The story of when I cheated involves a rather unfair experience for me, because the consequences far outweighed the actions.

At a university in Maine, some classmates and I were assigned to do a group project. We split up the paper into sections, one for each member. I trusted the people I was working with, so I didn’t feel the need to look over their work.

Without my knowledge, one of the members plagiarized his entire section of the paper. So the teacher called us into his office and told us that we would all get a zero on the project. Then, he said he was going to inform the vice president that we cheated.

The professor caught the plagiarized section because it was easily recognizable as not our work. As a result, I was suspended for a year from that university—and the offense will stay on my record for five years.

I did not personally cheat, but I do take responsibility because my name was on the paper. The member of my group who cheated said he did it because he didn’t want to do the work assigned to him.

I feel my suspension is a little unfair, but I understand and I should have been more aware about what every group member was turning in.

I will never be involved in any kind of cheating again because it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

Kevin Pollock is a second-year environmental science major.