USD Magazine, Winter 2000

"The most common form of cheating is rests char are passed on and recycled from semester to semester in classes where the professor doesn't change the exams," says one USD senior. "It's an easy way out for people raking a subject outside their major, because they don't wane to spend rime on work they don't feel they need for their career." Ir's changing those views, not necessarily an honor code itself, char makes academic integrity a part of a university's culture. Many schools make the attempt without actually purring a code into place, which is not necessarily a sign of failure. "Plenty of schools don't institute honor codes bur still do a tremendous job of promoting academic integrity, and an honor code is no guarantee against cheating,"

shouldn't cheat and think there's nothing wrong about it. In the future, the pledge will fit into a larger discussion about academic integrity." McCabe says it's a good start. "Cheating is a problem chat develops early and is pervasive at the high school level," he says. "But when students arrive at college, they expect things ro be different. If they arrive on a campus where cheating is socially unacceptable, and they see very little cheating around chem, most will leave char cheating behind." Freshman quickly assess the character of the campus by watching older students, McCabe says. USD student leaders are attempting to educate upper classmen, encouraging chem to set the example. Associated Students representatives talk about academic integrity at career services functions and ocher educational events, and this spring a planned "ethics bowl" competition will allow students to respond to different ethical scenarios.

s B

L I y

RES

Any discussion of academic integrity and honor codes must be initiated by students, experts say. Since they will run the system and enforce the rules, they must rake the lead in creating the right attitude for an honor code. "You can't stop cheating through enforce– ment or punishment," says philosophy pro– fessor Larry Hinman, who studies academic integrity issues relating ro the Internet. "So the solution is to create an environment where students say, 'Why would I wane ro cheat at something I love?' " Implementing an honor code means changing the culture of a campus to one in which cheating is not acceptable, a process char can rake up to 10 years. Student atti– tudes about cheating are rough to change, and rationales for cheating are a dime a dozen. The stress of an overwhelming num– ber of assignments, poor rime management, personal problems and competition for good grades to impress graduate school admissions offices are cited by students as reasons to cheat. Students also blame their teachers, saying char plagiarism can be committed unintentionally by students who haven't been caught to properly acknowledge their sources, and that professors who don't update exams and syllabi make cheating easier.

says Rutgers University professor Don McCabe, founder of the Center for Academic Integrity, a consortium of more than 200 honor code schools based at Duke University. "The most important part is ro maintain a continuous dialogue about honor and integrity." THE ROAD TO A CODE USD students last year formed an Academic Integrity Committee to examine how cheating is handled at the university and to start che dialogue chat McCabe describes. The first steps have been tentative but con– crete. The Associated Students introduced a voluntary academic integrity pledge that professors can choose to include on exam booklets, and students may choose to sign. The pledge - which states "I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on chis exam" - received a mixed response. Some professors have used it on their exams, but many have not. "A number of faculty don't chink the pledge is necessary, or they don't see what effect it has, " says Jason Apolinario, Associated Students student government vice president for academics and chair of the academic integrity committee. "At chis point, it's more of a reminder chat people

"The overall philosophy is one ofassistance and education, not punishment. The goal is to help the student learn from what has happened, and ultimately to help them succeed in college. " -Pat Drinan, College of Arts and Sciences Dean

18

USD MA GAZ I NE