By Daniel Deza
Despite debates last fall about how to create new standards to deal with academic dishonesty, faculty proponents of such measures have yet to debut a proposed plan.
During a Faculty Senate meeting in October, faculty members discussed the issue of creating a standardized, university-wide approach to academic dishonesty. The Committee on Academic Policy proposed a resolution, but six months later, plans have yet to be seen in classrooms and talk between members has halted.
Between the 2003-04 and 2005-06 academic year, the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR) cases for cheating increased from 18 to 30, leaving members surprised and questioning the current system.
With a plan made and ready to be initiated, some faculty members who were present at the meeting have failed to keep up with the progress, setting plans back.
Barbara Waszczak, a professor in the Bouv’eacute; College of Health Sciences, attended the meeting and brought up the centralized model the pharmacy department is currently using, but said she has not kept up with the program’s current progress.
“I don’t know what is going on and I haven’t heard of any updates,” Waszczak said.
In an e-mail to The News, Malcolm Hill, an environmental science professor and chair to the Committee on Academic Policy, said the committee supports the idea of a university-wide deal, but did not mention if any progress is being made.
“The Committee supported the extension of our current university-wide approach in ways that would be consistent with approaches at Northwestern or Penn State universities,” he said. “Those models recognize the authority of individual faculty to manage a range of situations within the grading context of their classes, while also establishing university-level mechanisms.”
Hill also said each offense would be categorized in different “levels.” Some offenses would be dealt with by the department and others would be sent to OSCCR for review.
Many professors have adopted new programs in hopes of stopping cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin, an online program that helps professors detect plagiarism, is used by 234 Northeastern professors, according to the 2006-2007 Academic Policy Committee (APC) report.
In the APC report, Christopher Carrillo, academic application specialist for Academic Technology Services, comprised statistics and usage among the Northeastern faculty.
“Turnitin Plagiarism Detection is a great tool.
