ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
What it is and why it makes everyone lose
back
to the teaching page
Letters
to current students: Why one should not cheat,
from past U. Louisville students.
Academic misconduct covers a number of actions which attempt to
get credit or recognition without
honest effort. It includes but is not limited to:
- working together with another student when not explicitly
permitted
- copying/paraphrasing from another student
with or without that person's knowledge
- copying/plagiarism/paraphrasing from a source without
giving proper credit
- falsifying data
- attempting to get test information in advance
- unauthorized communication with another person or
information source during a test
- altering/falsifying old assignment/test or grade information,
forging signatures etc.
- complicity or enabling any of the above behavior
etc.
See the Section 5 of the Univ
of Louisville Code of
Student Rights and Responsibilities for more examples.
In physics major or life science physics classes (221
level and above), it goes directly against
training a careful, ethical scientist or medical
practitioner. See here
for more details.
Here are some examples/definitions of plagiarism:
from the Georgetown
Univ. Honor Council
from Univ.
Tennessee-Chattanooga
from Bowdoin
College
from Le
Moyne College
from scribbr.com
from Indiana
Univ.
Universities
are judged by the success of their alumni, and the
achievements of their students and faculty on
the national and world stage.
The ultimate competition is not within the
university, but outside
of it in
terms of contributions to society.
Why is academic misconduct bad?
1) It damages other students' incentives to work hard to
learn, lowers student morale and fosters an
atmosphere of dishonesty/mistrust.
Why should someone work for a grade when
someone else can get the same grade by doing less work?
2) It erodes the credibility of the institution
granting qualifications - and makes all alumni less
employable.
Why should an employer hire a graduate of
a university which states that a student learned something,
when in fact the student did not
learn the material in a course? Would you want your doctor,
lawyer, teacher,
auto mechanic, accountant,
airline pilot, judge, elected official or plumber to have earned a
degree by cheating?
3) It destroys the reputation of a university - and
lowers the value of everyone's degree.
If there is even the perception that the
students of a university cheat routinely, not only will the
graduates have
a hard time getting jobs, but good
prospective students will go elsewhere, and donor money (which
often
benefits students with scholarships, new
buildings, endowed professorships etc.) will go elsewhere, too.
4) It counteracts the effort of learning. See here
for an example of how test performance declines with
cheating on homework.
It's much easier to ask for help from your teacher!
You'd be surprised how willing we and the University are to
help.
Here are some
other bad consequences of cheating -- for everyone.
Here are some examples of cheating scandals and their
consequences:
High-Tech
Cheating Abounds, and Professors Bear Some Blame [by looking
the other way; but cheaters score 1-2 grades lower] ,
Jeffrey R. Young, Mar. 28, 2010, Chronicle of Higher Education
US
Naval Academy Expels Students for Cheating, 1994
Ten
Cheating Scandals with Consequences, College Times, 2010
Seven Cheating Scandals with Consequences, theweek https://theweek.com/articles/539882/7-college-cheating-scandals, 2015
Pitt professor loses job after admitting to plagiarism
,
David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct 8, 2011
Univ Newcastle (Australia) Suspends, Expels Students for Cheating, 2015
TCU
Fails Students for Using Quizlet on Exams , Landon Haaf,
2018, WFAA-TV, Dallas TX
[Boston
Univ.] Chemistry and physics departments looking to limit
cheating , Allison Pirog, Boston Univ. Daily Free Press,
Apr 28, 2020
Georgia
Tech warns physics students who cheated: Admit it or risk
failing (working with Chegg to catch them) , Maureen
Downy, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 4, 2020
Med
school students in South Korea caught cheating on online exams
during coronavirus pandemic , Heejin Kang, June 3, 2020,
ABC News
CUNY
professors uncover 'scandalous' level of cheating in final
exams , Melissa Klein, June 13, 2020, ABC News
100
UBC [British Columbia] students accused of cheating on math
midterm , Nov 24, 2020, CBC News
Texas
A and M investigating "large scale" [Chegg] cheating case as
universities see more academic misconduct in era of online
classes , Kate McGee, Dec 16, 2020, Texas Tribune
Texas
[A and M], Chicago[, British Columbia] universities see rise
in cheating during remote learning , Peter Aitken, Dec
17, 2020, Fox News
West
Point faces worst cheating scandal in decades , Ryan
Browne, Dec 21, 2020, CNN
In life, the consequences of academic
misconduct, cheating, plagiarism can be severe:
lawsuits, loss of job or even jail time (e.g. for insider
trading in the stock market -
see the
Martha Stewart/ImClone scandal or Raj Rajaratman).
Biden Admits Plagiarizing in Law School -- he got an F and had to repeat the course
,
Paul Taylor, Washington Post, Sep 18, 1987
How Neil Kinnock ended Joe Biden's first bid to be US President -- and saved his life
,
Benjamin Butterworth, inews.co.uk, Oct 15, 2020
Consequences of Cheating and Plagiarism in School
,
lawyers.com
This
Is What Happens When You Cheat in School/College, Cathleen
Freedman, 2016, collegeexpress.com
How
Plagiarism Can Negatively Affect Your Professional Career,
Joanne Troppello, 2016, CareerAddict
Famous
Examples, Consequences and Penalties of Plagiarism,
penlighten.com
10
High-Profile People Whose Degrees Were Revoked [and lost jobs],
Menachem Wecker, 2012, US News
Montana
Senator's Degree Revoked Over Plagiarism Charges [causing his
withdrawal from an election], Alex Rogers, 2014, Time
VW Diesel
Emissions Cheating Scandal Costs $7 Billion [and CEO's Job],
Russell Hotten, 2015, BBC
Temple University Fires a Dean Over Falsified M.B.A. Rankings Data
,
Kelsey Gee and Janaki Chadha, July 13, 2018, Wall Street Journal
JCPS band director fired for submitting falsified music recordings to state conference
,
Billy Klobin, Jan 8, 2021, Louisville Courier Journal
University president resigns after plagiarizing part of a speech by the former head of US Special Operations Command
,
Amanda Jackson, May 13, 2021, CNN
German family minister resigns over plagiarism accusations
,
Laurenz Gehrke, May 19, 2021, politico.eu
German politicians suffer higher degree of embarrassment from plagiarism than from sex scandals
,
Third minister in Angela Merkel's administration falls foul of the country's fixation on academic credentials
Philip Oltermann, May 22, 2021, The Guardian
Romanian minister resigns over claims he faked education credentials
,
Dec 15, 2021, Associated Press
Continuing cheating in life leads to corruption,
which destroys the rule of law and society.
The
Impact of Corruption on Growth and Inequality, Marie Chêne,
2014, Transparency International
How
Corruption Affects Emerging Economies, Elvin Mirzayev, 2020,
Investopedia