Gone are the days of forged doctor's excuses and computers that crash the day an assignment is due.
A new Web site, www.corrupted-files.com, promises to do away with excuses of the past by allowing students to e-mail purposely corrupted files to professors in order to buy time to finish their work.
The site, which offers Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents for $3.95, does not identify its Webmaster and states on the home page to keep the site a secret.
Joey Burns, a sophomore in supply chain management, said he thinks students who use this site to buy time are cheating.
"Everybody has to be dealt with on the same time line," Burns said. "It's not fair for one student to get to turn their work in late."
However, the FAQ section of the Web site does encourage students to only send a corrupted file to a professor as a last resort and to always ask for a deadline extension first.
John Hagerty, a professor of English, said he now requires his students to submit work in person rather than via e-mail after having issues with students sending him incompatible files.
"Usually there were two issues," Hagerty said. "Sometimes it would just not be compatible and I wasn't able to download it and I would just e-mail them back and say, 'I'm not able to get that.' Two, sometimes you worry about viruses."
Burns said about half of his professors at Auburn have required work to be submitted via e-mail, while the rest require it be turned in during class time.
Hagerty said it is not fair for students to e-mail corrupted files in order to buy time.
"Even if they're not getting it in as good of shape as it could be, you don't want to be letting people get around the rules," Hagerty said.
Hagerty said though he has not been suspicious that students have e-mailed him corrupted files, he does think professors should watch out for them.
"If students are doing this more and more, and I suspect that will be happening a lot more if there are ways they can get around the rules, then it may be something we should take a closer look at," Hagerty said.
Emmett Winn, interim associate provost, said Auburn's records show that since fall 2004 there have not been any cases of students intentionally using corrupted files submitted to the Office of the Provost.
However, Winn said Section 1201 (#7) of Auburn's Academic Honesty Code states that "altering or misusing a document is a violation and that associated violations may be referred to the committee for action."
Winn said the punishment for violating the Honesty Code varies according to the severity of the situation.
"So, the evidence for each case is considered by the committee in determining appropriate sanctions," Winn said. "Possible sanctions include a zero grade on the assignment, an F in the course and/or suspension."
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