When Did You Expose Your Professor’s Dark Secret? [FULL STORY]

The Integrity Notice

Around 10:30 it finally showed up with the subject line “Academic Integrity Violation Notice.” My stomach dropped as I opened it.

The email said everyone involved in the alcohol substitution scheme would receive an automatic F unless we each submitted written confession letters by Monday admitting our role. He listed all eight of our names and said he had documentation of everything we did.

The email ended by saying this was his only offer and there would be no negotiations. I read it three times trying to figure out if there was any way out.

My whole body felt numb thinking about how this would tank my GPA and destroy my grad school applications. The next morning I woke up to another email, but this one was from Dr. Copeland sent to the whole department.

It said the administration was aware of an ongoing investigation into academic conduct matters and that all grading for Professor Mahoney’s classes was temporarily on hold pending review. It wasn’t much, but at least it meant he couldn’t just fail us immediately.

Seeking Guidance

The Ombudsperson

I didn’t trust the administration to actually protect us though since they’d ignored our complaints for weeks. I spent the rest of the morning googling university policies and student rights trying to find something that could help us.

That’s when I found information about the ombudsperson office that supposedly offered neutral guidance for conflicts between students and faculty. I made an appointment online for the next day hoping they could tell us our options.

The website said they were confidential and independent from the regular administration, which sounded promising. I texted the group about it, but only got a few responses since everyone was still freaking out.

A Professional Assessment

The next afternoon I walked into Madeline Turner’s office in the student services building. She was this calm older woman who offered me water and told me to take my time explaining the situation.

I told her everything from Professor Mahoney showing up drunk to the beer swapping to Freddy breaking into his house. She took notes without interrupting or making any judgmental faces.

When I got to the part about Janet being his daughter she raised her eyebrows but stayed professional. After I finished she leaned back in her chair and explained that we had a complicated situation with violations on multiple sides.

“We definitely broke student conduct codes by tampering with his property and Freddy committed criminal trespass, but Professor Mahoney also violated university policies by threatening retaliatory grading and using his position to intimidate students.” She said.

Planning the Defense

She explained that both sides had legitimate complaints that needed proper investigation through official channels. Turner pulled out a folder and started writing down names and numbers for different offices.

She said we needed to contact student conduct immediately to self-report before Professor Mahoney filed his complaint. She also gave me information for campus legal aid who could advise us on the criminal aspects of Freddy’s situation.

The most important thing was documenting everything and avoiding any direct contact with Professor Mahoney while the investigation proceeded. She made copies of the emails I’d brought and said she would reach out to the appropriate offices to ensure proper procedures were followed.

I left her office with a thick folder of resources and phone numbers feeling like maybe we had a chance after all. That evening we all met back in the library to figure out what to do with the information Turner gave us.

Building the Case

Gathering Evidence

Romeo pulled out his laptop and started making a spreadsheet while the rest of us divided up tasks. I volunteered to create a timeline of all the times Professor Mahoney showed up drunk or acted weird in class.

Everyone started sharing their stories and dates while I typed everything into a document. We had the time he threw a student’s paper across the room because the margins were wrong.

There was the day he spent 20 minutes talking about his divorce instead of teaching. Three people saw him drinking from a flask during the midterm exam.

The list kept growing and I realized we had way more evidence than I thought. My phone buzzed with a text from Janet asking if we could talk privately.

She said she was sorry for not telling us about her dad and begged us not to make things worse. She wanted to try talking to him again if we just backed off for a while.

I showed the text to Romeo, who shook his head. He said we couldn’t trust Professor Mahoney to change without pressure.

Legal Counsel

The next morning I met Freddy outside the campus legal aid office in the student center. He looked scared and kept checking over his shoulder like the cops might show up any second.

We walked in together and sat down with Sheila Corbett, who had this calm way of talking that made us both relax a little. She explained that breaking and entering was serious, but cooperation could help reduce the charges or get him into a diversion program.

She said the fact that nothing was actually stolen and no damage was done besides the window helped his case. Freddy kept nodding and taking notes while she talked about different options.

Corbett told him he should self-report to student conduct before the police got involved because it would show he was taking responsibility. We left her office and met up with the group to discuss whether reporting himself would make Freddy look guilty or responsible.

Half of us thought it was smart to get ahead of it while the others worried it would just give them more evidence against him. Romeo was searching through university policies on his phone when he suddenly sat up straight and started reading out loud.

The anti-retaliation policy said students who report faculty misconduct are protected from grade punishment or other academic consequences. We all looked at each other, realizing this might be the leverage we needed against Professor Mahoney’s threats.

The Escalation

A Faltering Bargain

I forwarded the policy to everyone and we started feeling less scared about failing the class. Janet texted the group saying she’d met with her dad privately and he was willing to consider getting help if we stopped pursuing complaints.

It sounded like he was just trying to bargain his way out of trouble and I didn’t believe he’d actually follow through. Romeo spoke up.

“Alcoholics make promises all the time but don’t keep them without real consequences pushing them.” Romeo said.

The Syllabus Change

We decided to keep documenting everything while giving Janet a chance to work on her dad. Three days later we walked into class and Professor Mahoney was standing at the front looking completely sober but angry.

He announced he was changing the syllabus to make the final exam worth 70% of our grade. Everyone in the room started whispering because we all knew this was punishment for what happened.

Even students who weren’t involved in our plan looked worried because nobody was prepared for that much weight on one test. I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the new grading scale on the board as evidence.

After class my email showed a message from Aldis Shaw at student conduct scheduling individual meetings with everyone in our group. I spent that whole night organizing all my emails and screenshots into folders and printing everything out.