Academic dishonesty often
goes unreported
By Laura Pelner
Campus
Editor
National informal polls indicate that 75 to 90
percent of college students admit to cheating during some point in their
academic careers.
"The first thing you can do is acknowledge that
cheating does occur and is likely occurring in your classroom," said
Kellie Cox, former assistant dean of students and current assistant
director for alumni clubs. "I believe 100 percent of students have cheated
in some way."
A workshop given Thursday titled "Cheating on Campus:
What Can We Do About It?" gave examples of cheating on Purdue's campus
and offered solutions for teachers who encounter academic dishonesty
in their courses.
Cox said the Dean of Students Office gets around
70 cheating cases reported a year, which is less than the real number
of cases that occur on campus.
Stephen Akers, executive associate dean of students,
said if everybody suspected of cheating was sent to the Dean of Students
Office there would be too many to deal with. "Frankly we couldn't handle
that," he said.
Many people do not report cases of cheating. "Faculty
often times do not address (the issue)," said Cox. "They fear retaliation
from the student or they think it's a hassle."
Akers and Cox both said, however, that it's important
to report the cases so the students have them in their records. "We
want to know (about it); there may be another case in the student's
file," said Cox.
Cox said students can be really creative in their
efforts to cheat. She said that in an engineering class a student once
had false nails and during an exam she took off the nails to read the
formulas written on the back of them.
While this is an extreme case, there are many other
methods students use that are considered cheating. For example, substituting
on an exam for another student, paying someone to write a paper, obtaining
a test from the exam site and completing and submitting it later or
stealing class assignments and submitting them as one's own work.
Akers said cheating is not an academic issue but
a behavioral one. He said students usually cheat out of desperation.
Cox said, "There is no profile for students who
cheat, the pressure is the same."
When students who cheat are brought before the
Dean of Students there are numerous possible results. "We don't suspend
every student who cheats," said Akers. "It is not our mission to get
rid of students. Our mission is to help them learn."
He said the office looks at all the evidence, the
cause and effect, who was harmed and if the student has prior cases
in their record when the office decides how to proceed.
Cox said it's important to confront students because
it helps them learn, have more integrity, be better people and make
better choices. "Across the country there's been a tremendous increase
(in cheating)," said Cox. "I think there is a deterioration in our values."
She said when students cheat they do not realize
what they are doing to themselves and their University. "(Cheating)
minimizes the integrity of their degree," said Cox.
She also said there are different levels of cheating
and Akers said, "Looking at a test is not cheating but copying from
one is."
Cox said, "Ethics are like tea, you don't know
how strong they are until you get them into hot water."
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