VANCOUVER — There are two new scarlet letters in academia.
Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., recently introduced a grade called FD to deal with cheaters.

The letters stand for failure with academic dishonesty.
Rob Gordon, the university’s director of criminology, said the FD grade was introduced to catch cheaters who use the Internet and was part of a larger package of reforms “relating to student misconduct issues and honesty.”
“It is a penalty that can only be imposed by department heads, not by individual professors,” Gordon, acting chairman of the university’s senate committee on academic integrity, said Thursday.
“It would be used in egregious cases of academic dishonesty.”
Gordon said while most cheating in the past involved copying essays, it has now evolved into students cheating by using online essay-writing companies as well as high-tech and sometimes low-tech devices during exams.
The new grade, introduced in May, has been considered but not yet given out, Gordon said.
The FD would remain on a student’s transcripts during their time at SFU and for two years after graduation, which could affect the possibility of postgraduate studies or even getting a job if a potential employer asks to see transcripts.
Severity of the offence and incidences of previous cheating would both be considered before handing out an FD.
“If a student thinks they have been unfairly dealt with, they have the opportunity to appeal (to the ombudsman),” said Gordon. “I thought we would have a lot of push-back from students but (student response) has been overwhelmingly favourable.”
Gordon said in one extreme case a few years ago, a student had their degree rescinded after it was learned they plagiarized their thesis almost entirely from six sources. But he said that, overall, cheating seems to be on the decline.
The University of Alberta hands cheaters an F8 or F9 grade, which can be reduced after three years to an F.