Otdfbt

I am a Ph.D. student and I do private tutoring on the side for extra income. Recently a new student contacted me for help with a class, and I met them for one session, which went well overall. They told me they liked my tutoring and want to meet again. This student admitted that they are behind on the course material and are trying to catch up before the final (which is just about two weeks away). However, I recently realized that this same student is in another class which I am TA'ing, and I was grading the homework today and realized they copied the solutions for the last assignment. I had suspected they may have copied solutions to the previous assignment as well but was unsure. This time the copying is blatant, word for word from the solutions from a past year. At this point I have no choice but to bring this to the course instructor (who is also my advisor), who I know will report this student for plagiarism. My question is, should I still meet this student and tutor them in other classes?

A few thoughts that come to mind:

• I now know this student is in the course I am TA'ing. I feel tutoring them for this course would be a conflict of interest, and I would have to clear it with my advisor. Is it also a conflict of interest to tutor them for a different course, knowing I will be grading their exam/homework for this one?


• I enjoy tutoring because I enjoy helping students learn, and I do like to help people succeed. In our previous session this student seemed interested in actually learning, but clearly has shown that they are willing to blatantly plagiarise homework solutions. While I do rely on my extra tutoring income, it feels unethical to tutor someone who cheats. At the same time, I would like them to be able to understand what they are doing so they don't feel any need to cheat. But this student also said they have not attended class in recent weeks (for what reason I do not know).


• If I meet this student again, I will have to tell them that I have reported them for academic dishonesty. This isn't exactly an issue though, they can decide what they want to do from there.

Whether their cheating should impact your role as a tutor is not the primary issue here, so I'll set it aside.

You should not be tutoring a student for additional money when you are also grading that student as a TA, even if the grading and tutoring are for separate courses. That sets up a financial relationship between a grader and a student. That's a big problem.

I certainly don't believe you've done anything unethical here, but you should most likely report the inadvertent conflict and stop tutoring this student immediately (I'd also offer to your superiors that you return any payment for the one session, or just do it yourself anyways). It's not a big deal that you did this accidentally not realizing the connection. It could be a problem if you continued with it now that you know.

Stop tutoring him. He's already shown he doesn't play by the rules. And this situation may "go sideways". Disengage ASAP. You don't want to get more enmeshed in this than you already unfortunately are. Things can rebound and hurt you. (Danger, Will Robinson, danger.)

Tutoring is very much a side gig and completely optional for both parties. Disagree with the Buffy advice that you are obligated to continue. I also agree with Bryan's comment about the conflict of interest even without cheating. But I think the cheating situation raises the conflict of interest front and center.

I mostly agree with @BryanKrauze's answer, but I'll strengthen the point further:

• It is unethical to be the tutor a student whom you are also grading or otherwise evaluating as his/her TA.


• It is doubly unethical if you're tutoring him/her for pay.

In both cases you are in a conflict of interests, and in the latter case it is very significant.

But since you're already conflicted, it's possible that it makes more sense for you to stop grading his HW (while continuing as a TA) rather than to stop tutoring him. I'd consult with the principal teacher for the course, or whoever is in charge of teaching in your department etc. - perhaps mention both options (not tutor him, not grade him). You might also need to have your previous gradings of his assignments reviewed.

Finally, if you stop tutoring him, be kind - despite his cheating - and try to find an alternative tutor to take over for you, if you can, so that he can make a smooth transition. This is regardless of whether he is treated harshly or not for his cheating on a HW assignment in another course!

I don't believe you have an ethical issue in tutoring them. In fact, there may be issues if you don't (because you may need to accuse them to justify it). But otherwise, you seem to be doing the correct thing in communicating with the professor and telling the student about what you have done. It won't make you popular, of course since no one likes being "ratted out".

But, if you can help them learn and, more important, learn how to learn, maybe they won't be as inclined to cut corners.

I also doubt that tutoring them in one course is in conflict with TA-ing them in another. Your professor, again, might have a different opinion, so you should ask. I don't think it is an especially difficult matter to keep the two relationships separate in a case like this.

In fact, while some commenters to this answer seem to think that accepting money to teach someone while also evaluating/grading them is a "clear conflict of interest" it is exactly what every professor does every day. If you can't handle that you are in the wrong profession.

Note that you haven't given the evidence that they copied in the other course. I hope you have considered other explanations as well. Two identical papers is cause for an investigation, but not necessarily charges. Publishing answers to questions and later claiming that "using the published answer, when the question is given again, is dishonesty" is malfeasance.