One computer science professor at Harvard University is making it easier for his students to cheat. In his undergraduate courses, Professor David J. Malan employs a “regret clause” that says that he will not report cheating violations to the Harvard administration as long as the culprits admit to it.

According to a report by Campus Reform, Harvard University computer science professor David J. Malan is lightening the punishment for academic dishonesty.

Malan’s course contains a “regrets clause” while allows students to avoid the official university standard of punishment if they admit to cheating within 72 hours of the dishonest act. Instead, the student will receive a failing grade only on the assignment or exam in question.

“If you commit some act that is not reasonable but bring it to the attention of the course’s heads within 72 hours,” the policy reads, “the course may impose local sanctions that may include an unsatisfactory or failing grade for the work submitted, but the course will not refer the matter for further disciplinary action except in cases of repeated acts.”

In a research paper on cheating, Malan argued that students cheat because they are sleep-deprived and over-anxious. Malan claims that his “regret clause” was created so that students would feel more comfortable in self-reporting their own cheating violations. According to Malan, existing penalties for academic dishonesty are so strict that students go to great lengths to conceal their transgressions.