The Australian National University (ANU) has apologised to about 300 students who were told that they would all be penalised on an assignment because some of their classmates had allegedly cheated.
The third-year computer sciences class thought the academic year had ended, until they received an unexpected email on Monday from class convenor Hanna Kurniawati saying they would all be docked 30 points on a final project for which grades had already been awarded.
"We have received massive academic misconduct reports that are unable to trace the perpetrators," Dr Kurniawati wrote.
"Due to this, unfortunately, we need to put a 30 points penalty on everyone's [project] mark."
Dr Kurniawati's email also provoked anger from students after she instructed them not to complain to teachers, but instead place the blame on their colleagues who had allegedly cheated.
The decision caused deep upset among students who said it had already been an exceptionally stressful year.
School reverses marking penalty, continues cheating investigation
In an email sent just after 6:00pm on Tuesday, the ANU's director of computer sciences Tony Hosking wrote to apologise, and inform students the decision had been reversed.
"The school apologises for the confusion and any distress caused by the notice yesterday," Professor Hosking wrote.
"We recognise that the message lacked precision and should have been clearer. It is our intention to learn from this and do better in future."
Professor Hosking said it had not been the school's intention to administer a group punishment for the alleged plagiarism.
He explained that the spread of marks was unusually skewed and so, "as is procedure", a standard adjustment was applied.
Separately, he said, there was evidence of widespread academic misconduct.
"Nonetheless, in order to alleviate any possible suspicion of the connection between routine mark adjustments and the detection of widespread academic misconduct, we are reinstating the original marks for this assessment for all students," he wrote.
"We will also be undertaking a careful and thorough investigation of the academic misconduct evidence."
Computer Science Students Association president Felix Friedlander said he appreciated the issue could be resolved quickly.
"This incident has highlighted how in the face of rampant academic misconduct, even routine measures like scaling can become a punishment on honest students," Mr Friedlander said.
"For now, though, this seems like a positive outcome for the students in that course."
Mr Friedlander said it was critical the allegations of cheating now be thoroughly — and fairly — investigated.
