As the semester nears its end and final exams approach, the pressures of studying and making the grade haunt the thoughts of every college student. This pressure often turns into desperation as some students resort to cheating or plagiarism.
There are many forms of cheating. Some students share answers, write them on various body parts or save them on their calculators.
Some students even use text messaging to communicate during tests.
"I know that a lot of students cheat on outside group projects," said Jason Greer, a senior international business major.
But part of the problem with cheating is that many students do not know The University cheating policy.
"I don't really know another policy other than don't plagiarize," said graduate student Andrew Drundel.
The University Code of Conduct, the official guide for student behavior, classifies cheating as receiving assistance on tests, using unauthorized materials and mislabeling someone else's work as one's own.
Plagiarism, according to the Code of Conduct, is paraphrasing or directly quoting the unpublished or published work of others without attribution. The U of M Code of Student Conduct classifies both cheating and plagiarism as academic dishonesty.
Academic dishonesty also includes forgery and falsification of University documents. In the 2004-2005 academic year, Judicial Affairs reported 64 cases of academic dishonesty.
"The most common form of academic dishonesty is cutting and pasting of internet sources without attribution," said Dwayne Scott, associate dean of judicial and ethical programs. Although text messaging has emerged as a cheating tool, Scott said that there have been no cases involving cell phone cheating this year.
"When cheating is suspected there are two avenues of the disciplinary process," he said.
"The teacher will exercise summary discipline and reduce the student's grade as they see fit. This could be anywhere from one letter grade or to a F," Scott said.
"Then, if the student decides to appeal the summary discipline, the Academic Discipline Committee holds a hearing (to) decide to uphold or reverse summary discipline."
Of the 64 cases of academic dishonesty, 27 students requested a hearing. If The Academic Discipline Committee finds the student guilty of academic misconduct, the student will receive a F for the assignment or course.
The student is also subject to any additional penalties that include probation, loss of privileges, suspension or expulsion.
Students are allowed to appeal the Academic Discipline Committee decision to The University Appeals Committee. Rarely do the hearings result in suspension or expulsion, unless multiple offenses are the issue.
"There are usually only one or two expulsions from dishonesty per year. There were only two in this last academic year," Scott said.
When deciding dishonesty cases, Scott conceded accidents do occur, and some students are not as guilty as others.
"In many cases, academic misconduct is unintentional," he said. "About 60 percent of dishonesty is unintentional."
