Chris Avenir, a student at Ryerson University, is facing 146 counts of academic misconduct after being an administrator in a Facebook study group for a freshman-level chemistry course. Study groups is not a new concept at universities, so why do Facebook study groups qualify as a violation of cheating rules? Perhaps it's because a Facebook study group is much easier to track, monitor, and gather substantial proof regarding cheating.
Avenir faces one count of academic misconduct for each student that was a member of the group, regardless of the student's participation level in the Facebook study group, and he faces possible expulsion. But Avenir was not even the one that created the group -- he joined and became an administrator of the group, which lead to the charges.
But why should Facebook study groups be treated any different than traditional study groups? I'm sure at any given time you could step onto the Ryerson University library and find groups of students studying together for the same chemistry course. Those students, however, aren't facing an absurd number of academic misconduct charges.
Just because Facebook is there, and it makes it much easier to track and see everything discussed, doesn't mean it should be treated so much differently by the hard-to-interpret cheating laws. Give these kids a break. These are the kind of kids universities like Ryerson want. They actively seek out others to discuss classwork and help comprehend the subject-matter. What about the students who rarely turn in homework and never show up to class? I think they would be much more worthy of the university's time and effort.
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