, and ignore that the invigilator handed the wrong thing to the student.

In my previous institution, there was a policy against people who helped others cheat, intentional or not. I don't think what she did was cheating, but if it was decided to charge her with cheating, get ready for an abetting cheating by negligence charge (or whatever similar name your institution has for helping cheaters) against you.
It would be completely unfair to punish her, but not you, for this incident.

That's not how it works, mistakes happen. The author is in a world of trouble though. Firstly they didn't follow the procedures for academic misconduct, but ran their own investigation outside of that process -- including an interview. Secondly, they had 'unclean hands' during that investigation, as finding academic misconduct by the student would reduce the effect of their error. Thirdly, they made that investigation public prior to a judgement, by this very post. Student A: lodge a claim of instructor misconduct with the institution; the way you have been treated is not acceptable.

Yeah, mistakes happen, that's why the name contains "by negligence".

Grey zone, check your institute's policies and get ready for a wrangle
Here's an example policy:

In its broadest terms, cheating involves a willful and fraudulent act on a student's part.  That is, information is falsified or fabricated or work to be evaluated by an instructor is submitted by a student as original and unaided, when in fact an unauthorized source has been employed.
...
Unauthorized assistance (collaboration with others, proscribed written materials) in completing work for academic credit, including but not limited to:  take home exams, tests, or quizzes; lab reports; and homework assignments.  Unless expressly allowed to do so by the instructor, students must be aware that they cannot use any aids in such situations.  If a student is unaware of an instructor’s expectations, s/he must consult with the instructor.

Source
The person pressing the cheating charge would argue that this is clearly a fraudulent act on the student's part, and that the exam was submitted as original and unaided when in fact unauthorized aid has been received.
The person defending the cheating charge would argue that providing the student with the answers turns the aid from unauthorized to authorized.
The person pressing the cheating charge would argue "Unless expressly allowed to do so by the instructor, students must be aware that they cannot use any aids in such situations".
The person defending the cheating charge would argue that being handed the answer key means the instructor is implicitly allowing the aid.
So, get ready for a wrangle - although I suspect the student will know they're in the wrong and will not press the issue until it reaches arbitration.

Are you really suggesting the instructor start a fight with a student over this case where they handed the student an answer key by mistake? I tend to take a pretty strict view on cheating, but would it really be fair to take a student, who's likely quite nervous to take a test, hand them what you say is their exam but actually has answers marked, and then put them at risk of expulsion or failing a course when they don't stand up quickly enough and say "um, are these letters supposed to be bold?"

@BryanKrause yes. And when you write "stand up quickly enough", you're neglecting that in the OP, student A had the exam in their possession for about an hour and never reported the issue.

And you've only baited a single student who needed test taking accomodations likely due to a disability? The proctor didn't notice, the instructor didn't notice they gave the wrong document, but the student didn't report it quickly enough...

Did the proctor/instructor look at the exam sheet in sufficient detail to be expected to notice? I doubt it. And I don't think this student "didn't report it quickly enough". They were plainly not going to report it at all.

Not only was the student handed the answer key. BUT SHE HANDED IT BACK. The 'event' was effectively reported. The position you put her in is indefensible from her pov and it's your fault.

"So, get ready for a wrangle - although I suspect the student will know they're in the wrong and will not press the issue until it reaches arbitration." So, you're suggesting to bully the student into not fighting back, when the teacher accuses the student because of the teacher's mistake?

@Stef yes. Ask a loaded question, get a loaded answer. /shrug.


text:
What is an academic and formal way to define variables?
I'm currently writing my IB Extended Essay in physics. I wonder how I can define variables in a formal way. I originally used a triple bar (e.g. "F≡buoyant force"). However, I'm not sure if this is formal or even correct. What is an academic and formal way to define variables?

What have you seen in other papers in your field? Follow that.

Several standard methods used in mathematics are given here, but I have no idea which would be well known, somewhat known, or entirely unknown in your field. If you feel that you have to have such a symbol, then I suggest you simply pick the version that seems most intuitive to you and is easy to "type" using your text software program, and define the symbol in a footnote the first time you use it. In handouts/notes for students, I have usually used an = sign with "def" just over the top of it (seemed most likely to be understood from context).

The academic way to define variables is to simply describe them in the text. For instance,

F = ma,
  where F is the force acting on the point mass m and a is the acceleration.

In fact, we want scientific texts to be readable, and not overburdened with unnecessary and obscure notations. Symbols have their role, but don't overuse them. Even more, a symbol like the triple bar has different technical meanings in different disciplines and using it in that way may just generate confusion.

In most contexts involving applied mathematics, the triple bar symbol will be recognisable as stipulating a definition, but it would only be used if you are defining one variable in terms of others.  If you are merely giving the textual meaning of the variable, it is better just to write that out in ordinary prose, just as Massimo shows in his answer.  However, if you want to distinguish a definitional equation from an equation arising as a logical consequence of other premises, it is perfectly acceptable to use the triple-bar sign for a definition.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
As a new grad student, should I share my self-doubt and fear of failure with my professors?
I am an international relations grad student in the very first semester..very first course and need some insight.
This may seem a bit overly concerned but I am already terrified of failure. The very first assignment was a discussion on required reading. Its a course that is elective. I could have chosen from several. I found the reading really difficult as it was all about historic theory rather than a specific countrys issue. Its a latam course covering topics like US intl engagement. Upon reading the responses I was shocked at how profoundly great the seemingly more insightful and intelligent the responses were from students further ahead in the program. They literally sounded like phd level academics.
I am hoping to use the masters to transition into second career and have been out of school for 18 years. I have menta health issues and the idea of failing the firSt course would send me into an extremely dark place.
Can I email the professor early on to discuss my troubles and mention my concern and fear. I want to be clear in the email I am not asking for preferential n treatment .. Just insight about what I can do and if other students have been in this position before and what they did.
The discussion was not mandatory with 60% of the class responding ..there are 12 discussions 5 mandatory and 7 where he takes the top 5 ..ive already chosen not to apply to one as I had a panic attack. With half the class not responding I could d glean they also found the material difficult. I could also assume that those who responded were better equipped as based on their advancement in the program
I'm literally on the first weeks assignment and will wait till after the second to seriously consider reaching out.
Is this a horrible idea? One that could be detrimental. He seems open to students reaching out. Please provide thoughts. I'm seriously rattled. I won't perform well with this mindset.
It would be assuring if others found themselves in this situation. I feel incredibly low IQ right now :)

Please go to the professor’s office hours and chat with her or him. Professors want to help: please avail yourself of this.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to unreport bad GRE Math Subject Scores?
I am a Masters Graduate in mathematics from India and I am applying for the Fall 2023 Math PhD program. I gave my GRE Math subject exam and my score is 620 (40th percentile). After reading from various online sources I realize that it is not a good score. My official score report will be sent to certain universities.
If I don't mention my GRE Subject test scores in their application form is there any chance the universities won't take my scores into consideration ?

Welcome to Academia.SE. You may want to to check out our [help]; we're a little different than other sites. In particular, we are looking for general questions that others could potentially have in the future -- so, better not to list the super-specific details such as the particular universities you applied to. We don't need those kinds of details, and many question-askers soon regret providing them. I've taken a stab at cleaning up your post.

