Need some info about plagiarism policies in colleges
May 15, 2017 1:07 PM Subscribe
I’m writing a fictional story about a teacher dealing with a plagiarizing student. This is loosely based on actual events (I was an adjunct, not the student!), but it’s been more than a decade and my memory is sketchy.
As I recall, I consulted some kind of handbook on how to handle this, and the guidance was sort of wishy-washy, basically saying it was all left to the instructor’s discretion, I think. I remember discussing it with the department chair and she, too, seemed wishy washy. I got the feeling she would have been fine if I let the whole thing slide. I failed the student for the class (he turned in TWO plagiarized stories in a creative writing class — the lion’s share of the semester’s work) but I did not pursue it further.
So my questions are these, for the story I’m writing:
What is the name of the document that my teacher/character would consult to find the school’s policies? And if she did want to consider taking the matter further -- beyond failing him for the class -- what might she do?
As I recall, I consulted some kind of handbook on how to handle this, and the guidance was sort of wishy-washy, basically saying it was all left to the instructor’s discretion, I think. I remember discussing it with the department chair and she, too, seemed wishy washy. I got the feeling she would have been fine if I let the whole thing slide. I failed the student for the class (he turned in TWO plagiarized stories in a creative writing class — the lion’s share of the semester’s work) but I did not pursue it further.
So my questions are these, for the story I’m writing:
What is the name of the document that my teacher/character would consult to find the school’s policies? And if she did want to consider taking the matter further -- beyond failing him for the class -- what might she do?
The name of the document containing procedures is going to vary from school to school... here's the one for Webster University, and you're right, it's pretty much at the discretion of the instructor.
posted by Huck500 at 1:19 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Huck500 at 1:19 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
At the university I work for the document is the Student Code of Conduct, and violations can be/are supposed to be reported to the Dean of Students. Sanctions for cheating/plagarism beyond a failing grade for the assignment could be a failing grade for the class, or a notation on the transcript that there was a violation of the Code.
posted by Squeak Attack at 1:19 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Squeak Attack at 1:19 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is going to vary widely depending on the institution, but probably something like the "Code of Conduct," "Academic Honesty Policy," or "Honor Code." As for taking the matter further, again, there are a wide range of possible paths depending on institutional policies. Some places handle this through the Dean of Students Office, others through Academic Affairs or even individual academic departments. Your best bet is probably to google the terms above for colleges or universities that resemble the one in your fictional story. I'd imagine this is publicly available on most school websites.
posted by TurkishGolds at 1:21 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by TurkishGolds at 1:21 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
In grad school I served as a student member of the disciplinary committee. most cases were settled before they were brought to us but in a (quasi) memorable case I seem to recall a suspension of a semester to a year was a possible penalty for plagiarism cases. I do not recall how this would work in practice, whether students could potentially enroll somewhere else in the interim and transfer back credits (that would make it a pretty weak punishment). The next and final level was expulsion.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:24 PM on May 15, 2017
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:24 PM on May 15, 2017
I agree with pantarei70. "Academic Integrity" is rapidly becoming the preferred euphemism for this job. There will usually be an "Office of" or "Dean of" or "Committee for" or something like that.
The instructor usually handles it at their own discretion, but if they want to take it further, they write up a short description of what happened, what conversations have already taken place, and what remedies are recommended, and they hand it off to the Academic Integrity person/people who take it from there. Academic Integrity usually administers a stern talking to on a first offense, and also keeps records so they can administer more severe punishment to repeat offenders. That way they can track problem students across multiple instructors.
Relevant documents would be things like "University Policies and Procedures" and/or "Student Code of Conduct."
posted by yeolcoatl at 2:18 PM on May 15, 2017
The instructor usually handles it at their own discretion, but if they want to take it further, they write up a short description of what happened, what conversations have already taken place, and what remedies are recommended, and they hand it off to the Academic Integrity person/people who take it from there. Academic Integrity usually administers a stern talking to on a first offense, and also keeps records so they can administer more severe punishment to repeat offenders. That way they can track problem students across multiple instructors.
