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Wandering Eyes — Part 5
The relatively low numbers of academic misconduct cases
may contribute to that perception. When professors don't
report cases to the dean of students office, they may inadvertently
play into the hands of habitual cheaters, who can skate by on pleas
that they'll "never do it again." That is one reason Berquam
advises faculty to involve her office, even when the offense seems
minor and the sanctions are light.
"Faculty are very forgiving, and the process of accusing a
student and actually proving that misconduct took place takes time,"
Berquam allows. "[But] this is a learning institution, and
these cases are part of the learning process. We need to be engaging
students in a dialogue about this, because the discussion is itself
a tool for instruction."
National surveys show a considerable gap between what professors
and students define as the boundaries of acceptable behavior. A
study conducted in 2001-02 by Duke University's Center for Academic
Integrity found that 55 percent of students said it wasn't "serious
cheating" to ask peers for answers to tests they'd taken in
the past - something nearly all professors say clearly crosses the
line. Neither did half of those surveyed say that falsifying lab
data constituted serious cheating. Only about one in four students
responded that cutting and pasting without attribution constituted
a serious breach.
"A lot of academic misconduct cases involve situations where
the student didn't think that [he or she] was doing something wrong,"
says Wollack. "There's a lot of education that needs to go
on."
It does not help matters that even professors can disagree about
the definitions. Some faculty allow students to collaborate on assignments,
while others consider that no better than copying answers on a test.
Is it okay to use an exam the professor gave in last year's class
as a study aid? Many professors think not, and decry the fraternities
and sororities that maintain old test files. But others encourage
the practice and even hand out answers in class. "This is why
professors need to clarify in their course syllabi what they expect,"
says Berquam.
But an ad hoc approach to academic integrity may be making it harder
for the university to deliver a cohesive, community-wide message
about cheating. Classroom discussions often focus on mechanics rather
than ethics, students say. "It seems like appealing to your
character might affect more people," Lilla says. "I think
that if we started talking about how Madison is a school of academic
integrity, that would have a little more impact."
Classroom ethics do often take a back seat to other pressing matters
when students arrive at UW-Madison. During summer orientation, there
is so much to cover about social life, integrating into a large
school, respecting others, and behaving responsibly that probing
discussions about honesty in academic work can get left behind.
"As a university, we probably haven't done a good enough job
of getting across the message that theft of intangibles is every
bit as important as theft of tangibles," says Sapiro.
That could change. There have been recent efforts to build more
discussion of cheating into so-called Comm A courses, the writing-intensive
classes that 75 percent of all UW-Madison students take. Residence
halls such as the Bradley Learning Community have organized extracurricular
discussions around the topic. And communities within the university,
such as the Biocore series of biology classes, as well as many individual
professors, are adopting honor codes that pledge students and professors
to act ethically.
There is even talk among some faculty about pushing for a campuswide
honor code, which would entail some kind of promise from students
that they would abide by standards set by the university community.
Popular at military and private schools, honor codes are cropping
up at larger universities, including Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland,
and Kansas State. Experts question how much real effect they have
on student behavior; they point, for example, to the problems at
the University of Virginia, whose 160-year-old honor code offers
one punishment — expulsion — to those caught. But, UW
engineering prof Gregory Moses notes, it couldn't make things worse.
"And I think it could help change the general psychology and
attitude people have," he maintains. "You don't hear much
talk about academic integrity. It would really help if that message
came from the institutional community, so that it wasn't just Professor
X saying, 'I have a code of ethics.'"
1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6
On Wisconsin Home
Page
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Wandering Eyes
- The Dean of Students Office publishes Student
Conduct and Disciplinary Rules outlining the rights and responsibilities
for student conduct at UW-Madison.
- University of Virginia professor Louis Bloomfield accused 122
students of copying the work of others in one of the highest-profile
cheating
scandals in modern academia.
- West Point is legendary for its code of honor. Learn about the
objectives and procedures of the West
Point Honor System.
Fall 2003 Features
Alumni News
Regulars
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