Question: You say you already sent the score reports to certain universities. Are you asking about whether you can get those universities to ignore your scores? Or are you asking whether other universities will be aware of the scores?

@cag51 While registering for the exam you get to send your official scores to 4 universities for free. So 4 universities I mentioned are already going to receive my score reports. You also unofficialy report your scores in the college application form. What I wanted to know was that of i don't mention my scores in the application form is there any chance they can be ignored by the university who will receive my official scores.


text:
Can a professor ask for money directly from students to print out handouts for class?
I'm currently taking a class that doesn't have a required textbook, which is why I took it. My professor is now saying that due to her scanning and printing out handouts for use we are each required to give her $15. I'm confused by this because isn't the money supposed to go through my university, as a fee for the class, rather than through her? I just want to know if she's allowed to do this

Perhaps a locale would be beneficial here

@daleam isn't this a hidden fee? Regardless of local or how reasonable $15 sounds there is a duty to inform before the class is chosen. See bait and switch

As a grad student, my advisor once ordered some mimeographed notes, related to a topics course he was teaching, and told us if we wanted a copy to give him $10 and he would order one for us too.  This wasn't required, so is different than the OP's situation, but I think it was perfectly reasonable so a general answer to the titular question is Yes.

@Kimball There is a huge difference between "this stuff is not mandatory but might be nice to have, I will get one for you for $10, but if you don't want one that is also ok" and "Please give me $15 everyone"...

Are the handouts optional?

@DirkLiebhold The question had a different title when I posted my comment (something like "Can a professor ask for money from a student?") so I was just pointing out that in some situations that general scenario may be okay.

We have 2017, printing out anything should be optional and a pdf available.

@dalearn: The original question had a reference to CUNY, which is a large public university in the USA.  This was edited out by someone else.  I will add the [tag:united-states] tag.

The owner of a copy shop in…Michigan, began a…crusade to prove that the Kinko’s case was wrongly decided…he was sued by several book publishers. A federal Court of Appeals decided against the copy shop owner, ruling that the copying did not qualify as a fair use…based on the amount & substantiality of the portions taken & because academic publishers were financially harmed…while the copy shop was making money… (Princeton Univ. v. Michigan Document Servs., 99 F.3d 1381 (6th Cir. 1996).)

Considering an entire box of cheap printing paper (5000 pages) is around 50$ here, and a laser printer toner cartridge can easily do 2500 pages, I would suggest you ask your professor to send you the literature in electronic form so you can print it yourself. He is clearly running a scam here. "Don't buy the textbook, buy copies from me instead."

@dalearn: Seems the locale is en-US. :-)

US here: at my school professors were required to do everything through the bookstore. There were instances where we had printouts that were bound that were a "textbook" custom made by the school. If the professor wants to charge you for this, he/she should probably go through this route is my guess.

It seems to me like a professor absolutely can ask that you pay money for this, however you are under no obligation to pay. Better that they deal with these costs through the university.

It depends.  He may have gone through the bookstore in the past and seen them charge $50 for something that costs $15 in royalties (if this includes reprinted articles, Harvard case studies, etc., then those aren't free to copy).  We instructors really are aware of the inflated cost of textbooks these days and try to find ways to make it less expensive for students.  On the other hand, if this is his own lecture notes then he may be crossing an ethical boundary by trying to sell them to you.  Ask for a PDF version.

A professor should not be asking directly for money from the students. If the professor is scanning and printing things out for the students at her own expense, then something is wrong. Either the assignments and handouts should have been compiled into a course book, or the department should be helping to defray the professor's expenses.
Regardless of the request, I would be very uncomfortable giving money directly to the faculty member.  It could be paid to the department, which would then reimburse the faculty member. But I would never hand cash or a check over to the faculty. This sets a very bad precedent.

This answer is wrong or at least dependent on the country / univeristy. Where I did my MSc in the Netherlands this happened all the time. In some courses they asked you to buy (or rent) a book. In other courses the faculty or professor printed their own book and students were required to buy it. The prices were very reasonable (5-20 euro) and were indeed just printing and binding costs. It was usually the secretary who collected the money, but sometimes the prof. Nobody ever thought this was unreasonable.

@louic: As I said, I wouldn't pay the faculty member directly. It's a different issue if the department is collecting the money. But the professor shouldn't be pocketing cash.

Some malpractice happening at your university does not mean that it is not malpractice. Every university has to have a finance department. And there is a reason why it is called finance department.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

I have never seen anything like this (I'm from France). I could imagine it might make sense, but as a student I would also find it a bit weird and would prefer that the money collection part were managed by the university rather than by the professor directly. As a professor, if I ever needed to do something like this, I would request explicit consent from each student before incurring expenses on their behalf, and I would provide a receipt when asking for reimbursement so that they know that they are reimbursing me the actual printing cost.
In any case, if this makes you uncomfortable or if the fee seems unreasonable to you, but you don't want to make a fuss, one option could be to ask the professor to send you a PDF and do the printing yourself, or to make copies yourself of a fellow student's copy of the course material.

Interesting. I'm from France too, and I've seen this relatively commonly.  It happened in high school when registering for Concours Kangourou and when getting discounted magazine subscriptions, and it happened again in college for group purchases of language textbooks.  On other occasions, our class representative would be the one paying for everyone and getting reimbursed.

@Clément: this is indeed happening a lot but as far as I remember, the chèques were always written for the school. They were handed to the teachers and yes, when it was cash, they were getting it as well (what I am trying to say is that it was always a school expense, not a private one by the teacher)

Often professors do things that the university should do, because the university bureaucracy is too inefficient to do it. So bear in mind that the professor may be uncomforatble/unhappy with this arrangement as well.

Group orders of printed materials are frequently organized by professors in my experience, just to get better prices for the students. However, these are usually prefaced with "of course you can acquire these materials on your own, but they're going to be $X if I order them and I believe they are usually $X+z otherwise. Please put your name down on this page if you would like me to order one for you."
It may be that your prof is just bad at communicating. But what's odd in your case is that it seems to a) not be voluntary/your prof didn't give you an alternate avenue to acquire the materials and b) it's just copying worksheets, which should be part of regular expenses. I can't believe the department wouldn't have a copier available for the prof to use for free! Edit: I stand corrected, there are apparently many places where professors are charged for copying, in which case it may be those costs your prof is trying to recoup.

I've been in departments which permitted me only to copy in-class exams at departmental expense. No worksheets, no take-home assignments, no syllabi. At least one other department didn't even permit copying in-class exams.

Departmental copiers still cost money to run and faculty are often charged for their use of it.

At my institution, we--or at least our grants--pay about $0.06/page for black and white printing (including copies).

Interesting, seems that is a pretty common thing then. Back when I was in undergraduate (in France) we paid a ~$100 "copying fee" per semester to the university to cover those costs.

