CTE Newsletter - Jan/Feb 2003 (Vol 15, No 3)
Academic Dishonesty: Myths and Reality
by Sharon Paterson McGuire, Assistant Dean of Students and Director, Academic Success Center Grace Weigel Assistant Dean of Students and Director, Judicial Affairs and Bethany Schuttinga, Program Assistant
If you have discovered an instance of academic dishonesty in the past semester or two, you are not alone. In the 2000 - 2001 academic year, for example, 78 cases of academic misconduct were reported by Iowa State's various colleges to the Office of Judicial Affairs. Within the past five years the number of cases of academic misconduct reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs has remained consistent, with only a slight increase in the past academic year.
The problem of academic dishonesty is national in scope. On April 5, 2002, CNN.com posted results from a national survey conducted by Rutgers University's Management Education Center. The survey, involving 4,500 high school students around the country, found that 75 percent of the respondents engaged in serious cheating during their high school years. In addition, 50 percent of the students who responded did not consider copying questions and answers from a test to be cheating.
Higher education is not removed from issues of academic misconduct. Students are entering colleges and universities with experience in cheating and rationales for committing this act. A survey on academic integrity conducted by Rutgers' Management Education Center included comments such as:
- "I actually think cheating is good. A person who has an entirely honest life can't succeed these days."
- "We students know that the fact is we are almost completely judged on our grades. They are so important that we will sacrifice our own integrity to make a good impression."
Faculty members across the country grapple with how to deal with issues of academic misconduct. In a study conducted by the Center for Academic Integrity based at Duke University, researchers surveyed more than 2,100 students, 1,000 faculty and 200 administrators at three large universities. Ninety percent of faculty who were surveyed indicated awareness of academic misconduct in their classroom in the last two years, and 32 percent reported that they did nothing in response. According to Donald McCabe of Rutgers University, a leading authority on academic misconduct, some faculty may be concerned about legal ramifications if they pursue allegations of cheating against students. Some faculty stated that they have looked the other way or have punished students with light penalties.