Professor accuses Latina student of plagiarism for using the word ‘hence’ in essay
A Latina student at Suffolk University in Boston was hurt when her professor accused her of plagiarism because she used the word “hence” in an essay.
“This is NOT your word,” the professor wrote on Tiffany Martínez’s essay, also writing, “Please go back and indicate where you cut and paste.”
Furthermore, when the professor handed her essay back to Martínez, the professor said, “This is not your language.”
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“She spoke loudly enough that students at the back of the room heard and asked if I was OK after class,” Martínez told BuzzFeed.
“I spent the rest of the class going back through every single line, every single citation to make sure that nothing had been plagiarized, even though I knew I hadn’t,” she added.
She then took to her blog that afternoon to write a post called “Academia, Love Me Back” to call out the racism she had experienced.
“My last name and appearance immediately instills a set of biases before I have the chance to open my mouth,” she said. “As a minority in my classrooms, I continuously hear my peers and professors use language that both covertly and overtly oppresses the communities I belong to. Therefore, I do not always feel safe when I attempt to advocate for my people in these spaces.”
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“In this interaction, my undergraduate career was both challenged and critiqued. It is worth repeating how my professor assumed I could not use the word “hence,” a simple transitory word that connected two relating statements. The professor assumed I could not produce quality research. The professor read a few pages that reflected my comprehension of complex sociological theories and terms and invalidated it all. Their blue pen was the catalyst that opened an ocean of self-doubt that I worked so hard to destroy. In front of my peers, I was criticized by a person who had the academic position I aimed to acquire. I am hurting because my professor assumed that the only way I could produce content as good as this was to “cut and paste.” I am hurting because for a brief moment I believed them.”
The professor is now being investigated by the Suffolk University Sociology Department.
“The head of the department is very familiar with my work and my writing,” Martínez said. “He looked over my paper and had nothing but good things to say.”