As others mentioned numerous times already, the geolocation might dictate how appropriate this "requisition" is. To start with, copying textbooks is already some questionable ethics, and selling a copied (even partially) copyrighted material is somewhat shady. Besides, it makes little sense to force students to use the sources with low availability.
I remember a few times when the book was really hard to come by, and it was before the time when internet became widely available. Despite this, all the time there were numerous options, either the book was available for free in the library, or the teacher hands out a few copies and people were able to photocopy for the rest for free. In a class of 30+ people finding someone with an unlimited access to Xerox machine hasn't been a real issue.
These days at the university's library there is quite often a professional-grade book copier, which can also send scans to your university account for free (included in tuition fee). Besides, you can always make photos with your smartphone these days and decide whether you want print it out or read from a screen. To sum it up, technically getting textbook copies has never really been an issue.
Taking all of this into account and the fact that your professor hasn't informed you beforehand or left you with other options signifies poor organization of studying process to say the least.

plus there are high chances this person is trying to make some earnings on the side. -> This appears to be a completely unsupported assertion. How do you compute that there are "high chances" that this is happening?

@Spiny Well, a person receives a salary from the university and still is selling items – I don't know how else this can be called. But you are right, it is more like a subjective judgement and is unnecessary here, so I edited my answer. Thank you for pointing this out!

+1 High-schooler here. Our teachers often make a neat set of notes (to supplement what's in out textbooks; useful, but not compulsory), and then ask one of us to photocopy it for everyone else; it's the bloke who volunteers for this that collects the money for it (after giving us our copies). Less than a dollar for most notes, and it saves us a ton of writing... so it's fair trade. The only thing that passes from (and back to) the teacher's hands are the original notes.

@andselisk OP said they were handouts, not necessarily a textbook, let alone a commercial one. In my college, some teachers had short textbooks written by themselves only for use in their class (not published). Nothing unethical about copying that.

@AndréParamés If this were the case, the teacher should have just send the PDF of selected pages/chapters to the students and don't charge anything for printing. A person could offer to buy the signed textbook's hard-copy as an option, this is fine, but should never force own material in such a way.

The issue here is sometimes the professor is actually doing this as a cost saving technique.  You can buy the required materials for $15 or buy this textbook for $200 of which we only cover 1 chapter.
Some schools are lucky enough to have an actual binder department, which can do this for them at much cheaper price and some schools don't.
Whether or not it is wrong depends on your schools/departments rules and regulation.  Some places have a cost threshold, and below that it is not mentioned.  Sometimes it is a case of either the instructor forgetting to put it on the syllabus or they missed a deadline after which it can't be changed for another semester.  There could copyright issues here, but some instructor have actually gone through the effort to get written permission from the author or publisher to at least make it legal in terms of copyright.
I suggest you get a copy of your student handbook, probably online at their website or in the admissions or registration office.  See what it says, and if it contradicts the policy email the instructor and let them know.
The downside here is if the instructor has been doing the students a favor, the instructor may be force to list a $200 textbook.  Instead of just paying $15, now you need pay $200.

Check your department policies. It likely varies from school to school, but every department should have their policies available for students. It may take some digging, but getting the official information will be worth it if it makes you uncomfortable.
My wife had a similar situation her final year. Her professor created a booklet of worksheets and required each student for $15 to pay for the printing and binding of the book. She claimed that doing it this way would save the students money as she could get them at cost. We checked the University website and found the department policy page. It took us about 20-30 minutes to find the relevant information It was explicitly stated in the policies that faculty and staff were not allowed to take money directly from students and any required course materials had to be made available through the campus store or online.
We emailed the professor our concerns and a copy of the policy (and copied the department head). The professor apologized for violating policy and made the material available through other methods (the campus store also sold them for $15 btw).
If the material isn't required, or there is no specific policy, then ask the professor for digital copies to be made available. Most professor's I knew were very accommodating in making course materials available in multiple formats.

No, she is not allowed to do this, unless your syllabus states you can incur photocopy costs, and I've never seen that. At most institutions your syllabus is a contract, and wide departures are subject to formal grievance. Without that in place, what's to stop her from charging you for 300 pages per week at $0.10/page?  She probably has no sinister motives, but you are not obligated to pay. (Ironically, having a required text would likely set you back far more, but that was a factor you were able to assess prior to entering the contract).
But, I suggest you simply tell her you can't pay. Bringing this up at a higher level might have consequences she might not deserve. Asking students for payment directly looks pretty bad.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Prospective supervisor wants me to do irrelevant videos as a condition for supervision. Can I say yes when I mean no?
This question is the reverse of Dealing with a PhD student reneging on an agreement to appear in social media, in which the student had agreed during interviewing to participate in social media outreach but refused to do so when hired. The top answers in the linked question sided with the student.
Suppose I'm a prospective PhD student looking for potential supervisors. I'm attracted to one professor in particular for both academic (e.g. matching research interests) and non-academic reasons (e.g. solves my two-body problem). The only problem is, he wants me to make social media videos to boost the profile of his research group. I think this is unreasonable, since doing this isn't part of the requirements for a PhD. I know I'm unlikely to enjoy doing these things as well, and would rather concentrate on my PhD.
The professor wants me to confirm both verbally and in writing that I'm willing to make these promotional videos. It's likely that if I say no, he will decline to supervise me. Is it OK to say yes, and then try to get out of making the videos?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

No, this is not okay.
If you lie your way into a position you are not suited for, you will almost certainly pay for it down the line.
That's a very general rule, and I think it applies here. If you say you are willing to do X while interviewing for a PhD position and, after getting the position, you refuse to do X, then you are going to have soured the relationship with your advisor. That is a very important relationship. If you say no in the interview and you don't get the position because of it, then it's probably for the best.

I don't think he is not suited for the position but rather that the professor wants him to do something unrelated to the phD. I do think its similar to a boss asking women in the interview "Are you planning to have children?" Many states allowe you to lie in this situation.

@Haque This is not at all the same thing. Your example is about discrimination, OP's example isn't. This is more like if you apply for a cleaning job and the employer asks you if you can also water the plants, and then refuse to do so because you unilaterally decide that watering the plants isn't the job of the cleaning personell.

I interpret the question as if it is not the OPs decision that it is unrelated but rather a fact that it is unrelated. It is of course another question of whether and how one could knoe that is unrelated, but my interpretation is that this fact is given. And thus, the professor discriminates against people who do not want to do something unrelated.

@Haque Every person hiring "discriminates" in the technical sense of the term - they rather hire somebody qualified than somebody unqualified, or somebody who wants to do the required job rather than somebody unwilling to do so. Discrimination, as a legal concept, is a well-defined term, and is restricted to explicitly named cases / classes (such as discrimination based on gender, religion, and a few more things). Not willing to do work that you consider unrelated to the job profile is very clearly not a case of discrimination.

I agree with the answer but if asked, I'd say I could do it but it wouldn't be very good and it would take a considerable amount of time and money. While anyone can simply turn on a video camera and walk around and talk, making a quality video with a script, proper lighting and sound, editing, etc. can be a very time intensive project and, imho, is way outside the bounds when applying for a Ph.D. position. People literally get paid thousands of dollars to spend their time making a quality video. And, how many does he want? How good do they have to be? There's too much potential for scope creep

@Haque Many states allowe you to lie in this situation. - What does this mean?  Asking the question itself is not typically illegal, though basing a hiring decision on your response may be.  Are you saying if you are later caught lying to such a question on an interview you're not allowed to be fired for this lie?

