Friday,
September 21, 2001
Faculty
Senate considering new disciplines for cheating
By Piper Huddleston
Staff Reporter
The TCU Faculty Senate is researching new disciplinary procedures
for academic misconduct because of an increase in suspected
cases of cheating and plagiarism, said Melissa Young, Academic
Excellence Committee chairwoman for the Faculty Senate.
Associate
Dean of Campus Life Mike Russel said that last semester he
received a large number of phone calls from faculty and department
chairs concerned about academic misconduct.
According
to the TCU Student Handbook, plagiarism is defined as the
appropriation, theft, purchase or obtaining by any means anothers
work and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of
that work as ones own offered for credit.
Cheating,
according to the handbook, is copying another students
work, using any materials during an academic exercise not
authorized by the person in charge of the test, seeking aid
from another student during a test or substituting for another
student to take an exam. Cheating is also using, selling,
buying or soliciting the entire or partial contents of a test.
Young
said the Academic Excellence Committee is responsible for
looking at issues of academic integrity and are considering
the possibility of establishing an Honor Code for TCU students.
The
University of Virginias Honor Code requires a student
to agree to abide by the code upon entering the university.
If a student fails to obey the code, there are set student
sanctions and the possibility of expulsion, she said. The
Honor Code at Texas A&M is one that is also being looked
to as an example, Young said. The code says, Aggies
do not lie, cheat or steal, nor do they tolerate those who
do.
If
TCU were to establish an honor code, Young said student support
would be imperative.
Adam
Gwin, a senior finance and entrepreneurial management major,
said that if TCU were to implement an honor code, he would
support it if benefited all students.
I
think an honor code would be beneficial to TCU because all
students would be held accountable for their actions and would
be treated equally if they did not abide by the code,
he said.
Nowell
Donovan, Senate Executive Committee member, said TCU should
apply a consistent standard so the entire university is aware
of the penalties for academic misconduct.
Opportunities
for students to cheat are increasing with computers and Internet
access, Donovan said. If there is a consistent
standard that everyone is aware of, a student cant claim
they didnt know the consequences for cheating.
Cheating
and plagiarism contradicts TCUs mission statement, Donovan
said. TCU is trying to develop responsible students and cheating
reflects a lack of responsibility, he said.
Young
said another possibility is to establish a hearing procedure
that moves the responsibility of punishment from an individual
faculty member to a trained hearing panel that would include
faculty, staff and students.
Under
current policy, faculty members who catch a student cheating
or plagiarizing may give that student an automatic failing
grade on the assignment or exam, Young said.
According
to TCU Disciplinary Procedures for Students, if a staff member
decides there is sufficient reason for a disciplinary hearing,
the student can either submit to a formal administrative hearing
or waive the right to a formal hearing and discuss the problem
informally with the staff member and accept their decision.
Young
said the Academic Excellence Committee is still researching
different methods to handle academic dishonesty. She said
before making any decisions, she wants to research methods
of other universities and discuss options with various TCU
faculty and students.
The
Faculty Senate will vote on any recommendations made by the
Academic Excellence Committee at their next meeting Thursday,
Oct. 4.
Piper
Huddleston
k.p.huddleston@student.tcu.edu
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