Newspaper Page Text
May 24, 1968
Poor Student-Teacher Relations Aid Cheating
I. PRESENT STATUS
A. GENERAL ATTITUDES
From a pooling of information
gained informally, through talk
ing with individual students and
faculty members, the committee
agrees on the following state
ments:
“Although cheating on our cam
pus is probably not rampant, it is
present in many forms to a high
degree. It is naturally more prev
alent in larger classes of larger
departments, where there is less
personal contact with the teacher,
facilities are more crowded, etc.
“Student assistants feel a tre
mendous pressure for informa
tion concerning tests.
“There is tacit acceptance of
cheating by some students, al
most an expectation of it in many
test situations. There is an al
most total agreement on the part
of students that the matter is of
little consequence to the faculty
and administration - resulting
from lack of verbal emphasis on
honesty and little public mention
of prosecution for cheating of
fenses.
“Realizing that penalties are not
totally effective deterrents, we
feel that those now in force have
even less than normal effect cm
students, particularly those who
are failing.
“Reasons for the above attitudes
are diffuse, but it is the commit
tee’s feeling that a few can be
singled out as more determinate:
(1) The emphasizing of grades
above skills, knowledge, and in
tegrity plays a major role in in
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dividual attitudes towards dis
honesty.
(2) Most of the faculty have had
contact with institutions where
academic honesty was a strong
tradition, where there was no
need for teachers to mention it.
However, the lack of strong state
ments on the value of honesty,
and lack of student leadership in
this area have left a gap in this
part of our college’s relationship
to the student.
(3) The lack of clear procedures
for dealing with cases of breach
of honesty, and lack of communi
cation about these procedures
give the general college public
the impression that it is a mat
ter of little importance.
(4) There is also a real lack of
interest on the part of some fac
ulty and students. These do not
feel it necessary or within the
teacher’s or college’s responsi
bility, to be concerned with prin
ciples of academic honesty.
B. PRESENT REGULATIONS
AND PROCEDURES
There is some vagueness as to
the procedures for treating cases
of academic dishonesty, although
both the faculty and student hand
books have sections dealing with
matters of student discipline.
(Faculty Handbook, sd; The
Brave, pp. 27 and 30).
Officially, there are two bodies
which are to handle improper stu
dent conduct: The Student Judi
ciary Committee, which reports
to the Dean of the College; and
the Student Judiciary Commis
sion, which is a part of Student
Government and under the Dean
THE WEST GEORGIAN
AAUP Report
of Student Affairs. To our know
ledge, neither group has heard a
case of academic dishonesty in
the past few years. In neither
group do faculty members have a
vote.
No penalties are legally estab
lished, but some are suggested:
Ist offense -“F” on the test or
paper involved; 2ndoffense-“F”
in the course and/or exclusion
for one or more quarters.
Among the faculty, two modes of
thought are most prevalent:
(a) One holds that each instance
of cheating should be handled by
the teacher Involved, without re
sort to the existing machinery.
(b) The other holds that, while
penalties and “trials” are not
ultimate deterrents, the utiliza
tion of a public statement ex
pressing the opinion of faculty,
administration and students on
academic honor, and the activa
tion of a realistic procedure for
enforcement of such a “code,”
could be influential in many
cases.
11. RECOMMENDATIONS
A. PUBLIC EMPHASIS
Both faculty and student hand
books should contain a forthright
and meaningful statement on ac
ademic honesty (the FACULTY
HANDBOOK section on ' ‘Cheating
and Plagiarism” is due a revi
sion which would include some
statement of FACULTY respon
sibility, even though we are cer
tain that both faculty and admin
istration are in agreement with
the basic principles involved).
This ideal should be expressed
by all effective media: by indi
vidual teachers and in the orien
tation programs for new students
- freshmen and transfer students.
No student should begin his stu
dies here without having this mat
ter called to his attention.
ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES
The matter of academic honesty
is of such importance as to war
rant a separate body for process
of infractions.
We therefore propose the revi
sion of existing “student judi
ciary” bodies, and the creation
of an honor council to deal only
with matters of academic hones
ty. Although its form should be
finalized by persons other than
this committee we make the fol
lowing suggestions:
(1) The Council should include
equal numbers of voting faculty
and student members (preferably
3 from each group) elected by
their respective groups;
(2) The chairman should be a
faculty member;
(3) Its duties should be: to hear
cases of academic dishonesty
presented by teachers or stu
dents; to make recommendations
as to guilt and penalty; to pro
vide a detailed record of their
proceedings to the Dean of Stu
dent Affairs, who will take ap
propriate action; and to consider
other matters relevant to aca
demic honesty on campus.
C. PENALTIES
Penalties should range from a
MINIMUM “F” in the course to
permanent dismissal, according
to the circumstances. The stu
dent should have the same rights
of appeal as pertain in other dis-
Page Five
ciplinary matters.
D. ROLE OF FACULTY
We urge that faculty members
make sure that the content and
administration of all testing be
of a nature which will not encour
age or facilitate cheating. We al
so hope that faculty members will
take an active part in the promo
tion of academic honesty.
111. SUMMARY
We agree, as a committee, that
the responsibility for teaching
the principle of academic honesty
is incumbent upon the faculty and
administration, as much as
learning this principle is the stu
dent’s responsibility; that our si
lence and vagueness have been in
terpreted generally as assent to
the philosophy that grades them
selves are more important than
what is learned or how those
grades are obtained; that prompt,
though not hasty, actions are
called for; that concern for the
future, rather than blame for the
past, is the constructive approach
to achievement in this area; and
that if and when methods are fi
nalized, they must be supported
and used if they are to be effec
tive.
The undesirable situation re
garding academic honesty on our
campus jointly indicts faculty,
administration, and students. We
feel it urgent for the faculty to
act to change the situation.
Asa first step, we urge the
faculty’s adoption of the essence
of this report. Asa second step,
we hope the administration will
(Continued on page 8)