Asking the question itself is not typically illegal — It is in my state.

Hard No.
This isn't only unethical, it's also a really bad idea in practice.
Unethical: Every PhD position I have ever heard of requires you to do things that aren't part of the requirements to get a PhD (teach, do project work, help your supervisor with reviews, and so on). This is why you get a stipend or salary. Your prospective supervisor communicates very clearly what they expect from this position. It is not your place to decide that you would rather interpret the position differently. You are of course free to disagree with the assessment that this is important or fruitful, but then you need to raise your concerns equally clearly and upfront. Lying about it isn't ethical.
Really bad idea: You have been around this forum for a while. You must have noticed how all the truly terrible PhD experiences that people have start with a student having, for one reason or another, a bad personal relationship with their supervisor. Your prospective supervisor clearly feels very strongly about these videos, and most people care about not being lied to their face. If you now provide, in writing nonetheless, that you will help with these videos and then refuse to do so, you are running a serious risk of fundamentally breaking your personal relationship to the supervisor before it even gets a chance to develop. A few videos are surely not worth this risk.
If you decide to take this position, I suggest doing so with the mindset that you will in fact work on these videos. You don't need to be excited about it, and nobody can force you to do the best job in the world on them. Further, there is always a chance that your supervisor changes their mind on the subject, but I strongly suggest you don't take the position now with the full intend to weasel out of this task.

I'm curious what you make of the linked question and its answers. How is it that the top answers in that question say the professor should not demand the student make the videos, yet in this one they say the student should not have agreed?

@Allure Demanding videos (without prior agreement) is very different from requiring videos (with agreement).

@user2768 the linked question says there was prior agreement.

@allure you should read the comments on that top answer. Although highly upvoted there was a lot of discussion about it.

@Allure It's kind of entertaining that almost all top answers on controversial questions on this site slam the OP -- even when it's the exact reverse of a question where the same occurred! But that's not logically inconsistent. Everybody can be wrong.

@Allure My mistake! I didn't double-check the link, I thought it referred to another (recent) post and didn't follow. (Or maybe I misremember that detail.)

@Allure Both of these things can be true at the same time. I think it is (slightly) unreasonable to demand (rather than suggest, which I think is completely fine) that a PhD student maintains a social media presence, but that makes it ok (or a good idea) to ignore it if the supervisor insists on this point.

@Allure In other words, even if you, me, and everybody on academia.SE agrees that a specific demand or expectation is unreasonable it still does not give you the right to lie to their face about it (and, even more, it definitely does not make doing so a good idea).

@knzhou I think it's not necessarily just ganging up on OP, but rather providing advice that is useful to them to achieve their goals. Often this means getting along with other people, which often starts with seeing the other person's perspective. Given both sides of this situation, I'd both recommend to the student that they comply with what they promised and recommend to the professor that they not request weird additional work from their students.

@xLeitix I'm not suggesting OP do so, but you "have the right" to lie to anybody you want to.  Except in some specific situations (e.g. fraud, perjury, etc.) it's not illegal to lie, you just might have to deal with the consequences of that lie later.  Of course depending on where you are, getting a job under false pretenses is probably at least grounds for termination, and generally makes you a horrible person, so I'd definitely suggest avoiding it.

Compromise
You aren't interested in social media (albeit, you should perhaps give it a try) and you don't want to devote time to it, because it will detract from other activities, such as writing papers. But, social media is a formal requirement of supervision (in this instance). So, compromise:

Agree to participate in the production of social media videos, on the basis that you'll provide background material, be interviewed, etc., rather than the production aspects. Perhaps suggest that these aspects can be delegated to an undergraduate student (who could be paid), maybe a student in media.

Also, remember that dissemination is part of research, so perhaps also offer:

To keep an open mind and be willing to take a more active role in the future.

Thereby keeping your future options open.
Do not agree to something you won't do

I like this approach. Bite the bullet. However, since everything will be written, I think you can negotiate: Agree to do a certain amount of videos, or to do it only for a certain amount of time (six months, one year?). I think this would be completely reasonable and would benefit both parties.

This question is a classic loaded question. You obviously want to hear the answer that it is not okay for the student in the question you linked to to behave the way they did (and by extension that the supervisor who asked the question is right to be upset about it), so you have phrased the question in a way that makes that answer the only reasonable one. As a main example, you say:

I know I'm unlikely to enjoy doing these things as well, and would rather concentrate on my PhD.

This portrays the student as a spoiled and entitled student who only wants to do things they “enjoy” and think they can have the privilege of “concentrating” on their PhD. However, everybody agrees that PhD students sometimes need to do things they don’t enjoy, and that, unless they are self-funded, they may have to do things like teaching that prevent them from fully “concentrating” on their PhD. That is not at all what the debate in the question you linked to is about. I won’t rehash that whole debate, except to say that you completely ignore the significiant privacy issues (in fact you do not explain that the student will have to appear in a publicly available video with worldwide distribution), as well as the fact that it is the supervisor in that question who comes across as entitled and borderline-abusive in wanting to force their students to participate in activities that contribute nothing to their training or professional development in order to help the supervisor’s career.
In summary, this question is not at all the “reverse” of the question you linked to. It may be worth considering on its own merits, but I think it bears little connection to the situation described there. Also, while it’s possible that the student is behaving inappropriately, that would by no means imply that it is “okay” for the supervisor to act the way they do. Another way that your question is loaded is that it implicitly assumes the premise that the supervisor’s behavior is proper, whereas (as the voting on the question you linked to overwhelmingly suggests) it is not.

This is a very aposite comment, but not much of an answer.

Again, I'm asking the reverse of the linked question. That's it. I wrote the question the way I envisaged the situation to be. If you think this one is badly written/loaded etc., edit the question, not criticize it.

@henning: It's a valid answer to what is a rhetorical tactic by .@Allure in another discussion, rather than a question.

Ethically its borderline if its okay to say yes and then TRY to get out of it, but you'd have to be prepared to face the possibility that you can't change their mind and in that case you'd (ethically) have to do the videos.
More honest would be to make your misgivings clear to the professor, and hope you can find a compromise. Is there any reason why you can't do the videos, other than you think its a waste of time you wouldn't enjoy? Perhaps you have problems with anxiety or public speaking that would make it difficult for you from a mental health perspective. If you have a good reason, discuss it with the professor.
To echo what @xLeitix there is much more to a PhD than just doing your research and writing your thesis, and you are not in a position to judge what the "requirements for a PhD" are, almost all PhD requirements say something about "demonstrating good scholarship" or acting in a way that "becomes a scholar", with the interpretation of that often left to the adviser or committee. For example, no where in the requirements for a PhD does it explicitly say that work must be well documented, data open access and code version controlled, but that is absolutely a requirement for working in my lab. Many people see public outreach as an integral part of what it means to be a good scholar. In fact out reach work is a condition of many grants, perhaps even one that might fund the PhD position you are discussing.

