Meghan Holden

mholden@jconline.com

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — During a final exam, a Purdue University student watched as a peer was caught cheating, then got away with it.

The course syllabus stated students would fail the course if they cheated, but the professor simply told the student to sit in a different seat. When the student who saw the dismissal went to the head of the department to report the situation, the student was accused of being a "snitch" and getting involved in other people's business.

"It is hard to put academic integrity in high regards when situations like this occur," the student wrote in a 2015 survey about academic integrity and dishonesty sent to Purdue students and faculty.

Several other students commented that they had witnessed professors ignore obvious cases of cheating, as well as some faculty members who said administrators fail to follow up on the cases or penalize the students when they do report them.

Ultimately, many students and faculty were left feeling disillusioned, and sometimes apathetic, with what they perceived as a culture of academic dishonesty at Purdue. One student even wrote, "Purdue does not really enforce any academic integrity policies, so why not just cheat?"

The notion that the campus community viewed cheating as commonplace was a cause for alarm among university leaders and sparked action to curb the trend.

For the past year and a half, the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities has been working with faculty and students to address the sources of cheating and launch initiatives that aim to create a climate of academic integrity and accountability.

"I think it’s really about setting the tone of expectation and the culture for this institution," said Jeff Stefancic, associate dean of students and head of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Bridging the gap

Purdue had 184 cases of academic dishonesty last semester, according to Stefancic. The number of cases was nearly double that last spring, at 335. Since fall 2014, the amount of cases each semester has averaged around 250.

The most common case of academic dishonesty is unauthorized collaboration, or when students work too closely together, he said.

About 40 percent of the 450 faculty who completed the academic integrity survey said inappropriate group collaboration occurs often or very often. These cases are more prevalent in colleges such as engineering in which group work regularly occurs as part of the curriculum, Stefancic said, and some students simply don't know when collaborating crosses the line.

"There’s a spirit of group work wanted," he said, "but teachers also want them to do things on their own."

His office also sees plenty of instances of just plain cheating, like students leaning over to look at someone else's exam or writing notes under their sleeves.

But one of the more complicated issues at Purdue is plagiarism. Some students just don't know what it means to plagiarize, Stefancic said, and they haven't learned how to properly cite or reference other documents.

Although it's a problem for many domestic students, he said, a portion of international students tend to have difficulties with the concept. About 35 percent of academic dishonesty cases involve international students, he said.

Yumin Gao, an engineering senior, said, "Back in China, we don’t necessarily need to cite any references."

In China, it's often acceptable to copy and paste part of someone else's work into your own paper without quoting the original author. The country's education system doesn't focus on ownership of ideas because information is viewed as belonging to the society as a whole.

Chinese students grew up in a collective culture, Gao said, so working with their classmates on assignments is also the norm.

Gao was shocked, however, when he learned how often international students cheat at Purdue. He thinks the problem is largely caused by a lack of understanding by the students of what is expected of them. Still, he said, everyone should be held to the same standards when it comes to academic integrity.

To help bridge the gap, Gao's working with Stefancic and other students who are involved in the efforts to build a more academically honest culture at Purdue.

"That’s why I'm working with this group — to try to come up with a more effective way to get the message across to students of all backgrounds," he said.

Gao took part in a recent initiative with several other students across the university to create a new honor code in which students can take pride and ownership.

Cameron Mann, the student representative to the Board of Trustees, led the project. After she learned of the results of the academic honesty survey, she thought students should be involved in solving the issue. She formed a group of undergraduate and graduate students to brainstorm possible solutions. In their research, they found several other schools utilize a code of honor.

Purdue already has a code of honor, but it's lengthy, and students don't connect with it, Mann said.

"If it's coming from students, I think it means something to them," she said.

The new wording is still awaiting final approval from the University Senate, Mann said, but both the undergraduate and graduate student governments have already voted to support it.

As of now, it reads: "As a Boilermaker on track, I pledge to be honest and true in all that I do. Accountable together, we are Purdue."

The statement could be easily displayed in classrooms or used as pledge students would have to sign before an exam, Stefancic said.

It's on faculty, too

While students are the ones responsible for being ethical in their own work, the university is focusing heavily on what faculty can do to improve the campus climate.

"The ultimate goal is to create a culture of academic integrity and that involves efforts by everyone and includes faculty being more aware of problems," said University Senate Chairman David Sanders.

Stefancic and Sanders held a forum on academic honesty for faculty in January to discuss problems they see in their classes and how they should respond in those instances. Stefancic emphasized the importance of reporting cases so the university could keep track of students who show a pattern of cheating,and he ensured faculty his office would investigate their claims, a concern many faculty noted in the survey.

When a case is reported, the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities meets the student to determine whether there was a violation of university policy. A first-time violation typically results in a warning or the student being placed on probation for a semester or longer, Stefancic said. The student also will often be referred to the writing center or have to complete a 10-hour online ethics course that involves reading and writing about what it means to be an ethical person, he said. Students will then sign a "re-commitment statement," which is essentially a contract reminding them of Purdue's values.

Repeat offenders or students who are found guilty of a severe case of cheating, such as tampering with technology to alter one's grade, could face suspension or expulsion, Stefancic said.

Student conduct cases result in about 20 suspensions and 10 expulsions each year, he said. Those numbers don't just include students charged with academic dishonesty, however, as student conduct cases also include issues such as alcohol violations or hazing.

The university has had more reports of cheating cases recently, Stefancic said, which is likely due to increased awareness. The university also implemented an integrity hotline last fall, which allows students and faculty to anonymously report suspected cheating.

Faculty can also take preventative actions in their own classrooms.

"If you’re a little more creative with your assignments and make them more relevant to the sorts of skills that we want students to actually develop, I think we’ll have fewer problems," Sanders said.

Simple changes can make a large impact, he said. For example, professors should write new exams and assignments often so former students can't share their old work with current students. Instructors should also be closely monitoring students when they're taking exams to prevent cheating.

In computer science, which is viewed as a department with a cheating problem at Purdue, technology helps catch dishonesty.

About 15 years ago, department heads realized there was an issue when faculty often caught pairs of students using the same lines of coding while completing computer program assignments, said Buster Dunsmore, a computer science professor who leads the department's undergraduate programs.

The department started using a software that compares every assignment to each other then flags programs that are very similar to one another, he said. Over the years, the software has become more sophisticated, Dunsmore said, and it can compare submissions to past ones and even to ones available online.

At the beginning, the software would catch 8 to 10 pairs of students for every assignment, he said. Now, it catches one or two pairs, or none at all, Dunsmore said.

"As the word hit the street that they’re going to be able to catch you, it has gone down," he said

Dunsmore said he explains the software to his freshmen classes at the beginning of each semester. "I tell them, 'If you cheat, we’re going to find it,' " he said.

Perhaps the most important deterrent to cheating, however, is the student's relationship with his or her professor, Stefancic said. If students have respect for their instructors, they won't want to let them down, he said.

And at the end of the day, academic dishonesty is really about the students.

"If we don’t enforce academic integrity, we are cheating the students," Sanders said. "We have the students’ interest in mind."

Contact J&C higher education reporter Meghan Holden at mholden@jconline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @MeghanHolden.