Cheating on College Campuses Grows With Technology

Three out of four college students have cheated at least once in their college careers, an ongoing study of several universities in the U.S. found. Students admitted their transgressions in surveys conducted by Don McCabe, founding Director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University.

The severity of the cheating epidemic has increased in recent years with technology. At Stony Brook University, the number of accusations of cheating rose from 44 in 1996 to 144 last year, with the internet cited as the greatest contributing factor.

“The biggest increase in cheating is internet plagiarism. Whole papers are taken, some are cut and pasted,” said Maria Drueckhammer, Executive Director of the Academic Judiciary for College of Arts and Sciences, Marine Sciences, and Physical Education at Stony Brook University. “Three years ago, 75 percent of [Stony Brook] students felt that internet cut and paste was cheating. That number fell to 30 percent last year. [But] it’s a problem across the whole nation.”

Other universities have had similar problems with technology-related cheating. In one of the more notorious cheating scandals of the year, 12 students at the University of Maryland were caught cheating on an exam using cell phone text-messaging. The professor, as part of a sting operation, had posted bogus answers at the beginning of the exam online with the object of catching cheaters.

Students who finished early sent those answers to their accomplices. Six of those students confessed, five are awaiting a trial with the university judiciary, and one died of undisclosed causes over this past winter break. In another cell phone cheating incident, 26 students in Japan’s Hitotsubashi University failed this past December.

Cheating has its roots early in scholastic careers. As early as sixth grade, students have confessed to cheating on exams, homework assignments, and with their parents, according to a survey done by McCabe in a New Jersey school district.

“As much of a problem that we may think we have at a college level, there’s a problem in the pipeline that is coming towards us that we need to be ready to address,” McCabe said at an Academic Integrity conference. “It’s an increasing problem: lots of young students are involved in an increasing number as they go through the system.”

According to a survey by Who’s Who conducted in 1998, 80 percent of high-achieving high school students have cheated on tests, and 83 percent say cheating is common in their schools.

At Stony Brook, problems seem to arise with students who lack a solid understanding of what cheating entails. When several random students were questioned on campus, many said they did not believe that submitting multiple copies of their own work to different instructors without permission was cheating, but it is considered as such by the university. Interviews with Teaching Assistants revealed reluctance to report dishonesty that was found in homework and tests. “I would feel bad ruining someone’s life because of one homework,” said an unnamed engineering TA.

“We are encouraging faculty and staff to report cheating, but since many of them handle it themselves, we can’t be sure of the percentage of cheating that does go on,” Drueckhammer said.

The process for reporting cheating on campus has been made easier in recent years, she said, explaining that instructors can download the forms online.

Most accusations of academic dishonesty at Stony Brook occur in the Humanities, where papers are assigned frequently. The second largest realm of dishonesty is in lab reports, where students sometimes collaborate to compile, falsify, or fabricate data.

“I don’t believe the majority of people are actively trying to deceive their instructor,” Drueckhammer said. “They don’t fully understand because of differences in their backgrounds, or the high schools they went to. Most were never properly taught how to cite.”

Once a student is accused of dishonesty, he or she is allowed 30 days to appeal the case. After the appeal is processed, the individual must appear with the professor at a hearing with Drueckhammer, two members of the faculty or staff, and two undergraduates presiding. The case is presented and a defense may be laid out by the accused. After a period of questioning, the board deliberates and reaches a judgment.

Drueckhammer stresses that the Judiciary’s goal is to create an environment where integrity for one’s own work is valued.

“We’re not out to ruin lives,” she said. “We’re out to protect the integrity of the Stony Brook degree, and to educate students so that they don’t make any more serious mistakes in the future.”

If the student is found not guilty, his or her transcript escapes unscathed, and successive accusations are treated as first offenses. For guilty students, there is a range of penalties. The most common is a “Q” for the course, which equals an “F” and a mark of academic dishonesty on the transcript. The student must then take a 10-week instructional class. Upon completion of the academic dishonesty course, the Q is erased from the student’s record—although an F remains. If a student commits multiple offenses, he or she may be eligible for suspension or expulsion from the university.

Judiciary members said they do not believe the number of accusations per year reflects the true rate of cheating on campus.

“As of today, I couldn’t tell you what the real percentage of cheating on campus is,” said Drueckhammer.

But perhaps more light will be shed on the prevalence of cheating on campus once McCabe’s survey comes to Stony Brook later this semester.

“We’re hoping that the data will give us an idea of the magnitude of the problem here,” Drueckhammer said. “We want to help professors create a classroom that deters dishonesty and reinforces integrity.”

The survey will ask students whether they’ve cheated or known anyone who has, if they’ve reported it, and what their opinions on reporting dishonesty are. This survey comes during the Year of Ethical Leadership at Stony Brook, in which programs will be held specifically to address the problem of cheating on campus.

The Judiciary will hold a roundtable discussion to start a dialogue with students concerning attitudes about cheating on March 26 during Campus Life Time in the SAC. The talk will address what students can do to create a culture of academic integrity.

Drueckhammer stresses that these programs should help change the attitudes towards cheating on campus. “You’re going to have a certain percentage of students who would never cheat,” she said. “Then, you’ll get those students who set out to cheat. And finally you have a huge number in between that can go either way. They are who we’re fighting for.”