From an ethics standpoint, yes (but with caveats).
You have the premise:
The professor is asking me something unrelated to the work in order to give me the position.
If this is the case, surely it is ethical to answer with yes as it will not impact the job. I knew a superstar professor who firmly believed that scientists should never have relationships - in his interviews, he always asked "Do you want to marry at some point?" The whole faculty, of course, advised prospective students to answer with "no". This question is, in my opinion, not different then your question.
However, there are two things to consider:
(1) Probably you don't know if making videos is relevant to the position. This is very likely! So you cannot assume your premise and therefore, you would deceive the professor (in another answer, your unwillingness to make videos is described as "you are not suited for the position). In this case, a lie would be unethical.
(2) You would damage your relationship with the professor when they find out. This is very, very dangerous -- in Academia, you really need good connections, recommendation letters to survive. So from an interpersonal standpoint, it would not be okay to lie.
(For example, the superstar professor I mentioned before terminated his student's position immediately after for some bizarre reason he found out that the student was dating someone.)

I am sort of ambivalent about this answer. I agree that given the premise your answer isn't wrong, but the premise is so flawed that the answer is also not particularly helpful. Your "no marriage" example seems not very related to the actual situation that OP is in, and I don't like how this answer suggests that this two example is somehow the same.

@xleitix: I do see your point and I probably will take out this example today. However, I do not think that is premise is flawed in all cases. For many groups in my departement which I know I could safely say that making videos is completely unrelated to a PhD and I would tell friends who apply in my departement so.

If fear your argument completely rests on the flawed example; if you take it out, the argument breaks down. What remains are the caveats.

The "no relationship" example is terrible because it's a clear violation of any university's ethical values, a clear case of negative discrimination, and should actually, if the real reason, end up in termination of the Professor's tenure, however good he may be, exactly as if he fired someone after finding out they were Jewish.
From an ethics standpoint, it's also not true. The Professor is asking something he considers related to the job. If the OP does not think the Professor is correct, he's welcome to get another supervisor with different requirements. Lying is unethical here.

As to "how would videos be related to the PhD", there could be several good reasons. The most important, in my opinion, is funding. If you remember than in many universities, and for many projects, funding isn't government provided, it could well be that videos help increase the value or attraction of the research project to potential granters. It also could be that social media outreach itself is part of the research.


text:
Can admission/funding (PhD) of international student be cancelled due to corona virus situation?
Is it possible that a school cancel the admission and/or funding of an international student because he/she cannot travel because of the current travel bans? What are the possible scenarios for the admitted graduate students of fall 20? Especially what might happen to the fund? Will it be canceled if one semester is deferred?

It is possible, yes. But the situation is chaotic and will remain so for at least a month longer. Probably more. But I think such decisions won't be taken lightly.

A major issue is that US embassies and consulates have stopped handling applications for visas and international may not be able to obtain visas or might not be able to travel to the US for other reasons.  If you're trying to start a graduate program in the fall of 2020 you should talk to the international students office at your institution to see what can be done.  Right now they probably won't have any firm answers for you.

@BrianBorchers: i don't understand your comment. Is it only about US graduate schools? Or do US embassies have anything to do with graduate schools in non-US countries?

Being able to legally enter the US is a reasonable precondition for being admitted to a gradschool in the US. So that is how the closure of US embassies influences US gradschool admissions from non-US countries.

@SolarMike: I am sorry but it is not clear to me. Is Brian Borchers talking about US schools? I cannot find any information that the question is about the US.

@MaartenBuis: I think I am missing something here. How do you all know this question is about US schools?

Yes, I'm talking about US schools.  However, I wouldn't be surprised if other countries have similarly stopped processing visa applications.

@user111388 I don't say this is right (it actually annoys me greatly), but if people don't mention the country there is an almost 99.9999999% chance that the country involved is the US.

At my university (in Australia), we continue to enroll students remotely or a student can defer his/her study to the next session without losing his/her offer or scholarship.   With regards to visa, the Australian government has stopped granting visas for now due to the current situation.


text:
Can you start using your married name on publications prior to getting married, but when the marriage is soon?
Next year I am getting married and plan on changing my surname. Now I am starting to think about publishing my research can I publish under my future married name or shall I keep my maiden name for a year and switch? I don't want to deceive anyone but the appeal is that in the future someone can follow the development of my work without losing the first couple of papers.

Related posts: here, here, and here.

Possible duplicate of Indicating a name change after publication

I would say: if you have no papers already under your existing name, it will be better to use your married name on all your papers.  But if you have some papers already, then when you change is unimportant.

Also, while I don't mean to cast gloom, you may not want to make career decisions based on something that hasn't actually happened yet.  Nothing is certain in love and war.

Another option is to submit the papers under your current name. Given the time it takes for papers to be reviewed and published it's quite possible they won't be published until next year anyway, so you don't actually need to worry about this question right now. If/when the papers are accepted and their publication is imminent, you can inform the editors that you wish to change the author name by which you are identified. If you're already married by then it'll be an obvious call to make, but even if it happens sooner than that it'll likely be an easier decision, say, 4-5 months down the line.

To the close voters, I don't think this question is a dup. The linked question is about name change after publication while this question is about possible publication before name change.

@RichardErickson No, that's a completely different question.

Are you forced to change your name in your country? If not, you should accept that changing it will add confusion to anybody following your developments regardless of whether you do it sooner rather than later.

I have seen people do "S Jones L," where L. is the first initial of their married name. A bit odd, but it wokrs.

In general, there is no formal regulation about just what name you are allowed to use in your professional life.  As such, any reasonable interpretation of your current, past, or future name is acceptable.
I have, in fact, known at least one other person who did this, and it worked out just fine for her: they had a very solidly established relationship and two decades later they are still married.  Predicting the future is risky, however, and I know another person still using the name of an ex in her professional work.
There are other solutions that may work for some people as well, since your publication name is not required to match your legal name.  For example, you might choose to hyphenate or to keep publishing under your current name, even if you are planning to adopt your spouse's surname legally and socially.
Finally, it may be worth noting that ORCID aims to make these questions obsolete, but has not yet been broadly enough adopted and worked into people's thinking to effect such change.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Can a university suspend a student even when he has left university?
If a student is supposed to be punished with something like suspension, but he has finished academic requirement and left the campus(not officially graduated yet). Can the university still do anything to him?

Yes. The university can revoke the degree. Example, which was about a PhD degree being revoked because the student later went on to commit academic fraud.
If the student hasn't graduated then the university can also withhold graduation, which as far as I know is quite common. For example if the student has outstanding library loans, the university can withhold graduation until the loans are settled.

Then what about something like suspension? I mean he has left the campus

@Rapidturtle I don't understand. In this context isn't suspension similar to withholding graduation?

@Rapidturtle Really depends on the cause of the suspension, i.e. how much the student ticked off the administration to get suspended. They could almost certainly withhold graduation or officially granting the degree if they were so inclined. Administration has pretty wide latitude in such matters, and the more serious the behavior that caused the suspension (according to the school, not the student), the more likely they will play hard ball.

Actually, I think for unpaid bills most universities wouldn't "withhold graduation" per se but not give the student the diploma and refuse to send transcripts until financial obligations were met. And revoking degrees is normally applied only for the most serious infractions, such as the fraud you cite.

