Revised policy on cheating weighed

The Academic Senate is developing a new policy on academic honesty to be ratified by the Board of Trustees to formalize the process of reporting cheating and plagiarism.”The senate has taken the initiative to promote a new policy to strengthen academic integrity,” said Academic Senate President James Bickley. The Academic Integrity Policy, still in its draft form, is a much more comprehensive record of what is expected of students, faculty and administrators than the current policy. In addition, it mandates that all instances of academic dishonesty are reported using a standardized report form.

The draft policy is pending approval from campus institutions including the Associated Students, Faculty Associations, Division Deans and the Classified Senate before being finalized by the Board of Trustees. Bickley expects that the policy should be approved for the coming Fall Semester.

Under the current system, reporting academic dishonesty to administration officials is optional and often inconsistent.

According to Bickley, many instances of academic dishonesty are dealt with in class without being reported. This makes tracking trends and, ultimately, reducing the rate of cheating at PCC, a difficult endeavor.

Stuart Wilcox, interim vice president of Student and Learning Services, said instances of academic dishonesty have been increasing. “It seems that the reports are going up,” he noted.

Wilcox’s administrative assistant, Susan Miller, estimated that recent trends show about 40 students per semester face a student discipline process.

“We want to make sure professors have the ability to control their own classroom,” said Scott Thayer Assistant Dean in the Office of Student Affairs.

Due to this classroom autonomy disciplinary action may not accurately represent the actual number of violations that occur on campus.

Sandra Haynes, professor of Art History, said that she could have “up to a half-dozen cases in a year.”

The Academic Senate’s draft new policy will require that all academic honesty violations are reported and should be able to provide concrete numbers. With these numbers, it will be easier to collect data and calculate trends around campus. An added benefit could include tracking repeat offenders, officials said.

The current policy can allow repeat offenders to avoid detection by dealing with dishonesty within classes. If a dishonesty case reaches Thayer or Wilcox, a file on that student will usually be made noting the first offense.

“All students are bound by the student code of conduct [Pasadena Area Community College District] Policy 4520,” said Thayer. This policy outlines how violations of all kinds are dealt with at PCC. Foremost on the list is Academic Honesty.

The disciplinary actions discussed in the current policy, which range from a verbal warning to an expulsion, will still be referred to in the new policy.

Bickley said the new policy is meant to support and add definition to the existing policy. The policy, he said, “makes a greater effort towards defining what constitutes academic dishonesty.”

Since PCC accepts students from around the world and from various educational backgrounds, there are many variations of teaching styles that students have been exposed to that may not fit in with the curriculum.

“We at PCC need to re-educate our students and establish the fine line between helping each other and plagiarism,” Haynes said.

Supporting Haynes’ statement, Bickley, Thayer and Wilcox said many students have not been taught what constitutes plagiarism. The administrators also believe that educating students about cheating should be the top priority.

By teaching and upholding the clear definitions in the draft policy, Bickley believes PCC may lower the overall occurrence of cheating.

Another tool being adopted by professors to curb plagiarism is turnitin.com. This web-based software allows professors and students to submit essays to a database that checks their work for any plagiarism.

Haynes noted a decrease in plagiarism since she’s used turnitin.com. “Before I used turnitin.com, instances of plagiarism were higher,” she said. “When you tell students to submit assignments to turnitin.com they tend to get more careful.”

Haynes also maintains that a watchful eye can be important during test taking.

“To prevent cheating, I walk around checking and watching. I’m scrupulous, collecting and counting all papers.