Newspaper Page Text
CHEAT: ‘Moral rationality’ hedges personal guilt
► From Page 1
► One in three students labeled
collaborating with another person
on individual work was cheating,
and 43 percent admitted to such
action.
► 62 percent said cutting and
pasting from the Internet was
cheating, but one-third said they
used the technique for academic
work.
► Less than 20 percent said
they lied when asking for an exten
sion and 60 percent said it was
cheating.
The varying results aren’t igno
rance, McCabe said, they’re a
result of “moral rationality.”
“The main problem is that
students often develop this ratio
nality that it’s not a big deal
because so many other people
cheat and get away with it,” he
said.
He also said students distin
guished between various levels of
cheating.
Although two-thirds admit to
conduct prohibited by most stu
dent honor codes, only 22 percent
labeled themselves as serious
cheaters.
What’s a serious offense?
Copying a test, purchasing a paper
online and turning in work done
by someone else all earned a des
ignation of serious cheating by
more than 90 percent of those sur
veyed.
Maurer made a similar distinc
tion.
“I don’t really get upset when I
see people cheating on daily class
work,” he said. “There is so much
work that I can understand why
students resort to it, but cheating
on a test that would bother
me.”
But there is no rationality
clause in the honor code.
It defines academic honesty as
“performing all academic work
without plagiarism, cheating, lying,
tampering, stealing, giving or
receiving unauthorized assistance
from any other person or using any
source of information that is not
common knowledge without prop
VAN: ACC police await more
information on abductions
► From Page 1
“We know there were
students who were given a
ride home to East Campus
Village in the same white
van on the September
weekend, but no one has
called to give us details or
a description,” he said. “I’d
really like them to call.”
Two women reported
they were abducted in a
white van in downtown
Athens Sept. 8 and 9 of
the football game week
end. A man offered them a
ride and drove each
woman to the same
Oglethorpe County road.
One woman, a University
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erly acknowledging the source,”
Maurer said.
Deborah Bell, coordinator for
academic honesty, said most stu
dent violators had time manage
ment issues rather than morally
dubious intentions.
“Students often feel backed
into a corner and panic,” she
said.
And the panic is more preva
lent. Reports of possible academic
honesty violations have more than
doubled since 2000. There were
about 175 possible violations
reported in the academic year of
2000-2001, and according to the
Office of the Vice President for
Instruction, that number spiked
to about 425 during the last aca
demic year.
But according to McCabe, with
more than 30,000 students at the
University, that total is low.
“There is now a heavier focus
on catching cheaters,” McCabe
said. “But odds are you won’t get
caught.”
Process a ‘hassle’
McCabe said the most consis
tent deterrent for student cheat
ing is not the fear of public embar
rassment but rather punishment.
Asa result, he endorsed an
honor code as the most effective
solution to combat cheating.
When an instructor suspects
an incident of academic dishon
esty he or she contacts the Office
of the Vice President for
Instruction, and from there the
instructor and student have a
facilitated discussion.
Bell said most cases are settled
at this stage, with an appropriate
punishment negotiated between
the two. If no agreement can be
reached, an academic honesty
panel convenes to determine if a
violation has occurred.
A punishment for first offense is
the lowest possible grade on the
assignment and one more sanc
tion, such as a final course failing
grade, a dishonesty transcript
notation, suspension, dismissal or
expulsion.
student, was raped. The
other, a woman from South
Carolina, escaped and
called police.
A third woman, a
University student, report
ed a similar incident
occurred in May.
In these incidents, the
driver posed as a courtesy
taxi service and offered
rides to the women.
Officers have been post
ed downtown following
the reported abductions,
and several suspects were
cleared.
“If you’re downtown,
just make sure you’re with
buddies and don’t get into
a car by yourself,”
On a second offense, violators
receive the dishonesty transcript
notation and will be suspended,
dismissed or expelled.
Only 6 percent of all cases make
it to a panel, Bell said.
She also touted the rising num
ber of cases as evidence more
teachers are reporting cheating.
However, Archie Carroll, a
University management professor
who teaches business ethics, said
there hasn’t been a case in his
department in the last few years.
And it’s not because he feels the
classes are cheat-proof.
“Most professors lost faith in
the system,” he said of reporting
students to academic honesty. “I
believe most professors find a way
around bringing charges against
students.”
He added many instructors say
the process is a “hassle” since stu
dents “frequently don’t face pun
ishment.”
In the past, Carroll said he met
independently with the student
and might have had them redo the
assignment or weigh the grade
between the old and new versions
of the work.
“I know according to the sys
tem we’re not supposed to do
that,” he said. “But that’s my ten
dency if there are no blatant charg
es.”