IME, some universities have "conduct" suspensions that are of very little relevance to someone off-campus, and primarily affect undergraduates. For example, one can be "suspended" from intramural sports or from living in a dorm. At my alma mater, this mostly happened due to drug violations, and didn't affect academic progress at all, as the point of them was to encourage students to concentrate more on academics.

@RobertColumbia Didn't students take drug get expelled?

@Rapidturtle not always, no. Almost everyone tried drugs at one point or another. If this was your tenth offense, or you were caught selling, then yes, that could get you expelled.


text:
Is it an offence to ask a professor to share a soft copy of his recent book with me for my semester?
My professor (say Mr. X), a theoretical physicist, is in charge of a course on Math Physics in the undergrads. He had co-authored a book on Statistical Mechanics but he never mentioned anything about it to us, since it had no part in that course on Math Physics.
Now, that course was 2 semesters back. And in this semester, I have to study Statistical Mechanics, and this course is conducted by another professor (say Mr. Y). Mr. Y named a few standard books that almost all universities follow (Reif, Greiner, Huang) but not Mr. X's book (BTW X and Y are not enemies). But I came across X's book in google books and I liked it very much. But there is no soft copy of the book available on the net.
What I want to know is:

Should I ask Mr. X to give me a soft copy of that book?

The book is not old at all ( published in Dec 2016 ) and well available in the market. I dont know whether it sells good or not, since it was published only 10 months back and very people among my friends and seniors know about this book (although Amazon shows it out of stock). The book is really good and I have a nice relation (as student and teacher) with Mr. X. But there are commercial sides also that he might think, regarding the book.
So will he be offended if I ask him about a soft copy of his book?
In that case, how should I approach him?

Does your school library have one? If not, perhaps you could ask to borrow a hard copy.

@Dawn No it doesnt have one.

Have you considered asking your librarian to buy a physical copy for the library? (You might be surprised by how much librarians can value that kind of feedback.) Or, alternatively, suggesting to the professor that they donate a physical copy to the library?

As an author I'd feel uncomfortable when someone asks me to share a digital copy of my book. I find it very much different from sharing digital copies of papers. An author of a journal paper gets these days a digital offprint (basically a pdf file), which one can share privately with colleagues. However as an author of a book you get (at least in my discipline) several free hard copies, which one can distribute among the dearest colleagues, but as their number is finite one may not be not always willing to share these with students. Sharing digital copies (which can be the technically last proofs the author gets before the book is printed) of the book may be a breach of the contract the author signed with the publisher, and one would feel uneasy if one has to choose whether to break the terms of the contract or to say no to a nice student interested in one's work.
So if I were you (and as I myself do when I miss a book written by someone I know well) I'd try one of the following: 1) request that your library purchase a digital (or print) copy of the book; 2) order the book via interlibrary loan; 3) buy the book. Otherwise you may send the author a nice letter saying that you are very much interested in their book and asking if they could advise you how to get hold this hard to find publication. (But again if you are at a university that has a library with access to ILL it would imply that you find it easier to trouble the author rather than order the book via ILL; hence I'd resort to this solution only if you are at an institution that doesn't provide other access options [which is surely the case in many countries with undeveloped library systems], and your request would look more reasonable if you explain in more detail why you cannot get the book without the author's help).

If you are asking whether it will get you in trouble, the answer is no. You are allowed to ask questions at an institution of higher learning. Never be afraid to ask questions, unless it’s illegal. For example, if you were to approach this professor and say that you couldn’t find his textbook on any of the popular pirate sites like the pirate bay, yeah, that might get you in trouble.
But asking if you could get a copy of his book would not get you in trouble given the assumption that you attend there. He might be willing to loan you a copy given that you are trying to learn. But could he get offended? Definitely. If he took the time to research and publish this work, and you do not want to pay for it, that could definitely offend him. It won’t get you in any trouble, but it also could be seen as a little bit rude because you didn’t think his work was worth it enough to purchase. You have to understand, around 50 years ago, there wasn’t the World Wide Web like there is today where you can just go find everything and hopefully get something without paying for it. If you wanted something you bought it, publication or otherwise.


text:
Can students maintain good relationships with instructors if they skip large numbers of lectures?
I'm a third year undergrad in a public university in Texas. Because of a personal situation, I'm currently unable to attend most lectures (lately none) of a particular math class. However, I have a friend in  my section who keeps me updated with the material covered, homework assignments, and exam dates.
I had previously spoken to the professor, explaining that I might be missing sessions throughout the semester, and she seemed understanding; lately, however, I stopped going altogether, and I've exclusively shown up for mid-term examinations (on which I do ok). To my surprise, I've been able to teach myself quite well, and, given that it saves me a considerable amount of time, I've been thinking of adopting this practice in the future.
So: my question is: assuming that attendance isn't compulsory, is it reasonable for students to skip a large numbers of lectures? Will most instructors take this personally? Would there be other unanticipated consequences?

Depending on class size, most professors won't notice if students are missing or not. When I miss someone, then this person has been active before and then I would notice the absence, but if this happens, I usually ask them if there are problems.
The other view on it is: if attending the lecture gives no benefit, then the professor should ask himself/herself why they are teaching like this. For example, I have some of my lectures on video and students can freely decide to show up or watch the old videos. Still, most are showing up and they usually are having better grades then the ones which don't show up. But this is not because I downgrade the others, it's because they understand the topics more deeply thanks to the discussions in the lectures.

I suspect students who show up to lectures are more motivated than students who don't, and accordingly get better grades.

@Allure definitely, yes! But even those students are sometimes unable to attend, and their feedback is, that they are missing the discussions and they'll have to spend much more time with the respective topics.

If no students turn up to the lecture anymore then it is time to think about the teaching. But if one student decided it is no benefit to them and their specific learning style?

@skymningen this is perfectly fine for me, especially if they are doing fine.

I had a firm policy about not giving the same lecture twice.  I didn't care if you missed class, but when you came around later and tried to cause me extra work, then I got a bit bent.  "Professor, I missed class all last week because of my sister's wedding, can we go over what I missed?"  No, I'm helping the real students now.
Different courses need different levels and types of engagement.  You may be doing fine in this current class, but I wouldn't try this policy for German or music appreciation.  Also, rubbing elbows with educated people (like your professors) makes your brain better.  It's an intangible, but very important part of your education.

How firm is this firm policy? If a student is taken ill and misses class for a week, would you also refuse any assistance in catching up?

I understand where you’re coming from. I wouldn’t expect you, or any professor rather, to reteach a topic for me during office hours, especially when I’ve deliberately missed class. Thank you for your advice.

@MJeffryes Very firm.  It was on my syllabuses that one should make a friend right away to prepare for such absences.  (I would have 300 to 400 students per semester.  Someone is always sick, in jail, at a wedding, etc.)  That said, it's not like I'd give "no assistance," but that i won't give the same lecture twice.  Not even an abbreviated version.

@B.Goddard: The idea to specify this on the syllabus is excellent (+1).  That gives excellent coverage for the situation.  I think I will steal that idea.

