You have seen the media outrage resulting from Professor Michael Palmer suggesting that COVID-19 “is no worse than a flu”, but the media have avoided publishing the important email itself, and have avoided reporting key content in the email.
Here it is, in full, below.
URLs of MEDIA OUTRAGE:
https://globalnews.ca/news/7326275/waterloo-chemistry-professor-fake-covid-emergency/
THE FULL EMAIL:
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2020 15:55:09 -0400
From: Michael Palmer <mpalmer@connect.uwaterloo.ca>
To: <faculty@science.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Re: [SciFaculty] Guidance on the detection of cheating in online tests
With all due respect, Barb, but the real cheating going on is this fake Covid epidemic. Yes, there is a virus and it kills some people, but the panic around it is created with fraudulent data. If you look at real data, it turns out that it is no worse than a flu.
The faked-up scare is used to defraud the economy and to rob the people of their freedom. And the faculty of science has its collective heads firmly lodged into its collective rears and worries about cheating students.
And, of course, about Covid funding. Because, we can make a difference, right? But if we can, why do we already know that it will all come down in the end to Billy Gates’ world-saving vaccine?
I tell you what this funding is good for: to get some academics invested in the scam, so that they will say all the right things in front of the cameras – through their masks, and with social distancing, of course. The same way it worked with the “climate change” bullshit.
I have long suspected it, but I had to see this to really believe it – the long-festering idiocy of academia has reached its terminal stage. It is beyond hope and simply should be put out of its misery. Complete waste of time, space, and money.
Have a good day,
Michael
On Wed, 3 Jun 2020 19:18:35 +0000
Barbara Moffatt <moffatt@uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
==
Good afternoon,
I am writing to you because there has been an increased volume of cheating on assignments and tests since moving to an online format, and the Faculty of Science is trying to be proactive in addressing this behaviour early in the term. As the person responsible for carrying out Policy 71 investigations for the Faculty of Science, I would like to provide some guidance about identifying and reporting evidence of this activity.
As instructors move to using online assessments available for 24-48 h time periods, it has become evident that some students are making use of inappropriate sources to find answers to test questions. In some instances, test questions are posed to ‘experts’ (e.g., via a Chegg.com subscription) who provide answers which are broadly shared amongst the class. (Answers may also be posted on other websites like Course Hero or Stack Exchange). Soon after answers are posted on these websites, they become available through Google. Thus, many students tend to start the test later in the exam window, after consulting Google for answers; many students describe this activity as “studying for the test”. We have seen this happen on final exams as well as assignments and quizzes. I have been told students take turns being an early test taker in different courses so reaping the benefit of posted answers is shared.
My suggestion is you look for online answers to the toughest questions on your assessments before you begin to mark them. Often the Chegg answers contain errors and so student responses with these errors are easy to spot. Moreover, it is much less work to have these ‘available answers’ in-hand as the tests are being marked. I have purchased a Chegg subscription and can look at particular answers for you as well, if you suspect a problem. If you find evidence of this activity, please contact either Samantha St. Amand (copied on this message) or me and we will help with tracking and follow-up on any allegations of misconduct you wish to pursue.
Thank you for your efforts to more effectively detect this misbehaviour,
Sincerely
Barb Moffatt
==
—
Michael Palmer
Department of Chemistry
University of Waterloo
200 University Ave. W
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
Canada
[…]
URL: http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~mpalmer/
—
H.L. Mencken on COVID-19:
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
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