Relevant documents would be things like "University Policies and Procedures" and/or "Student Code of Conduct."
posted by yeolcoatl at 2:18 PM on May 15, 2017
At my institution we have an Academic Honesty office under the Academic Affairs Dean, all cases are supposed to reported directly to them, not handled within departments. They have a process -- investigation, hearings, appeals, etc. These are outlined in the Code of Conduct.
Also possibly of interest - we use a software called Turnitin that does data matching for plagiarism. Some cases come through there, but not all.
posted by epanalepsis at 2:19 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also possibly of interest - we use a software called Turnitin that does data matching for plagiarism. Some cases come through there, but not all.
posted by epanalepsis at 2:19 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
This link has detailed information on the Student Integrity Policy for CCNY.
posted by Cranialtorque at 2:32 PM on May 15, 2017
posted by Cranialtorque at 2:32 PM on May 15, 2017
These days, there's also this thing (at least at a school with the kind of student body that can't be failed without compunction) whereby you're supposed to recognize that students plagiarize, not because they have no character or interest in learning for themselves, but because they're bad at time management. So you're supposed to develop elaborate processes for tracking their progress through the various stages of writing a paper, on the theory that this will nudge the little darlings along so they don't find themselves panicking the night before a deadline and forced, just forced, to cheat.
An instructor today at that kind of school might run into this issue if he or she wants to push past failing the student in the class.
posted by praemunire at 2:46 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
An instructor today at that kind of school might run into this issue if he or she wants to push past failing the student in the class.
posted by praemunire at 2:46 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: This should do it. Thanks, everyone, for the input and anecdotes.
posted by swheatie at 4:16 PM on May 15, 2017
posted by swheatie at 4:16 PM on May 15, 2017
I work at the kind of university where students can be failed without compunction, but they mostly aren't for plagiarism. At least, the consequences are not very dire for a first offense. So here's how it works.
First of all, it's officially at the instructor's discretion, but there's a real push to get instructors to turn plagiarists in. The reason is that it turned out that there were a lot of serial plagiarists, and the university wants to know about that. So they've basically lessened the penalties for a first offense, at the same time they've really encouraged profs to report academic dishonesty. The idea is that profs were holding back to prevent something really dire from happening to students, and it's better if they don't have that concern.
Instructors are allowed to fail students on the assignment, but they can't fail students in the entire class unless they've consulted with and received permission from the dean of students. If failing the assignment would lead the student to fail the class, then it's ok to fail them. I was actually pretty surprised by this, because usually profs have a lot of discretion about grading policies.
So for a first offense, students are required to meet with someone in the dean of students' office. She's nice to a fault, and they discuss what happened, why it happened, and why it was unacceptable. The student is then required to take an online seminar about plagiarism. It takes about 20 hours and costs $100, which the student is required to pay. The university keeps an informal record of the offense, but nothing goes on the student's permanent record. My students are often terrified of the meeting with the dean's office, because they're convinced they're going to be expelled, but in truth it's not a very big deal.
For a second offense, students are put on disciplinary probation and suspended. I'm not sure how long the suspension typically lasts: my guess is a semester. The suspension is removed from the student's record once it's over, although I assume that students would need to explain it to graduate or professional schools.
For a third offense, the student is expelled, and it goes on their permanent record. It's indicated on the student's transcript.
It's probably worth saying that I see a lot of students who have first-offense plagiarism charges, and sometimes they're honest mistakes, like not realizing that it's unacceptable to recycle a paper from a previous class. But yeah, most people are surprised at how lenient the punishments are, especially because, as I said, this is not an institution that has any qualms about failing students or kicking them out for poor academic performance.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:10 PM on May 15, 2017
First of all, it's officially at the instructor's discretion, but there's a real push to get instructors to turn plagiarists in. The reason is that it turned out that there were a lot of serial plagiarists, and the university wants to know about that. So they've basically lessened the penalties for a first offense, at the same time they've really encouraged profs to report academic dishonesty. The idea is that profs were holding back to prevent something really dire from happening to students, and it's better if they don't have that concern.