This is a question you should probably better ask someone local, like your student's union or other students.
For my experience, most professors don't care or don't notice, but there were also a few who ridiculed those students and gave them automatically worse marks in the exam. (But those were only a few).
Also see this question: Is it okay for a professor to leave the classroom only 5 min past the class start if nobody has shown up?
and in particular, the answer by problemofficer. This (highly upvoted answer) seems to suggest (at least to me) that some professors take it personally if students are not present.


text:
Are there any countries whose academics/editors are prohibited from working with North Korean affiliated researchers?
Quote from Swiss sanction on North Korea:

Any scientific and technical cooperation with persons or groups officially sponsored by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or representing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea shall be suspended; with the exception of cooperation in the medical field.

Does this mean Swiss academics/editors cannot review/handle North Korean papers, unless the field is medicine? If yes: which other countries also has a similar sanction in place? If no: are there any countries which does have such a sanction?
Related: Does Iran's sanction play a pivotal role in rejecting papers from a journal?, but this question is for a different sanctioned country.

Please define "North Korean papers". For example, a North Korean researcher can in principle work on the climate of North Korea and even apply for Swiss funding:
https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/representations-and-travel-advice/dpr-korea/switzerland-dpr-korea.html
North Korean researchers are eligible to apply for Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships.

@EarlGrey North Korean paper: a paper in which at least one author has a North Korean affiliation.

corrected the title.

To me it reads like the government shouldn't sponsor such cooperation, not that such cooperation is banned in the sense that the academic would go to jail if they violate this rule.

This Swiss sanction is actually the implementation of UN security council resolution 2321.

The Security Council [...]

Decides that all Member States shall suspend scientific and technical
cooperation involving persons or groups officially sponsored by or
representing the DPRK except for medical exchanges

https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/s/res/2321-%282016%29
This resolution is binding according to international law. I haven't found a list which countries have actually implemented the resolution, but I assume such list will consist of at least most countries from the Western world.

When it comes to countries like Israel or Russia that have been targeted by broad sanctions movements but are somewhat prominent, many people defend the value of free basic scientific collaboration to humanity over any marginal benefit from trying to use it as a tool for political pressure, but with a country like the DPRK, everyone, even China, just goes ahead! Quod licet Iovi, no licet bovi?

Your link is broken.  Also, does this apply to individuals or only governments?

@Obie2.0 There is a big difference because it is the policy of North Korea to always prioritize the military.  I do not know if North Korea has any significant scientific activity, but if it does, then it would prioritize the military.  Also, North Korea has a policy of not relying on other countries.  As a result, this sanction could be considered retaliation rather than coercion.

@AnonymousPhysicist thank you, I hope the new link is more stable. The resolution applies to states only, since it clearly states it applies to "all Member States". As I wrote, I assume that most states from the Western world will have implemented the resolution in their national law, which probably will apply to individuals.

The European Union ratified on February 2017 the additional sanctions against the DPRK: transposition of UN sanctions (UNSC resolution 2321), including

the measures to suspend scientific and technical cooperation, except
for medical exchanges


text:
Are post-docs required for faculty jobs in statistics?
Is it possible to become a tenure-track assistant professor of statistics department directly after the PhD, without having to do a postdoc? I'm interested in the top schools in the US (i.e., the Ivy League).
In Canada, a good PhD graduate from a statistics program would go into academia without having to do the postdoc, but I am not sure what the situation is like in the US.

I hope your'e aware that you are shooting at an awfully small target. There are only 8 ivy league schools and most of them are pretty small. They also pretty much get their pick of top candidates every year and if their programs are small they won't hire every year.

A related question (whether it's possible to become a professor without a PhD) already exists: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8428/professorship-without-phd-in-the-united-states. Accordingly I don't see why this is off-topic. Duplicate maybe, but not off-topic.

@Allure I agree that it's on-topic. However, given that the only possible answer is "You can get any job if you can demonstrate that you're good enough" and that the question kind of contradicts itself (the asker wants to know about "the situation in the US" but asks only about the Ivy League), I'm not sure it's worth reopening.

I know of a statistics department (not Ivy League) that just hired two tenure track faculty members: one is finishing a post doc, and one has just finished a PhD. Also note that of the top 10 US statistics departments maybe half are Ivy League.

It is possible to get a faculty job without a postdoc - in fact it's possible to get a faculty job without a PhD (see Noah Snyder's answer to a related question).
Of course, what is possible and what is likely can be completely different. It's possible to be dealt a royal flush in poker but not at all likely. There are hundreds of thousands of professors worldwide and chances are the number who haven't done a postdoc can be counted on two hands. Since you're further restricting the sample to the top schools, well, let's just say that it's about as likely as being dealt a royal flush.


text:
Will UK/US universities understand that in my country, it is common to deliberately fail and retake classes?
I wanna apply for Master’s programs at LSE and Oxbridge starting next year. I’m currently on completing my undergraduate studies, have the equivalent of a first-class honours will most likely graduate with distinction and Top 5% of my class.
So far so good.
However, I have just read here that it can be quite an issue with admission officers if there are bad grades and/or failed classes on the undergrad transcript. It appears that bad grades and/or failing classes are much more troublesome in the UK and USA. I heard that you can’t just resit a class and that such grades may even count toward your final grade (USA).
The thing is, where I’m from, it’s totally normal to (deliberately) fail a class for whatever reason. In fact, it’s pretty simple. If you fail a class it doesn’t count towards your final grade (why should it, if you didn’t pass?) and you can retake it whenever you want. At my university you’re even allowed to retake exams you have already successfully passed, a good thing if you want to optimize grades. Hence, it’s obvious that little attention is given to a fail or whatsoever.
I’m concerned, however, how this could be perceived with graduate admission at the top universities in the UK. On my home university transcript, failed classes doesn’t show up, only passed ones. I only have two classes where I passed with a 3 but I’m gonna retake them next semester and get a first on them. Unfortunately, I did an exchange in the US last semester where I passed two courses (A-, B+) but failed two and q-dropped one. I failed because I knew it was easier at home and I had other things in mind during this time. By now, I have already completed these classes I failed in the US and got excellent grades on them.
In light of these circumstances, is there even the slightest possibility that graduate admission would reject me despite a first-class degree just because there are 2 failed courses on an exchange semester transcript? Given that in my country the culture of failing classes for whatever reasons is commonly practiced. Does graduate admission generally understand those critical differences between UK vs non-UK universiy life?

What? Why on Earth wouldn't a grade you earned count toward your overall GPA because your failed? Where is this a common practice?

I would also be interested to know what country this is -- I have never heard of such a thing. At any rate, do I understand correctly that there is no possible way the grad schools will find out about the courses you failed and retook at home, and thus the only possible issue is the ones you failed and retook on exchange?

@AzorAhai E.g. in Italy: I've described the practice in this answer. See also the other answer for Germany.

@cag51 E.g., see my comment above.

@MassimoOrtolano That answer doesn't explain why a failed class wouldn't count toward your overall grade though, unless I misunderstood your point?

@AzorAhai You're right, it doesn't. But you have to think that there was an era were the pass rate at the exams in certain fields was maybe 10-20%, and virtually all students have many failed exams. No one would have got a decent grade if you counted the failures.

