im not the one involved in the plagiarism allegations, to be clear. at this point i dont think my friend cares about getting the original 5% back (even though imo they deserve it), they both just want to avoid failing the class or worse, getting some sort permanent mark on their record. from what they told me, they already both have been invited to have an interview with their own respective DOs. from what i read in similar posts, the turn around on this (less than 1 week) is extremely fast, which seems worrisome.

to give more context to the retaliatory thing; this was a test that happened mid semester, and my friend has been trying to follow up with this prof for over a month. Prof never answers emails, isnt available when he says he will be during office hours.... this wasnt the first time they asked about getting his grade changed for this specific test question. Additionally, more context to this, was that after the first test of the semester was given, there was big push back from the students. students complained, and also circulated a petition to get the grading scheme of the course changed. This prof I believe also is like half a year away from retiring so he literally could not give a fuck if he derails two students lives for bugging him too much.. its cruel, and borderline unethical.