Instructors are allowed to fail students on the assignment, but they can't fail students in the entire class unless they've consulted with and received permission from the dean of students. If failing the assignment would lead the student to fail the class, then it's ok to fail them. I was actually pretty surprised by this, because usually profs have a lot of discretion about grading policies.
So for a first offense, students are required to meet with someone in the dean of students' office. She's nice to a fault, and they discuss what happened, why it happened, and why it was unacceptable. The student is then required to take an online seminar about plagiarism. It takes about 20 hours and costs $100, which the student is required to pay. The university keeps an informal record of the offense, but nothing goes on the student's permanent record. My students are often terrified of the meeting with the dean's office, because they're convinced they're going to be expelled, but in truth it's not a very big deal.
For a second offense, students are put on disciplinary probation and suspended. I'm not sure how long the suspension typically lasts: my guess is a semester. The suspension is removed from the student's record once it's over, although I assume that students would need to explain it to graduate or professional schools.
For a third offense, the student is expelled, and it goes on their permanent record. It's indicated on the student's transcript.
It's probably worth saying that I see a lot of students who have first-offense plagiarism charges, and sometimes they're honest mistakes, like not realizing that it's unacceptable to recycle a paper from a previous class. But yeah, most people are surprised at how lenient the punishments are, especially because, as I said, this is not an institution that has any qualms about failing students or kicking them out for poor academic performance.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:10 PM on May 15, 2017
Oh, and the document is called the Code of Academic Honesty.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:11 PM on May 15, 2017
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:11 PM on May 15, 2017
I serve on the Honor Board of my college. For minor infractions, instructors have the discretion to hand out sanctions (F for the assignment, or a chance to re-do if you think it was an honest case of ignorance rather than skulduggery -- freshmen who never learned how citations work, etc.) For more serious infractions faculty send all the evidence to the Honor Board, and we have a hearing where students defend themselves, the faculty essentially act as prosecuting attorneys, can cross-examine them, present the evidence, etc. The board for a hearing, which consists of three students and one faculty/staff member, then decide to find the student in violation or not in violation. It's all actually rather dramatic sometimes. Sanctions can range from a zero on the assignment in minor cases to an XF (failure for academic dishonesty) for the course, a mark of Cain that goes on their permanent transcript , to (in rare, repeated and shameless cases) suspension or even expulsion. Frequently it's the student members who are calling for the most draconian measures.
That said, many faculty often choose to deal with cases in-house rather than send it up the river to the Honor Board because it's a huge time suck. I always resent having to spend more time documenting and trying a case of plagiarism than it took the bastard to plagiarize it in the first place, but I've seen enough cynical/lazy students to know that a hard-line policy is the only way to scare (some of) them straight.
posted by dr. boludo at 6:53 PM on May 15, 2017
That said, many faculty often choose to deal with cases in-house rather than send it up the river to the Honor Board because it's a huge time suck. I always resent having to spend more time documenting and trying a case of plagiarism than it took the bastard to plagiarize it in the first place, but I've seen enough cynical/lazy students to know that a hard-line policy is the only way to scare (some of) them straight.
posted by dr. boludo at 6:53 PM on May 15, 2017
The Code of Conduct is what students must obey, and it is administered through the Academic Integrity office. That's on the student's end.
On the faculty side, the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty state that I -must- report any violations of academic integrity to that office. I can also choose how I want to pursue the matter, but I am bound by that contact to report.
posted by Dashy at 6:11 AM on May 16, 2017
On the faculty side, the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty state that I -must- report any violations of academic integrity to that office. I can also choose how I want to pursue the matter, but I am bound by that contact to report.
posted by Dashy at 6:11 AM on May 16, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
There were was an office (Student Conduct and Academic Integrity) at the university-wide Dean of Students office that required certain paperwork and processes - namely the chance for the student to appeal and have a representative present if they wanted help.
posted by pantarei70 at 1:18 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]