@MassimoOrtolano I suppose I'm still not following

@AzorAhai To make a practical example, it is not uncommon for a good student to retake half to almost all exams at least once. Top students may fail just a couple of times. If you count failed exams as 0, probably most of the students would not be able to reach enough of an average grade to graduate.

@MassimoOrtolano  is failing an exam the same as failing a class?  Does it appear on the transcript?

@ScottSeidman There's no concept of failing a class in this system. Students can fail exams, not classes. No, failures no longer appear on the transcript (they did in a distant past), even though they are (or can be) recorded.

@MassimoOrtolano Do you not get grades for classes in Italy?

@AzorAhai I don't understand: you get the grade that you got at the exam associated to the class, when you pass it. Suppose that you fail three times the exam of a certain class and then, the fourth time (can be, say, two years later), you get 27/30 (grades are in thirties): your grade for that class will be 27. Failures are discarded.

@AzorAhai: It's also a practice in some U.S. colleges, e.g., at CUNY: if a student gets an "F" in a course, repeats it and gets a "C" or higher, then both grades stay on the transcript but the "F" is dropped from GPA calculations (effective Sep-1, 1990). I hate it because I get students scoring a "D" who come and ask me to "F" them instead in light of this policy.

@AzorAhai Note also that up to a few years ago, a student could – by law – reject a grade they didn't like, even if it were a pass one, and retake the exam. Now, to my knowledge, this law is no longer active and in principle students cannot reject grades anymore, but some professors still allow this practice (indeed, it increases the backlog at the exams).

@MassimoOrtolano This is very educative for me, because this is not at all how it worked for me in the UK and I wasn't aware if this is how things like e.g. GPA work in USA or Canada. And this would make a difference to how I and my colleagues view transcripts for e.g. PhD applications, because there's a perception in the UK that "resits are easier"

@MassimoOrtolano I am also confused. In systems I'm used to, you take three classes, then you get your grades at the end of the term, except in unusual circumstances (like illness). What goes on an Italian transcript if you failed the exam up until you pass it? I'm familiar with Daniel's system, but you have to retake the whole class (and you only get to once), you don't get to just retake individual exams.

Also, sorry ecobiz for flooding you post with comments, but can you also explain what a q-drop is? That's not a term I'm familiar with in the USA, so it's likely not that universal.

@AzorAhai A class is delivered once a year, but there are several exam sessions along the year in which you can take the exam for that class, not just at the end of the term and you don't have to take it at the end of the term. If you fail the exam, you don't have to retake the class (you may have to after a few years, though).

@MassimoOrtolano In Italy, is the exam the only thing your grade for a class is based on?

@YemonChoi Different education systems evolved in different ways. Somehow related,  in this comment I describe a probable case of culture shock at the exams.

@AzorAhai It depends on the class: sone classes have extra activities like team projects that can contribute to the final grade (usually up to 10-20% of the grade). For instance in one of my classes students can optionally discuss a paper on the exam topics and get a few bonus points.

Let me try and give an answer from the perspective of someone who is involved with, but not responsible for, PhD admissions in my discipline (mathematics) at a UK university. I know that you are asking about a Master's place, but I will try to make points which also apply to some extent in that setting.
Standard disclaimers apply: while I hope what I say is not inaccurate, it does not represent the official opinion of my department, my employers, etc.
I'll confine myself to the final parts of your post/question:

In light of these circumstances, is there even the slightest possibility that graduate admission would reject me despite a first-class degree just because there are 2 failed courses on an exchange semester transcript? Given that in my country the culture of failing classes for whatever reasons is commonly practiced.

Rejection or success has to be understood against the context of who else is applying for a  limited number of places. So I would say that there is a slight possibility, in the sense that when it comes to ranking candidates and making offers, the two fails might be noted and interpreted as a sign of some deficiencies, as compared with some other applicant who has the same overall GPA or degree mark but doesn't have those fails. However, there may be people on the relevant departmental committee who know that different countries have different systems, and who could then counter that interpretation with context such as the explanation that you give in your question.
Put another way: I don't think a 1st class degree with 2 failed courses on an exchange semester would be ranked below someone with an upper 2nd and no fails; but when compared with someone who has a 1st class degree and no fails, you might find yourself unlucky.
That said: my impression is that provided all other marks are good, a couple of low marks are not regarded as so significant, provided that the good marks are not in subjects/courses regarded as "easy" and the low marks are not in subjects/courses regarded as "hard".

Does graduate admission generally understand those critical differences between UK vs non-UK university life?

As I've mentioned above, there may be people who do understand, but this is very hard to predict. For instance, I have a colleague who did his PhD in Rome, and so he is able to give very informed opinions on how we should interpret transcripts from applicants who did their undergraduate degrees in Italy. I have worked in Canada, so if I see a transcript from someone from that system I have some idea how to interpret the transcript and the likely content of courses. Other departments in other universities may have similar random connections.
If you are very concerned that these marks on the transcript could jeopardise your chances, then I think the best thing to do is to ask one of your reference-writers to make some brief comment about how the system where you did your exchange visit differs from the one where you did your main degree, and how (in their view) those fails do not represent your true potential.
To finish: you should nevertheless reflect on the fact that if you do want to do a Master's in the UK then the mode and culture of assessment will be different from what you previously experienced and are used to. Lecturers are unlikely to make allowances for a student who seems, from their point of view, to give up at a certain point because they wish to take the hit of a bad grade at an early stage with the hope of then ratcheting it up. They are not going to set assessments which cater to that way of thinking. I mention this not to claim that the UK approach is better, or that the UK courses are harder (they might actually be easier!) but because you need to know what you are getting into.

+1 for the last paragraph. If I were on a admissions committee, I would wonder if a student who is used to retaking exams will be able to adapt to a program where that is not allowed except for illness or another major reason, not just didn't study enough.

That‘s how it works at German-speaking universities: You‘re given a set of moduls you‘ve to successfully (!) complete in order to earn your degree. When you do each modul and the order thereof is mostly completely irrelevant. You can even only do one course in one semester without facing any consequences. This is because German-speaking universities were built and live on the concept of flexibility. The system is intended not to be as school-like as anglo-saxon universities. To infer that these students wouldn‘t be able to adapt is just staggering imho.

The comparison that a first-class honours student with distinction in the top percentile of his cohort, who deliberately failed two classes, would „probably“ not be ranked below an 2nd upper student...unbelieveable. This comparison is like saying „France may be world cup champion, but they didn‘t play well in one game (with their B-players).. but still they‘re probably not ranked lower than Egypt“

@ecobiz I am sorry if you do not like my message. I did say that the UK course might be easier. You quite deliberately did not mention your discipline or the country in which you are doing your undergrad, so I was forced to write quite generic advice. I am sure you will appreciate that "distinction in the top percentile of his cohort" is a relative measure. If you want to specify your question to make it clear we should be thinking of applicants from e.g. Bonn or Moscow, be my guest.

@ecobiz I am also sorry if you took offence with my last paragraph. The fact remains, if you want to do a Master's in a certain system, you should know the rules of the system. I did not mean to imply that students from outside would not be able to adapt, I merely warned that they needed to be aware that the ground rules might be different before the start of the program(me), not during it

I‘m sorry that I forgot to mention; I‘m doing my undergrad in Austria