College of Nursing academic misconduct charges dismissed

The controversial academic misconduct charges against Dirisu Musa and Parveen "Terry" Kumar were dismissed last Monday. According to Musa, the academic panel sent them a letter dated Jan. 23 saying all charges had been dismissed. Musa and Kumar are still disappointed with the process however. "I want to express my profound disappointment with Dr. [Cathy] Dearman and Ms. [Heather] Hall," Musa said. "With the countless number of lies told during the hearing, it is a show of shame on their part." Both students are weighing their options as to what actions they will proceed with in the wake of the dismissals. According to Musa, he was able to contradict some of the charges of what Dearman alleged was cheating by playing audio recordings of her own voice telling them what was allowed and what wasn't allowed. Musa and Kumar said Dearman had previously condemned student-to-student interaction. Musa and Kumar feel they were singled out because they were international students and point out other inconsistencies in Dearman's charges against them as evidence. Donna Lee, another College of Nursing student, has accused the University of going into her e-mail to search for interaction between her and Musa to use as evidence of academic misconduct. "Why would the University be monitoring my e-mail?" said Musa. "It is offensive to me." Musa and Kumar asked for an apology but say they have not received one. "We view this as discrimination and we will prove it," Kumar said. "We feel we are being singled out because we are both international students," Musa said. Kumar produced a copy of Dearman's academic misconduct complaint where it says he made a 76 and 80, respectively, on his first two tests, but he had made a 90 on the second test. Kumar felt that Dearman had made that error intentionally so she could make a stronger case before the College of Nursing Academic Standards Committee. Both Musa and Kumar say they do not want publicity and are only pursuing the matter further to prevent it from happening in the future. However, the demeanor of the committee pleased both students. "Before this, we had lost all confidence in the College of Nursing, but the outcome of the hearing disproved this," said Musa. "We have credible professors that are willing to stand for the truth." The document in question had been passed between several other students according to Musa, but they had not been charged. A Jan. 12 letter from Dr. Barbara Broome to Donna Lee stated Lee would not be charged with academic misconduct for her assistance in the matter. "I would want to ask Dr. [Patsy] Covey why would the University make a deal with a student who received and is also in possession of this document when 'The Lowdown' says giving or receiving unauthorized aid constitutes academic misconduct?"