Last spring, 172 students were
reported for academic honesty
violations, according to the Office
of the Vice President for
Instruction.
Of such, 66 percent admitted
violation and the remaining 34 per
cent were either withdrawn, dis
missed or did not reach an agree
ment in the facilitated discussion
between the instructor and stu
dent.
When asked if she felt teachers
were reporting academic dishon
esty, Bell said she “would like to
say yes,” but she “couldn’t imagine
a better model.”
A Lost Cause?
Philosophy professor Edward
Halper does not condone cheating
Dickerson said. “Only use
a legitimate taxi service.
People will always try to
make money downtown.”
Organizations such as
Safe Campuses Now and
The Omni Club continue
to offer self-defense class
es to students throughout
October and November.
Safe Campuses Now
will hold the annual Girl’s
Night Out and Guy’s
Night Out safety lectures
at 7 p.m. Monday in
the Student Learning
Center.
Anyone with informa
tion can call ACC Det. Ben
Dickerson at 706-613-3337,
ext. 793.
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NEWS
Underage students
found tunneling beer
By CAROLYN CRIST
The Red & Black
Six University students
were arrested at College
Park Apartments at 2:15
a.m. Wednesday, according
to Athens-Clarke County
Police.
According to ACC police
reports:
Thomas Cory Campbell,
19, was given a noise viola
tion citation, and two peo
ple, not University stu
dents, were charged with
underage possession.
The following students
were arrested and charged
with underage possession:
The Red a Black [Friday, October 19, 2007
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
4. Turning in the same paper twice for
two different classes is fine.
a) True
b) False
5. Sabotaging a computer to avoid a
graded assignment is cheating.
a) True
b) False
6. Turning in a paper you bought online
might be lazy, but it’s not plagiarism.
a) True
b) False
- Quiz compiled by Matthew Grayson
Answers: 1) and, 2) and, 3) and, 4) b, 5) a, 6) b
but said the attitude in many
classrooms fosters an environment
where it can thrive.
“Too often, classes are
just hoops that students
jump through to get to the next
big thing,” he said. “We’ve got to
get students really excited about
the intrinsic value of an educa
tion.”
He said jt comes down to ratio
nal choice, explaining students
cheat if they feel they will not be
damaged.
“If the grade is all that matters
and you cheat and don’t get
caught, it’s an easy decision,” he
said.
Halper said teachers who try to
spark a learning environment of
critical thinking rather than reci
tation often lose students because
they are so concerned about
grades.
“Not exactly what I imagined
when I entered the teaching field,”
he said.
As for Maurer, he smiled and
shook his head when asked if edu
cational value will ever outshine
grades.
“First and foremost will always
be grades,” he said. “That will
never change.”
CRIME NOTEBOOK
Campbell, Kate Christine
Banghart, 18, Morgan
Ashley Hayward, 18,
Elizabeth Mackenzie Lewis,
18, Holly Morris, 19, and
Kati Ann Odom, 18.
Officer F. Troche of the
Athens-Clarke County
Police Department heard
people yelling and talking
and saw them sitting out
side drinking beer from
cans and a funnel.
This was the second
time Troche had issued a
noise violation for the
apartment and the third
time he had been called to
the same location.
Council
proposes
‘echo’ to
Ga. plan
By KRISTEN COULTER
The Red & Black
The University
Council’s Executive
Committee unanimous
ly passed a plan
Thursday proposing full
domestic • partnership
benefits for University
System of Georgia
employees.
The plan, passed by
Georgia State
University’s faculty sen
ate on Oct. 4, calls for
health care benefits for
domestic partners of
University System
employees.
“We are proposing an
echo” of Georgia State’s
plan, said Adrian Childs,
chair of the University
Council’s Benefits
Committee.
The plan, which
states domestic partner
benefits are a signifi
cant incentive in
faculty recruitment,
will be proposed to
the Board of
Regents.
The council passed a
similar measure in 2002,
but the BOR did not
address it at the time,
according to The Red &
Black’s archives.
Childs said when the
council made the
proposal in 2002, about
200 schools offered
domestic partner bene
fits.
Now, he said, about
300 schools provide these
benefits.
The University gives
“soft benefits” to its
employees’ domestic
partners.
These benefits
include UGA ID cards
and access to the
Ramsey Student Center,
libraries and other facil
ities.
Health care benefits
are offered by the
University System of
Georgia and require
approval by the Board of
Regents, according to
the proposal.
In other business,
the Executive
Committee approved a
plan to make notations
on transcripts of stu
dents expelled from the
University for violating
the academic honesty
policy.
The University
Council will vote to
approve these measures
in its Oct. 30 meeting.
7
