Plagiarism

Since I work for a university let me preface my remarks by saying that the following is my opinion and does not represent the opinion of my employers yada yada yada...

Look at this from the point of view of the university itself. If you went to them with the information that you currently have, there is really very little that can be done with it. You have been told, by Dave, that Phil has approached Dave with a proposal that may amount to fraud. As it stands, this is little more than hearsay (it might be a cruel joke, for example).

For the university to act, it needs a good standard of proof that a fraudulant act has taken place (or that a conspiracy to defraud is taking place; much harder to prove). The university will anyway be expecting that a proportion of the students doing resit assignments will cheat; they will have procedures in place to look out for this.

Dave has very wisely refused the advance of Phil; pretty much the only thing that RDM can do in this position is to congratulate Dave for his fortitude and, perhaps, to warn other students on the course that someone may be proposing some fraudulent activity that, if they they were to co-operate, would see them lose their degree as well as Phil!
 
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It's a difficult one, if he is going to get found out I would say that is a reason to grass, not the other way around, if he can buy his way through and not be found out then perhaps he just struggles with the exam system where the criteria isn't well match for the professions they are supposed to provide entry to.

If he's just a lazy **** to the point that he couldn't even manage to make himself look busy and become a typical manager and wouldn't last anywhere, he shouldn't be taking up a placing that someone will lose out on because of his bought credentials.

I'm not for playing by the rules no matter what, I think the crux of it is for me would be whether I thought he was trying but just struggling. Otherwise I'd sink him in a heartbeat.

I get tired of so many little knobs being protected by some sort of "don't be a grass" code, If you don't want someone to be a grass, then don't be a knob.
 
Leave the fellow alone. I was in a similar situation myself, someone was in a real fix for getting work done. Didn't see the issue myself, the fellow got away with it, got a nice job and is coping very nicely.

Why snitch and possibly screw someone up?
 
I think for me the situation would be different if Phil had contacted me directly - contact via an intermediary such as Dave means that I wouldn't be entirely certain it was his request. I don't know why Dave would want to mess up Phil's chances if he is making up the allegation but it's certainly something I would consider.

If, however, you have direct evidence that you can trace back to Phil then it might be different and I'd be thinking harder about reporting it. It doesn't tend to sit well with me having people profit from the work of others in this way.

Assuming the scenario is as presented then it is possible the two (or more) rejections will spur him on to do the work the work himself but I'd think it unlikely given his apparent instant reaction to the first rejection is to ask if someone else would do it for them. We also don't know if he has approached anyone else so there may be a long list of people he's trying to get to complete this assignment for him so there may be a pattern of behaviour here.

Aside from that congratulations on passing and good luck with the PGCE.
 
If a mate asked me for help doing some work I wouldn't say no. I would sit with them and give them a hand. Not do it to completion
 
Just leave the situation well alone, not out of some pathetic playground sense of 'dont be a grass', but because getting yourself embroiled in a plagiarism case at uni that might result in you being investigated (has Phil asked you because the word on the street is that you do this sort of thing? etc.)

Not the sort of noise you want to surround yourself with, just say no and keep your distance.
 
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